The South's Turning Point: Battles of Cowpens and Guilford's Courthouse

1. 1781 “Convergence in Virginia”

2. Redcoats in the South • Britain would begin to move north into North Carolina and Virginia • Hoping to gain greater support • Capture key cities

3. Battle of Cowpens • Jan. 17, 1781 • Cowpens, SC • Banastre Tarleton led 1,100 Redcoats • Daniel Morgan led 1,000 American troops • Morgan positioned his men against Broad River cutting off any retreat • Preventing his untrained militia from running from battle • Positioned the militia in two lines, each firing twice and then falling back and reforming behind the regulars

4. Battle of Cowpens • Tarleton and the British attacked head on • He thought he had sent the Americans retreating and chased after them, only to find another line of battle hardened Continental regulars firmly holding the hill • While the British engaged the regulars, the reformed militia and cavalry units flanked the redcoats on either side • Most of the British were captured (850 casualties) • Tarleton and about approx. 200 redcoats escaped • 70 American Casualties

5. Results of Cowpens • Decisive American Victory • A turning point in the Southern campaign • Great morale boost for the Patriots • The great, bold Tarleton had been defeated • A successful, original strategy by Morgan • “Seldom has a battle, in which greater numbers were not engaged, been so important in its consequences as that of Cowpens." - John Marshall Daniel Morgan

6. Battle of Guilford’s Courthouse • March 15, 1781 • Greensboro, NC • 1,900 redcoats – under Cornwallis • 4,400 patriots – under Greene • Cornwallis attacked Greene’s men stationed in three lines defending the courthouse

7. Battle of Guilford’s Courthouse • British routed the Americans after 90 minutes but suffered the loss of ¼ of their army (500 casualties) • A British victory but at too high a cost • Americans suffered 1,300 casualties (1000 missing) A variation of the Stars and Stripes; a flag thought to have been flow during this battle

8. The Swamp Fox • Francis Marion led group of “irregulars” called Marion’s Brigade • Supplied their own supplies, food, horses • Served without pay • Used guerrilla warfare tactics • Surprise attacks and quick retreats • Traveled along swamp paths • Very successful in harassing British troops in South Carolina • Disrupted communications and supply lines • Never captured

9. British move into Virginia • Cornwallis decided to move north into Virginia to link back up with the Royal Navy • Set up defensive position in Yorktown, VA • British southern army of 7,500 Redcoats

10. French Support:Battle of the Chesapeake • Sept. 5, 1781 • 24 French ships under Rear Admiral Comte de Grasse battled 19 British vessels under Thomas Graves • After a full day of fighting, the French gained control of the Chesapeake Bay • Blocking any retreat by sea from Cornwallis in Yorktown French Fleet

11. French Support: Comte de Rochambeau • French General who arrived in Connecticut with French Army of 5,000 • Joined up with Washington across the Hudson River • His behavior has been celebrated • put himself totally under the command of George Washington • Major reason for American success at Yorktown

12. Siege of Yorktown • Washington decided to use nearly all of his Continental force to surround Cornwallis and lay siege to Yorktown • American General Marquis de Lafayette and his men • French General, the Comte de Rochambeau, joined Washington with a French army of over 5,000 • Together they amassed nearly 20,000

13. Battle of Yorktown • On Sept. 28, French and American forces arrived in Yorktown • Through the early part of October, French and American forces attacked the city, taking British redoubts and closing in on Cornwallis • Alexander Hamilton leads Americans to victory on Redoubt #10

14. Yorktown Yorktown American Forces storming British redoubts outside of Yorktown

15. The end of the line • Cornwallis was running out of time • British were running low on food, supplies • River escape was thwarted by storm • Reinforcements from Clinton never arrived • Cornwallis offered surrender on Oct. 17 • Papers were signed on Oct. 19 • Surrendered his entire army of 7,000 “Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown” by John Trumbull

16. It Is Over • The surrender of Cornwallis meant the British lost their biggest army in North America • Congress sent John Adams, Ben Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens to negotiate peace with Britain • Due to continued fighting in Europe between France, Spain, The Netherlands, and England, an official would not be signed for almost two years

17. Treaty of Paris (1783) • Acknowledged American Independence • America agreed to reimburse Loyalist property seized during the war • Britain agreed to abandon all posts/forts on US soil • Set the new N. America boundaries • Canada to Britain • Florida, Louisiana and West of the Mississippi to Spain Treaty of Paris

18. The United States of America John Adams holding the Treaty of Paris and pointing at the United States