Baptist Press
By Scott Barkley, posted July 3, 2024 in Entertainment, Missions
CHESNEE, S.C. (BP) — The Battle of Cowpens is considered a hinge moment in the American Revolution. A string of British victories at Savannah, Charleston and Camden had swung momentum. Continue the winning streak, the thinking went, and more Loyalists would join the cause. A Redcoat wave would proceed northward and ultimately snuff out the rebellion.
But things changed on a bitterly-cold South Carolina field about 500 yards long and just as wide on January 12, 1781.
“Cowpens” referred to the pastureland for cattle. The battle including the word would be fought primarily by those living in the backcountry and was later dramatized in the film “The Patriot.” Continental General Daniel Morgan served as one of the figures comprising the fictional Benjamin Martin, portrayed by Mel Gibson. Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, represented in the movie by the vicious but also fictional William Tavington, led the British forces.
Much of The Patriot, including its portrayal of Tarleton, has experienced strong scrutiny. The scenes at the Battle of Cowpens is not one of them. Continental forces actually did feign a retreat to lure in the Redcoats for a bayonet charge. It was the beginning of the end of the Crown’s footprint in the Colonies. The Rest of The Story Here
