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A History | Revolutionary War Battles | The Battle of Saratoga - September 19, 1777 |
Brigadier General Daniel Morgan
Brigadier General Daniel Morgan
b. Hunterdon County, New Jersey, 1736
d. Winchester, Winchester, Virginia, 6 July 1802
By V.G. Fowler, National Park Ranger
Daniel Morgan was born of Welsh parents in 1736. Because he rarely spoke of his early life, much of it remains a mystery.
Therefore, his contemporaries assumed that his younger years must have been painful. Most authorities agree that Morgan
was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. After having an argument with his father when he was about seventeen years old,
he left home without his parents knowledge or permission and moved to Virginia.
When Morgan arrived in Virginia, he could barely read and write. His manners were rude, and he enjoyed fist fighting. He
eventually became adept at card games and enjoyed strong drink. His first job was to prepare land for planting. Young
Daniel was a hard worker and soon moved to another position as superintendent of a sawmill. After that he became a
wagoner, a person who drove a wagonload of supplies across the mountains to the settlers.
He served as a wagoner for the British Army during the French and Indian War. It was during this period that he got his
nickname, "The Old Wagoner." In the spring of 1756, as Morgan was taking a load of supplies to Fort Chiswell,
he somehow irritated a British Lieutenant who struck Morgan with the flat of his sword. Morgan characteristically knocked
out the officer with a single blow of his fist. As a result, he was court-martialed and sentenced to 500 lashes. In later
years, Morgan delighted in telling that the drummer who was counting the lashes miscounted, and he only received 499.
Morgan always maintained that the British owed him one more lash. In 1757, Morgan joined the British army, and several
influential men recommended to the governor that Morgan be made a captain, but the only rank available was that of
ensign. Morgan accepted the commission. As Ensign Morgan and two escorts were taking a dispatch to the commanding officer
at Winchester, Virginia, Indians ambushed them at Hanging Rock. They killed the escorts and seriously wounded Morgan.
The bullet, which struck him in the back of his neck, knocked out the teeth on his left jaw, and exited his cheek. Morgan
carried the scar the rest of his life.
In 1759 Morgan bought a two-story house (which he named Soldiers Rest) in Winchester, and by 1763 he had set up housekeeping
with Abigail Curry. They were officially married in 1773. In the meantime, she had a positive influence on his manners and
morals. Daniel and Abigail Morgan had two daughters. (One, Nancy, married Presley Neville, a Revolutionary War veteran.
Their other daughter, Betsy, married James Heard, also a Revolutionary War veteran.) In addition, Morgan had an illegitimate
son, Willoughby,* who grew up in South Carolina.
Having no love lost for the British, Daniel Morgan joined the American army and accepted a commission of captain of a
rifle company when the Revolutionary War began. The British captured Morgan and his riflemen along with
Benedict Arnold at Quebec in December 1775. They paroled
them eight months later on the promise that the parolees would not fight against the British until they were exchanged for
British prisoners. Morgan distinguished himself at both Battles of Saratoga in 1777,
and many historians believe that he did not get the credit that he deserved for his actions.
In 1779, having been passed over for promotion to Brigadier General, Morgan resigned from the Army. In June 1780, Congress
offered Morgan command of the Southern Theatre of the war. Since Congress had not offered him a promotion to go with the
new command, Morgan declined and remained a civilian. After Gates disastrous defeat at Camden, SC, Morgan put aside his
personal feelings for the good of the country and rejoined the army in the Southern Campaign. In October of 1780, Congress
finally gave him a promotion to Brigadier General.
Perhaps Morgans most memorable moment came on January 17, 1781. It was at the Cow Pens,
a well-known pasturing area for cattle in the upcountry of South Carolina, that Morgan with his experienced, but untrained,
militia and 300 Continentals defeated the better-trained British army under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton. Morgan
knew his men and his opponent, knew how they would react in certain situations, and used this knowledge and the terrain to
his advantage. The Americans camped on the battlefield the night before the battle. Morgan went amongst the men: encouraging
them, telling them what he expected of them, and showing them his back, complete with the scars from his flogging.
On the morning of January 17, Morgan deployed his men in three main lines of defense. He knew that the militia had a
tendency to run. Therefore he divided them into two groups and placed his sharpshooters on the top of a gentle rise and
ordered them to fire twice and then retreat behind the second line. The second line of militia were positioned just behind
the crest of the hill and were to fire twice and then retreat behind the Continentals who were about 150 yards behind them.
Morgan knew he could count on the Continentals to take the hardest part of the fighting and that they would not run. He
prepared them for the militias retreat. He placed his reserves, Washingtons cavalry, in a swale that hid them from the
British view. He knew that Tarletons aggressive nature would lead him to drive straight into the Americans.
The British arrived about dawn, and Tarleton sent them into battle before they were fully deployed. The militia fired as
ordered and retreated. The British pressed on valiantly, engaging the Continentals and fighting hard. Tarleton ordered
the 71st Highlanders to advance. They threatened the American right side, and Lieutenant Colonel John Eager
Howard ordered the men on the right to turn to face the new threat. The order was mistaken, and the entire line began an
orderly retreat. Morgan used the mistaken order to his advantage. He ordered the 3rd line to retreat to a place
which he chose and then to fire. Meanwhile, thinking that they had won the battle, the British broke ranks and charged
forward. The Patriots surrounded the British. The Americans won.
Because he had sciatica so bad that it was too painful for him to sit on a horse, Morgan retired to his home in Virginia
after the Battle of Cowpens. He later built another house which he named Saratoga for
the famous battles in New York at which he had distinguished himself. On March 25, 1790 he finally received a
gold medal which Congress had struck to honor him
for his victory at Cowpens. Following the Revolution, Morgan organized and led a group of militia against the protesters
during the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1797 he was elected and served one term in the House
of Representatives. He died on July 6, 1802.
Daniel Morgan is a prime example of what one can accomplish with ones life if one works hard and plans well. As his
biographer James Graham stated, "His strength and spirit, his frank and manly bearing, his intelligence and
good-humor, set off by a rich fund of natural wit, which he kept in constant exercise, rendered him a favorite among
the people, and contributed to give him a great influence over his associates."
*See Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman by Don Higginbotham.
To learn more about Daniel Morgan, read the following books:
- Life of General Daniel Morgan of the Virginia Line of the Army of the United States by James Graham
- Daniel Morgan Revolutionary Rifleman by Don Higginbotham
- "Downright Fighting": The Story of Cowpens (Official National Park Handbook) by Thomas J. Fleming
- A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens by Lawrence E. Babits
- Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by Mark M. Boatner III
- Battle of Cowpens: A Documented Narrative and Troop Movement Maps by Edwin C. Bearss
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