his
rear, and his task was not likely to prove an easy one.

As for Morgan, he sent the rough-rider Tarleton to deal with him,
fancying that the noted rifleman, who had won undying fame in the
North, would now meet fate in the face, and perhaps be captured, with
all his men. But Morgan had a word to say about that, as was proved on
the 17th of January, 1781, when he met Tarleton at the Cowpens, a place
about five miles south of the North Carolina line.

Tarleton had the strongest and best appointed force, and Morgan, many of
whose men were untried militia, seemed in imminent danger, especially
when the men of the Maryland line began to retreat, and the British,
thinking the day their own, pressed upon them with exultant shouts. But
to their surprise the bold Marylanders suddenly halted, turned, and
greeted their pursuers with a destructive volley. At the same time the
Virginia riflemen, who had been posted on the wings, closed in on both
flanks of the British and poured a shower of bullets into their ranks.
The British were stunned by this abrupt change in the situation, and
when the Maryland line charged upon them with levelled bayonets they
broke and fled in dismay.

Colonel Washington commanded the small cavalry force, so far held in
reserve and unseen. This compact body of troopers now charged on the
British cavalry, more than three times their numbers, and quickly put
them to flight. Tarleton himself made a narrow escape, for he received a
wound from Washington's sword in the hot pursuit. So utter was the rout
of the British that they were pursued for twenty miles, and lost more
than three hundred of their number in killed and wounded and six
hundred in prisoners, with many horses, wagons, muskets, and cannon.
Tarleton's abundant baggage was burned by his own order to save it from
capture. In this signal victory Morgan lost only ten men killed and
sixty wounded.

And now began that famous retreat, which was of more advantage to the
Americans than a victory. Morgan, knowing well that Cornwallis would
soon be after him to retrieve the disaster at the Cowpens, hastened with
his prisoners and spoils across the Catawba. Cornwallis, furious at his
defeat and eager to move rapidly in pursuit, set fire to all his baggage
and wagons except those absolutely needed, thus turning his army into
light troops at the expense of the greater part of its food-supply and
munitions.

But when he reached the Catawba, he found it s