17 Jan 2009
“A Devil of a Licking”
American Revolution, Banastre Tarleton, Cowpens, Daniel Morgan, History, South Carolina
![](http://neveryetmelted.com/wp-content/themes/a-blog-apart-065-en/gfx/line.gif)
William Ranney, Battle of Cowpens, 1845, oil, South Carolina State House
Colonel William Washington’s servant, “a waiter, too small to wield a sword,” saved his master’s life by wounding a British officer about to cut him down.
On this day in history, my neighbor, Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan with 800 men gave Colonel Banstre Tarleton’s Legion, 1100 men, what Morgan described in a post-battle letter as “a devil of a licking” at Cowpens, South Carolina, January 17, 1781.
They have a statue of Morgan over in Winchester, whose base bears the motto: “Fought everywhere, defeated nowhere.”