The Battle of Cowpens, fought on January 17, 1781, is an engagement between American Patriot forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces under Sir Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas (North and South).

Tarleton's force of eleven hundred British in the King's Army are sent against two thousand men under Morgan.

The Patriot forces conduct a double envelopment of Tarleton's force, and suffer casualties of only twelve killed and sixty-one wounded.

Tarleton is one of around one hundred and sixty British troops to escape.

A small force of the Continental Army under the command of Brigadier General Daniel Morgan had marched to the west of the Catawba River, in order to forage for supplies and raise the morale of local Patriot sympathizers.

The British had received incorrect reports that Morgan's army was planning to attack the important strategic fort of Ninety Six, held by American Loyalists to the British Crown and located in the west of the Carolinas.]

The British consider Morgan's army a threat to their left flank.

Cornwallis dispatches cavalry / dragoons commander Lieutenant Colonel Sir Banastre Tarleton to defeat Morgan's command.

Upon learning Morgan's army is not at Ninety Six, Tarleton, bolstered by British reinforcements, sets off in hot pursuit of the American detachment.

Morgan resolves to make a stand near the Broad River.

He selects a position on two low hills in open woodland, with the expectation that the aggressive Tarleton will make a headlong assault without pausing to devise a more intricate plan.

He deploys his army in three main lines.

Tarleton's army, after exhaustive marching, reaches the field malnourished and heavily fatigued.

Tarleton attacks immediately; however, the American defense-in-depth absorbs the impact of the British attack.

The British lines lose their cohesion as they hurry after the retreating Americans.

When Morgan's army goes on the offensive, it wholly overwhelms Tarleton's force.

The battle is a turning point in the American reconquest of South Carolina from the British.

Tarleton's brigade is wiped out as an effective fighting force, and, coupled with the British defeat at King's Mountain in the northwest corner of South Carolina, compels Cornwallis to pursue the main southern American army into North Carolina.

Cornwallis will eventually be defeated at the Siege of Yorktown in Virginia in October 1781.