Daniel Morgan

On January 17, 1781, at Cowpens, South Carolina, the notorious British cavalry officer Banastre Tarleton and his legion had been destroyed along with the cream of Lord Cornwallis's troops. The man who planned and executed this stunning American victory was Daniel Morgan. Once a barely literate backcountry laborer, Morgan now stood at the pinnacle of American martial success. Born in New Jersey in 1736, he left home at seventeen and found himself in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. There he worked in mills and as a teamster, and was recruited for Braddock's disastrous expedition to take Fort Duquesne from the French in 1755. When George Washington called for troops to join him at the siege of Boston in 1775, Morgan organized a select group of riflemen and headed north. From that moment on, Morgan's presence made an immediate impact on the battlefield and on his superiors. Washington soon recognized Morgan's leadership and tactical abilities. When Morgan's troops blocked the British retreat at Saratoga in 1777, ensuring an American victory, he received accolades from across the colonies.