Cowpens offers more than trip back in time

The Cowpens battlefield in Union County is a neat affair with trimmed grass and trees with limbs cut back as high as a man on horseback, much as it was during the revolution.

As many as 250,000 visit the battlefield each year and at least 60,000 come to the park’s headquarters and visitor’s center to tour the history museum, according to the National Park Service, which maintains this site and others in the region as part of a historic battlefields tour.

The battle, in January 1781, marked a turning point in the war that resulted in a decisive victory at Yorktown, Va., and the birth of the United States of America. But back then it was cold and dreary and the battle a matter that was very much in doubt.

The British had been winning in the South since invading the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina a couple of years before under Gen. George Cornwallis.

His regular forces and local irregulars led by the much hated Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton had wreaked havoc in the Lowcountry and had colonial forces on the run.

That was until the focus of the war turned to the Upcountry under the command of Gen. Nathanael Greene.

Greene’s force won the battle in less than an hour. It was a complete victory for the Patriot force. British losses were staggering: 110 dead, over 200 wounded and 500 captured. Morgan lost only 12 killed and 60 wounded, a count he received from those reporting directly to him, the park service said.

Today the battlefield is a pleasant place, rife with the scent of sweet shrub and dappled in the late spring sun. Dozens of kids tour the site lead by park service personnel or other adults.

How to get there:

Coming north on Interstate 85, take exit 83. Turn left on state Route 110. Drive about 8 miles. At the intersection for highways 110, 221, and 11, turn right. The park is about a half mile on the right.