American Art Collaborative

Paul Manship’s Morgan at Cowpens is one of several reliefs the sculptor created to commemorate episodes from the Revolutionary War (see also 1966.47.141, 1966.47.143, 1966.47.144 and 1966.47.136). Manship’s papers indicate that these reliefs were designed for a projected “Hall of History,” but research has not revealed where or when that project was to appear. At the Battle of Cowpens, fought in South Carolina, on January 17, 1781, General Daniel Morgan’s fighters defeated British troops serving under Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton. The Americans hated Tarleton for having butchered soldiers who had honorably surrendered to him a year earlier in South Carolina at the Battle of Waxhaws. When Morgan’s men tricked Tarleton with a false retreat, the British colonel barely escaped capture, losing two of his regiments and much of his prestige