The good folks of Harley-Davidson of Central Mississippi are putting on the seventh annual Trail of Honor in Jackson, Mississippi this weekend, 16 and 17 May 2009. There will be "real-life heroes, including former POWs, Medal of Honor recipients, Navajo Code Talkers and Tuskegee Airmen."

The Tuskegee Airmen should be a real draw. "Three of the famous African-American pilots will participate in a flyover by four T-6 training aircraft and a P-51 Mustang, the type of plane flown by the Airmen in World War II."

If I was anywhere near Mississippi, I'd be there this weekend. Sadly, I'm in Estonia right now sans bike.

Good riding to those of you who make it. Shake a few veterans hands for me if you get the chance.

More detail here.

Cool article on US Revolutionary War marksmanship training of the militia.
I'm currently reading Patriot Battles: How the Revolutionary War Was Fought which is long on the specifics of the fighting, so this article really interested me.

The Fayetteville Observer has a good article on the swamps of Robeson County, North Carolina (County seat, Lumberton. Its reminder that "Sherman's March to the Sea" was not easy on Sherman's troops, either.

The Battles of Saratoga - American Revolutionary War

	A tank bag sized guide to the battles with 16 pictures from the ride, a National Park Service map and a custom route map of the 152 mile ride from Stillwater, NY ( approximately 24 miles north of Albany, NY ).
USD $4.99 for electronic PDF	USD $9.99 for laminated hard copy by snail mail

Tim Abbott at Walking the Berkshires has a good post on the history of the Iroquois Indians and the American Revolution as part of the Military History Carnival.

I rode through this area in May 2007 and the area is not only historically intriguing, but one of the best riding areas I've experienced east of the Mississippi. I wrote one detailed ride on the subject around the Fort Bull area and have an Oriskany ride in the works. I really like the Don Troiani painting of the Oriskany battle that Tim posts.

Besides being a great place to ride with mountains, country roads, and seaside, North Carolina holds some of the coolest battlefield riding in such a compact area. Check out A Student of History's dissertaion summary on North Carolina and the Revolutionary War.
Battlefield Biker rides; Moore's Creek Bridge, Guilford Courthouse and nearby in South Carolina, Cowpens.
And for those of you who only think of the Civil War, Fort Fisher.

In the early morning hours of May 10th, 1775, a guerilla force from the New Hampshire Grants area (present day Vermont) with a vainglorious co-leader crossed Lake Champlain into New York and took the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga whilst they slept.

Three weeks after Lexington and Concord and on the very day that the Second Continental Congress was to meet in Philadelphia, Ethan Allen (with his brother, Ira, and his cousin, Seth Warner) led the "Green Mountain Boys" from Hands Cove on the eastern side of Lake Champlain to a landing point near Fort Ticonderoga. They had a fellow traveller who tried to assert his control over the party, but seeing him commanding only his own person at the time, the rough Green Mountain Boys decided to only allow the poppinjay to travel as co-leader. His name was Benedict Arnold.

At the time, Ethan Allen was wanted by the New York authorities for offenses committed in the New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) against New York settlers. The NH Grants area was claimed by three colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York) and would soon become an independent Republic in 1777 before joining the United States as the fourteenth. Allen and his Boys had responded to an approach from concerned citizens about the safety of the Lake Champlain corridor from British penetration. The fort at Ticonderoga, on the western shore of Lake Champlain, was the obvious place to secure against this type of incursion, so the band of mountaineers set sights on Hands Cove as a jumping off point. Benedict Arnold was from Rhode Island, late of Connecticut, but applied to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to secure the fort as well. Given permission, but no men, the ever confident Arnold set out for Hands Cove as well.

After meeting in Hands Cove, Arnold (Mass. Committee of Safety papers in hand) presented himself as the new leader of the New Hampshire grantsmen. One can imagine the chuckles the mountain men suppressed as they listened to the city boy make his claim. Whether Arnold convinced them to let him become co-leader or if they tolerated him like the village idiot who claims to be Napoleon, no one will know (yes, I know Napoleoon was 5 at the time, but the analogy still works). Either way, the future traitor was on the boat to Ticonderoga that morning.

After landing, the force quietly made their way up to the fort and overtook the only sentry. They then proceeded to enter the fort which was really nothing more than a fortified hamlet of 2 officers, 48 men and 24 women and children. Finding all of the fort asleep, Allen announced his presence and his authority and demanded surrender which was quickly forthcoming. Allen sent Warner further north up the lake to take the fort at Crown Point as well. Arnold, not to be outdone, went all the way to Canada to occupy Fort Saint Johns at the intersection of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. Perhaps, realising his invitation of a rout by British forces, Arnold thought twice and left the area. Allen took it anyway, but was run off soon thereafter.

As one can easily read, the action on 10 May 1775 was not really all that important tactically and its strategic importance geographically at the time was questionable. However, I have left out one important detail of strategic importance. Fort Ticonderoga, as frail as it was, housed a large cache of reasonably modern artillery consisting of 44 guns, 14 mortars and one howitzer. The infant Continental Army was woefully short of artillery and these pieces would begin to play a decisive role less than a year later at the Dorchester Heights above Boston when used to lay siege to the cooped up British Army and Navy.

As for the main players, Allen was later captured by the British in Quebec and sent to a Cornish prison. The British army were to run into Seth Warner and the Green Mountain Boys again near Bennington, Vermont in 1777 and lose again. Fort Ticonderoga was still to play a major role in the war as British General Burgoyne took it back in 1777 and used it as a base to attack further south in his disastrous New York campaign. As for Benedict Arnold... after a vain, but generally well-regarded stint as an American commander, he became the one name that all American school children learn when being taught about loyalty to the nation.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Lake Champlain is really quite striking and it is easy to travel its length largely in eye-shot of it. Its importance to the founding wars of the USA cannot be understated.
Start at the Hands Cove Road in Vermont to see the launch area and go to the Larrabees Point ferry for a short ride across the lake with Fort Ticonderoga in view. Visit the Fort, then head north on NY Route 9N to Crown Point Historical Park and across the bridge into Vermont and the Chimney Point Historical Park. From there head north following Lake Champlain from the Vermont side and through the Grand Isle and Hero Islands, across the Canadian border into Quebec to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (site of the former Fort St Johns). Google Map of the route.

Book Recommendation: The Glorious Cause from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: New York Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Sorry for being sparse with new rides lately, but I'm back. Work and a mammoth ride in the American northeast has precluded much writing. The ride included 7 states, 1 Canadian province, 4 wars, 7 forts, 10 battles and 2,350 miles on my new (to me) 2003 Triumph Tiger. New posts are on the way.

Check out the whole ride to get a feel for what's coming.

Below is a picture of the Tiger at the William Wells monument at Gettysburg.

Near the beginning of the French and Indian War between Britain and France, the city of Oswego, in present day New York, was considered a strategic location for both the French and the British. The British held the garrison at the beginning of 1756 and were making plans to launch operations from there to disrupt the French re-supply of their inland garrisons of the Ohio Valley. Oswego is where the Oswego River meets Lake Ontario and the British hoped to use it as a jumping off point to attack Fort Niagara, on the present day New York / Ontario border where Lake Ontario meets the Niagara River. Oswego was important, because it could be re-supplied from Albany, New York which was firmly in British control. The route from Albany to Oswego followed the Mohawk River from Albany to near present day Rome, New York, where boats would be unloaded and goods carried overland along the "Oneida Carry" or "The Carrying Place" portage to Wood Creek. Wood Creek, then led into Lake Oneida, then to the Oneida River and finally to Oswego on the Oswego River's drainage into Lake Ontario. All of this looked good on paper, but the "Oneida Carry" was only protected by two small forts, named Bull (on Wood Creek) and Williams (on the Mohawk). The French decided that to attack Oswego first was too risky, so they decided to cut it off first. French Governour of Canada, Vaudreuil, sent a small force under Chaussegros de Lery to capture and destroy both Forts Bull and Williams.

Around 13 March 1756, de Lery took his force of French regulars (troupes de terre from various Regiments), Canadian militia and Indians (Iroquis, Algonquin and Nepissing) from Montreal on a march of privation to the vicinity of Fort Bull on 27 March 1756. The weather had abused them and the forced march deprived them of food for several days at a time. By the time they came to the "Oneida Carry," they were so ravenous, they did not notice that a member of a sled party that they had raided had escaped to alert Fort Williams. The Indians felt that the group should escape whilst they had the chance, but de Lery was an officer of the continental mode and would have none of it. He had come to disrupt the "Oneida Carry" and that was what he intended to do. Therefore, the Indians focussed on ambushing unsuspecting British on the trail and de Lery took his European force on to Fort Bull.

At Fort Bull, de Lery found a garrison that had been alerted by a work party who had been ambushed by de Lery's Indian allies. So, instead of a pushover, de Lery had a fight on his hands. Fort Bull was more of a supply depot than a true baricaded fort, so the French were able to fire sufficently well into the fort that the gates were soon assaulted. Being a gentlemanly European warrior, de Lery asked the British commander for a surrender, but met nothing but another volley of fire. This gave de Lery the mandate he needed to kill all he found inside the fort. Once capitulated, the fort's soldiers found themselves dying by French bayonettes. The French threw the British weapons in the swamp nearby and put the fort to fire. Fort Williams dispatched a relief column, but they were ambushed by the French allied Indians and turned back. Afterwards, de Lery thought better of attacking Fort williams as he knew he would not have Indian help and Williams had more men and artillery to fend off his withering force.

At Fort Bull, the French had lost approximately 3 men and the British over 100, but most importantly, the French had conducted a daring winter raid that now denied the British the supply chain they needed to operate willfully on Lake Ontario. Oswego would fall in August 1756, but it was effectively silenced in March 1756.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Try this ride from Rome, New York along the "Oneida Carry," along Wood Creek, along the north shore of Oneida Lake and on to Oswego on Lake Ontario.

Book Recommendation: European-Native American Warfare, 1675-1815 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: New York Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the Rome and Oswego, New York area

The early part of the American Revolutionary War was fought mostly in the North of the colonies, but after a series of defeats, the British decided to focus on the southern colonies in their persistant belief that Loyalist sympathies ran deeper there than the North. The British had built up a string of victories in the south by early 1781 by chasing down southern militias and defeating them one by one. General Washington sent one of his best Generals, Nathaniel Greene south to revive the Patriot effort. Greene had tried to separate his forces and hoped to catch the British off guard by making them attack him piecemeal. This had had some success, namely at Cowpens two months earlier, but it was getting harder and harder to avoid a major showdown with the British main force. After strategically retreating across South and North Carolina and preserving his force, Greene decided to turn and face his pursuer, Redcoat General Lord Cornwallis. Cornwallis was sure that if he could corner Greene's force and inflict a decisive defeat on the Rebels, he could soon claim the American south for the British cause. The field for this critical battle was in the small hamlet of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina.

On the cold morning of 15 March 1781, Greene deployed his mixed militia and Continental Army force of approximately 4,500 in three lines in depth. The first line was North Carolina militia, the second Virginia militia and the final line was mainly Continentals. Cornwallis took his 1,900 British and German professional soldiers and attacked head on, breaking through the first line quickly, but with serious losses that he could ill afford. The second line held longer and bled the British further. However, the British broke through and finally reached the Continentals where a fierce give and take erupted with attacks and counter-attacks. The resulting mass of fighting men confused the situation to the point that Cornwallis felt that he needed to break up the two armies with grape shot fired into the middle of it. The artillery killed indiscriminately, but had the intended effect of separating the armies. At this point, Greene decided to pull away and save his force. Cornwallis stood victorious on the field, but strategically hamstrung.

From this victory, Cornwallis headed for the coast for re-supply for his depleted force. The condition of his army led him to begin his doomed Virginia campaign which would end later in the year with his surrender at Yorktown.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Check out this ride that leads to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park through the Colonial Heritage Byway.

Book Recommendation: Guilford Courthouse: North Carolina from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: North Carolina Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the Greensboro, North Carolina area

In early 1776, the American colonists were trying hard to limit the area in which British forces, based in Boston, could operate. As long as the British could retreat to the safety of Boston and its harbor, General George Washington would not be able to control the eastern end of Massachusetts. From Boston, British General Howe could re-supply from the sea and conduct operations with Boston as a base. In fact, Howe had taken nearby Bunker Hill (albeit with heavy losses) and was planning more of these types of operations in early March 1776.

Washington knew bold, unexpected and decisive action was needed to disrupt Howe's plans. In Late 1775, Washington had dispatched Artillery Colonel Henry Knox to Fort Ticonderoga, a captured British garrsion, to bring the impressive array of artillery to Boston as soon as possible. Washington had probably expected it in late Spring, but the big man Knox drove his oxen and men hard over the lakes, rivers and frozen terrain of New England to get the 44 guns, 14 mortars and one howitzer to the outskirts of Boston by early February 1776. Knowing good fortune when he saw it, Washington wanted to take aggressive action immediately. Washington wanted to conduct a daring cross Charles River attack from Cambridge, but his council of war thought it too risky. Washington's leaders agreed on the decisive action, but wanted to do it without significant risks to their small and largely untested militias. The compromise was to take aggressive action on Dorchester Heights which overlook Boston from the southeast.

On 2 and 3 March 1776, the Patriots fired the Knox artillery on the British in Boston and the Brits returned the favor. Washington had prepared a river crossing unit to the west of Boston to provide relief, if Howe tried to break out and disrupt the Dorchester Heights plan, although it seemed as if he had no idea what was going on. Whilst the artillery duelled, heavy, but transportable, fortifications were being fabricated down the hill. On the night of 4 March 1776, General Artemas Ward's forces used an old ploy of Washington's and put straw on the wheels of his wagons' wheels to move quietly and began occupying Dorchester Heights from neighboring Roxbury. With a mammoth effort and 300 ox carts of material moved up the hill, the rebels had constructed 4 works on the heights and the flanks. By daylight on the 5 March, General Howe awoke to incomplete, but substantial works on the southeastern hills overlooking the harbor and the city. Howe was reported as saying, "The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month."

The British Admiral Molyneaux Shulddown informed Howe that he could not maintain his ships in the harbor with such a threat. In the following days, Howe planned a quick counter-attack, but bad weather or a bout of under confidence or both made him quit Boston. By 17 March, in agreement with Washington not to destroy Boston if allowed to leave unmolested, the British had left Boston on ships for Halifax, Nova Scotia. They would be back, but for now Boston was in the Patriots hands and the radicals of the American colonies had a lot to crow about.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Try Massachusetts state route 3A (MA-SR-3A) from Dorchester Heights down to Plymouth where the colony began.

Book Recommendation: The Glorious Cause from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: Massachusetts Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the Boston area

On 27 February 1776, British Loyalists, made up predominantly of Scottish Highlanders, decided to take on a known Patriot force near Currie, North Carolina. The Loyalists were handed their hats at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge in an action that destined North Carolina to be one of the first colonies to push for a declaration of independence from the Crown.

In early 1776, the British were preparing to put down a full scale rebellion in the north of the North American colonies. At the urging of the North Carolina governor, they saw an opportunity to put the fledgling rebellion in the south to rest early and secure a good base for northern operations. A Scottish clan leader, named Donald MacDonald (no freedom fries jokes, please) was apppointed Brigadier General and raised a Scottish Higlander militia of 1,600 from the interior of North Carolina to fight for the Loyalist cause. They were marching to the North Carolina port town of Brunswick, south of present day Wilmington, to meet the British forces of Cornwallis and Clinton in late February 1776. On route, they received word that local Patriot forces were gathering around Moores Creek, but the Highlanders figured they could take them and proceeded to battle.

The Patriots in three separate forces, led by Colonels Alexander Lillington, Richard Caswell and James Moore, arrived from 25 February 1776 and began earthen works on the east and west sides of the bridge. By the morning of the 27th, they had consolidated behind the eastern works with two cannons known as "Old Mother Covington and her Daughter."

MacDonald led his force from the west and decided to charge headlong across the bridge with a lead element of Highlanders, screaming "King George and broad swords." Behind the works, the Patriots waited until the lead Scots crossed the deliberately slippery and rickety bridge, then let loose with a volley of musket, followed by the limbering up of the elderly mum and her hot progeny. One could imagine the Patriot reply of "General George and redneck hordes." The Patriot rifles and gunners put such a world of hurt on the bagpipe serenaded Loyalists that the whole offensive failed immediately. The losses to the lead element were horrendous, but the longer term damage was from the rounding up of 850 prisoners that had been dispersed by the action.

The British plans to subdue the south and then on the north were superceded by one determined force of North Carolina militia. The Brits were not to focus on the south again until 1780.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Here's a ride to show you part of North Carolina, much like it was in colonial times. Start in Wilmington, North Carolina and head down to the Orton Plantation, which is near the historical site of Brunswick, to which the Loyalists were heading to meet with British Regulars and more Loyalists on that fateful day. Then cut up through the Green Swamp and finally down to the Moores Creek National Battlefield.

Book Recommendation: Decisive Battles of the American Revolution from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: North Carolina Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the Wilmington area

An enduring idea the British had about the American colonists during the Revolutionary War was that many of them were actually Loyalists to the Crown. The British had spent considerable effort trying to round up these Loyalists and get them in the fight. After several years of being disappointed by the lack of Loyalist fervor in the North, the British became sure that there were more Loyalists to be found in the backwoods of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In early 1779, a Loyalist named James Boyd was dispatched by the British with a open Colonel commission from Savannah to recruit more Loyalists in the Georgia interior. He had done this and even fought a few skirmishes with Patriots when he arrived at Kettle Creek, in Wilkes County, Georgia on 14 February 1779. His 600 men set up camp on the creek and many of them set off to forage for food.
Colonel Andrew Pickens was a Patriot commander in the area and he had heard of Boyd's expedition. Pickens decided to tail Boyd and put a Georgia whupping on him for stirring up the area. Pickens had with him Colonel John Dooly, Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke and 340 Patriots.
Pickens caught up with Boyd at Kettle Creek and planned to surprise the camp. Pickens took a little over half the force and went straight at the camp. Dooly and Clarke each took half of the rest and went around the swampy ground on either side of the camp. Pickens's men, however, were spotted by Boyd's pickets. Boyd was able to get his men behind rocks and trees and fend off Pickens for several hours. Things were looking pretty grim for Pickens, because Dooly and Clarke were delayed in the swamps. Boyd must have been feeling confident that he could see off this group of traitors. Confident right up to the point that a musket ball got him. Seeing their leader fall put the panic in the Loyalists and they all ran for their camp.
About this time, Dooly and Clarke emerged from the swamps and converged on the camp from opposite sides. The rout was now on and the battle swung wildly in favor of the Patriots.
Although a small battle of volunteers in the backwoods of Georgia, Kettle Creek was important. It disabused the British of the notion that the backwoods of Georgia could be held for the Crown. It effectively ended the Loyalist cause in Georgia.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Try this ride through some of East Georgia best country and end up at the Kettle Creek Battleground Memorial.

Book Recommendation: From Crown to Glory: The Journey of a Carolina Family from Loyalty to the King to Revolution 1730-1780 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: Georgia Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the East Georgia area

On January 30 1712, a force under South Carolinian Colonel John Barnwell, attacked the Tuscorora Indian village cum fort of Narhantes, near New Bern, North Carolina. Barnwell had been sent by the South Carolina authorities in response to a call for help from North Carolinian settlers after they had been attacked by the southern part of the Tuscarora Indians, under the leadership of Chief Hancock.

Background

The Tuscarora War is one of the saddest of the Indian wars, both because there were truly good relations between Indians and whites for a long time before the fighting started and because it was one the first such problems in the southern colonies. The Tuscarora, along with smaller tribes of Coree, Matchapunga, Pamlico, Bear River and Neusioc had lived and hunted in the area since before the settlers arrived. Some of the smaller tribes had even moved inland already due to the earlier expansion of the European settlers. The settlers, mainly English, Swiss and German, had been spreading out from their Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds landing areas for 50 years. They were becoming more prosperous, but also more greedy for land. Their sprawl was tolerated at first, but eventually it began to encroach on Tuscarora hunting grounds along the Neuse, Pamlico, Trent and Roanoke Riviers. What was to become the all too familiar complaints in later Indian wars caused the Tuscarora to attack. They felt that they had been taken by duplicitous European traders, had their people enslaved by the same and were increasingly being encroached upon by the European settlers. The northern part of the Tuscaroras, led by Chief Tom Blunt, had felt better treated, so had sided, albeit incompletely, with the settlers. The southern tribes, led by Chief Hancock had decided that terrorising the Europeans by force was the only way to regain their way of life.

On September 22, 1711, the Tuscarora struck the European settlers ferociously in multiple places in between the Neuses and Pamlico Rivers. The settlers were in a bad way already due to a armed dispute between rival leaders of the settlers. They had not prepared defenses and took heavy losses in lives and livelihoods. The Tuscarorans killed, tortured, burned and pillaged their way through the area. The settlers had no forts, but began to gather in some of the bigger plantations homes to fight off the Tuscarora. The North Carolina settler Deputy Governor, Edward Hyde, sent out pleas for help to Virginia and South Carolina. Colonel Barnwell, with a force of a few whites and several hundred Indians (mainly Yamasee, but also Cape Fear, Catawba, Muskhogean, Saraw, Wateree and Wynyaw) was South Carolina's answer.

The Battle of Narhantes Fort 30 January 1712

Barnwell made his way north from South Carolina and arrived in the Neuses River area in late January 1712. Barnwell did not find the promised North Carolina help, but decided to attack the nearby Narhantes anyway. He struck to find the village largely open, but with several small, non-supporting fortifications. There was some fierce opposition including from the women of the village, but Barnwell had taken the village within a few hours. Those not killed were taken prisoner. Barnwell had recruited plenty of his Indian allies with the promise of scalps and plunder, so it was unsurprising to see some of those captured were taken by Barnwell's Indians and they had quietly slipped away with their booty. Barnwell stayed in the area for several days, eventually destroying Narhantes totally.

Barnwell would spend the remainder of the winter stomping through other Tuscaroran villages as he worked the area. However, Barnwell met his match in ferociousness with Chief Hancock, who eventually convinced Barnwell to treat by threatening to kill all of the previously captured settlers, if Barnwell continued his attacks. In the Spring, a comprehensive, but short-lived peace was agreed, but as with so many of these, the terms were not to the long term liking of either party, so they collapsed. This was not the first, nor the last of these battles or treaties, but it was defintely the most savage in this area and it was to poison relations thereafter.

The Tuscaroras moved north a few year later to join their Iroquoian cousins in the New York area. Ironically, but not unpredictably, the Yamasee got the same treatment soon thereefter and had to move south into Florida to avoid being wiped out.

Motorcycle Ride

Try this run from Windsor through eastern North Carolina's multiple National Wildlife Refuges (Roanoke, East Dismal Swamp, Pocosin Lakes, Alligator River, Mattamuskeet and Swanquarter) to Roanoke Island and down to New Bern to get a good feel for this area that was developing quickly in the early 1700s. The area is great for wildlife, but be careful on a bike, I've had various critters run out in front of me on these roads, including black bears.

Book Recommendation: Indian Wars from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: North Carolina Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

On 17 January 1781, the outlook for the British Army in America changed forever. A British Legion (combined infantry and cavalry) led by one of the British star, young officers, Banastre Tarleton, met its match on this day with a mixed force of one-third Continentals and two-thirds militiamen, led by what can only be called a "Good Old Boy," Daniel Morgan.

American General Nathaniel Greene commanded the southern army and knew he couldn't withstand a full encounter with the British, so he instructed his forces to split up and conduct operations against isolated British outposts. General Daniel Morgan commanded one of these smaller units. Tarleton was well known to the American forces for "Tarleton's quarter." Tarleton had a reputation, at least partly earned, for total war. He did not mind burning provisions and communities who supported the patriot cause. He also was reputed to have refused quarter to Americans at Waxhaws (Buford's Massacre) by refusing surrender and continuing to assault.

Morgan had decided to attack Fort 96. Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton had set off to catch Morgan and prevent Morgan from disrupting the British / Loyalist forts and communities, like Fort 96. Tarleton had Morgan on the run and Morgan was attempting a ragged retreat when he decided to turn and face up to Tarleton in an area known a Cowpens (an open area of upland pasture) in northwestern South Carolina, near Gaffney. Tarleton had pushed his Legion hard through the night and they arrived at Cowpens ready to fight but tired.

Morgan had a plan to feign retreat after the intial exchange of rifle fire, knowing that Tarleton liked to take the initiative as fast as possible. When Morgan's skirmishers fired and pulled back, Tarleton ordered his Legion forward to press the attack in hopes of a rout. Morgan had his skirmishers join his infantry line in fall back positions. What was planned and what just happened next is open to debate, but what is clear is that Morgan managed to envelope Tarleton's Legion with infantry and cavalry and deliver withering fire into the British ranks whilst they were totally committed to a headlong rush. This may seem unusual, but much of the killing by the British Legions was by bayonet, so when they pressed the attack, they would have been mentally and physically committed to a bayonet charge. Taking heavy fire from an infantry line that was thought to have fled, whilst simultaneously having your flank rolled by cavalry might just make you want to drop your bayonet and run. That's what Tarleton did with a handful of his command. Most of his force did not do so well with the majority being killed, wounded or captured.

Tarleton, 26 years old at the time, was rebuked and many older British officers felt it had been just a matter of time before the young rake's risk taking had cost the British Army dear.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

This is truly one of those perfect marriages of a great battlefield and a great ride. Here's a beauty of a ride along the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway. It starts very near The Cowpens National Battlefield and makes it way through several state parks, lakes and geological sites.

Maps

On 10 January 1776, the English pamphleteer, Thomas Paine, anonymously released Common Sense, a 50 page pamphlet that outlined Paine's belief that "...there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island." Paine thereby stated, "It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer remain subject to any external power." It sold a half a million copies. It was so influential that Washington had it read to the troops to encourage re-enlistment when the Continental Army's fortunes were flagging. If "no taxtion without representation" was the rally cry to rebellion, then Common Sense was the intellectual underpinning.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

check out the circular route to the sotheast of Thetford, Norfolk, Paine's birthplace, where you can find a statue in the town.

Maps

On 5 January 1781, the American turncoat, Benedict Arnold, torched Richmond, Virginia whilst serving as a British General. Beset by money problems and small thoughts, Arnold had betrayed his country, not because he was not promoted in the Continental Army, but because others were promoted ahead of him and he had huge debts riding over him. Ironically, Arnold would go on to never fit into the British Army either, as he did not have the pedigree to become a senior general. Arnold finally died in Britain in 1801 in England.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

Try Virginia State Route 5 from Richmond to Charles City to Williamsburg along the James River.

Maps

After the decisive British victories in New Jersey, Washington had to be cunning, daring and lucky. He'd been lucky to get away from the advancing British earlier in the war with a reasonable force left. He had already made his daring crossing of the Delaware over Christmas, but those types of raids would be hard to re-create. Therefore, on 3 January 1777, George Washington evaded a decisive engagement with Cornwallis near Trenton, but cunningly managed to cut off the British rearguard in several surprising engagements around Princeton , New Jersey. Cornwallis and his Hessians around Ternton regrouped and took off in pursuit, but the damage had been done.
The British were to leave New Jersey soon thereafter to focus on the more straegically important northeast coast. Washington had proven to the British that neither he nor his ragtag troops could be taken easily.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

Check out New Jersey County Route 518 from Lambertville on the Delaware River to New Brunswick, NJ. This route passes just north of Princeton, where Washington stayed (Rockingham State Historical Site)later in the war.

Maps

On December 19th 1777, Washington's Revolutionary Army occupied Valley Forge for the Winter. Things may have been bad at this point, but they were only going to get worse as the harsh winter set in. No other act of the Revolutionary era proved the will of Washington and the few men he had to accomplish the impossible better than the winter at Valley Forge.
As the Spring came, so did hope, better provisions and strong training in the form of the Prussian Baron Friedrich von Steuben.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

Try Pennsylvania State Route 345 west of Valley Forge for a run through the forests of French Creek State Park. Also consider Pennsylvania State Route 841 from Doe Run to the Maryland line.

Maps

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The period between 1796 and 1815, saw Napoleon conquer and then lose almost all of modern day western Europe.

• Blucher Defeats Napoleon at Laon 9-10 March 1814

Between 1775 and 1781, the American colonies of Britain fought to secure their independence from the crown. The war was fought along the east coast of the present day USA from Massachusetts to Georgia.

• Thomas Paine Publishes Common Sense 10 January 1776
• Battle of Moores Creek Bridge North Carolina 27-February 1776
• Patriots Occupy Dorchester Heights Overlooking Boston 4-5 March 1776
• 8 December 1776 Washington Retreats Across the Delaware River
• George Washington Defeats Cornwallis at Battle of Princeton 3 January 1777
• 19 December 1777 Continental Army Winter Quarters at Valley Forge Begins
• The Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia 14 February 1779
• British General Benedict Arnold Burns Richmond, Virginia 5 January 1781
• Battle of Cowpens South Carolina 17 January 1781
• Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina 15 March 1781





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On 8 December, after a long retreat through New Jersey, George Washington crossed the Delaware River from NJ to Pennsylvania, completing one of the most successful retreats in history. Washington's retreat enabled him to preserve his small force and launch surprise attacks later in the month.

Try PA SR 32 from Kintnersville to Washington's Crossing. Or, if you are in NJ, try NJ State Route 29 from Frenchtown, NJ to Trenton, NJ to follow the river, get in some nice twisties and get a good idea of the task that faced Washington.

There are two state parks commemorating Washington's crossings of the Delaware River. One in NJ and one in PA.