n at the
Cowpens, about thirty miles west from King's Mountain. Morgan, not quite
sure of the discipline of his men, stood with his back to a broad river
so that retreat was impossible. Tarleton had marched nearly all night
over bad roads; but, confident in the superiority of his weary and
hungry veterans, he advanced to the attack at daybreak. The result was a
complete disaster. Tarleton himself barely got away with two hundred
and seventy men and left behind nearly nine hundred casualties and
prisoners.

Cornwallis had lost one-third of his effective army. There was nothing
for him to do but to take his loss and still to press on northward
in the hope that the more southerly inland posts could take care of
themselves. In the early spring of 1781, when heavy rains were making
the roads difficult and the rivers almost impassable, Greene was luring
Cornwallis northward and Cornwallis was chasing Greene. At Hillsborough,
in the northwest corner of North Carolina, Cornwallis issued a
proclamation saying that the colony was once more under the authority of
the King and inviting the Loyalists, bullied and oppressed during nearly
six years, to come out openly on the royal side. On the 15th of March
Greene took a stand and offered battle at Guilford Court House. In the
early afternoon, after a march of twelve miles without food, Cornwallis,
with less than two thousand men, attacked Greene's force of about
four thousand. By evening the British held the field and had captured
Greene's guns. But they had lost heavily and they were two hundred miles
from their base. Their friends were timid, and in fact few, and their
numerous enemies were filled with passionate resolution.

Cornwallis now wrote to urge Clinton to come to his aid. Abandon New
York, he said; bring the whole British force into Virginia and end the
war by one smashing stroke; that would be better than sticking to
salt pork in New York and sending only enough men to Virginia to steal
tobacco. Cornwallis could not remain where he was, far from the sea. Go
back to Camden he would not after a victory, and thus seem to admit a
defeat. So he decided to risk all and go forward. By hard marching he
led his army down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington on the sea, and
there he arrived on the 9th of April. Greene, however, simply would not
do what Cornwallis wished--stay in the north to be beaten by a second
smashing blow. He did what Cornwallis would not do; he marched back in