The Americans won a great victory, with 110 British killed and 702 taken prisoner, along with 60 Negro slaves. Twelve Americans were killed and 60 wounded. Cowpens was a crucial battle in which Cornwallis had lost one-fourth of his troops, and led to the end of the long deadlock between the two primary armies. Greene withdrew his combined force across the Dan River into Virginia, leaving Cornwallis in the Carolinas with a badly damaged army.

•  •  •

In February 1781, Thomas Brown assessed the overall battle situation:

Your Excellency:

I would like to report that General Nathanael Greene has used every cunning Device to escape the efforts of Lord Cornwallis to destroy the rebel army, and has finally left no Continental troops South of Virginia. After a number of Costly engagements with the fleeing rebels, my best estimate is that Greene now has about 2,500 men under his command, 600 of them poorly Equipped militia, and Lord Cornwallis the same number, of whom 2,000 are experienced regulars.

Rebel General Daniel Morgan has had some Success against our forces, but he has now retired to his home in Virginia. One of his aides, now our prisoner, reported that the old man is recuperating from an attack of Sciatica and Hemorrhoids. There is much devastation, and supplies are very scarce for both sides, now Forced to consume draft oxen or anything else they can find. The same man stated that the irregular militia are especially in Need, with many walking barefoot and leaving bloody tracks on the frozen trails, and forced to eat hides, bones, and offal in order to stay alive.

His Majesty’s army is now encamped in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and our forces remain Secure in Charles Town, Augusta, Ninety Six, and any other Stronghold that we desire to occupy, while some rebel militia under Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens roam around the Countryside as irritants. Leaders of the Georgia and Carolina militia, mostly riff-raff, have urged Greene to return South, but I believe we have seen the last of the rebel army in this region.

Respectfully submitted by the Governor’s agent

CHAPTER 50

Georgians Turn to Combat at Home

After a few weeks in Virginia, the Georgia and Carolina militia commanders were becoming restive, and finally convinced their senior leader, General Andrew Pickens, to meet with General Greene and urge him not to abandon their states to the British. Their most convincing argument was that the British army was facing starvation, having consumed all the provisions that could be taken from the surrounding territory. Strengthened by an additional two thousand men, mostly Virginia militia, who reported in early March, Greene decided to move back into North Carolina and to advance toward Cornwallis’s army in Hillsborough. Cornwallis saw that he could remain dormant no longer and prepared to launch an attack on Morgan’s former troops, now commanded by Colonel Otho Holland Williams and comprising about a third of Greene’s force.