Talk:Battle of Cowpens

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I was just editing this article, and I found some plagarism. "Daniel Morgan knew both his men and his opponent" is a direct quote from a National Park Service article on Morgan found http://www.nps.gov/cowp/dmorgan.htm. sophysduckling

It's copied, not plagiarized. It's public domain--nothing was stolen.

Also it is too basic to be considered plagarism. Its a fact, not something that is copyrightable. Daniel.Cardenas (talk) 19:09, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

1 Similarities to Cannae
2 Retreat was a misunderstood order
3 Battle Events
4 Notes on the quotes

[edit] Similarities to Cannae

I would like to delete this entire section, because it's so full of peackocking and sounds like hero worship. Civil Engineer III 20:31, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

The goal of this strategy was to weaken and disorganize Tarleton's forces (which would be attacking the third line uphill) before attacking and defeating them.

Additionally, by placing his men downhill from the advancing British lines, Morgan exploited the British tendency to fire too high in battle

The above sentences appear in 2 consecutive paragraphs in the Cowpens article. They appear to be at odds with each other as to the position of the American forces. Were they uphill or downhill from the British? 170.97.167.61 18:07, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Retreat was a misunderstood order

The order by Howard was not meant for retreat but to turn slightly to the right to face the Highlanders. Because of the immense amount of noise on the battlefield, made worse by the bagpipes blowing, the troops began an orderly retreat. Here's what happened:

"Now Tarleton’s 71st Highlanders27, held in reserve, entered the charge toward the Continental line, the wild wail of bagpipes adding to the noise and confusion. A John Eager Howard order for the right flank to face slightly right to counter a charge from that direction, was, in the noise of battle, misunderstood as a call to retreat. As other companies along the line followed suite, Morgan rode up to ask Howard if he were beaten. As Howard pointed to the unbroken ranks and the orderly retreat and assured him they were not, Morgan spurred his horse on and ordered the retreating units to face about, and then, on order, fire in unison. The firing took a heavy toll on the British, who, by that time had sensed victory and had broken ranks in a wild charge. This event and a fierce Patriot bayonet charge in return broke the British charge and turned the tide of battle. The re-formed militia and cavalry re-entered the battle, leading to double envelopment28 of the British, perfectly timed. British infantry began surrendering en masse."[1] Jtpaladin 14:58, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Battle Events

From Events under Battle the following sentence. "It is a mystery why the Patriot higher command did not make more use of Morgan as a commander." There is no mystery. Morgan was suffering from chronic back pain and sciatica. After Cowpens, Greene retired him telling Morgan that he'd earned the right to go home. William (Bill) Bean 17:04, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Ah, you were watching the History Channel on July 4 as well? Is a cite to that particular episode of The Revolution acceptable?(SSJPabs 13:32, 13 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Notes on the quotes

I got you started on the cite formats. You need notes on the quotes and the longer quotes should probably be blockquotes.Dave (talk) 01:53, 11 December 2007 (UTC)