June 30, 2018: Cowpens National Battlefield, Gaffney, SC . . .
Read MoreMy friend Heather, who was visiting from Colorado over this weekend, and I were exploring the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway in South Carolina on this afternoon. This 118-mile long secondary road follows South Carolina Route 11 from the Georgia/South Carolina border at I-85 to Gaffney along the foothills at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We spotted a sign for the Cowpens National Battlefield outside of Chesnee, South Carolina and decided to check it out.
The marker seen in the photo above describes the paths taken be both British and Patriot forces throughout the South. By 1780, the British had been stalled in the North and turned their attention to the South. The sites of other significant battles - Charleston, Camden, Ninety Six, etc. - are noted on the marker.
The Battlefield trail consists of the unpaved Historic Green River Road, (which is out of view to the left in the photo above), and the paved trail on which we were walking. The "loop" described earlier leads visitors down the Battlefield along the paved trail before returning to the Visitor Center via the historic Green River Road.
Walking in this direction depicts going from the Patriot lines toward the British lines, (i.e. the British would be in front of us). But this means that viewing the various markers along the trail in this direction describes the events of the battle in reverse order.The marker seen in the photo above commemorates the misunderstood order from Lt. Col. John Howard toward the end of the battle that ended up winning the war. Howard ordered his Continental army to face the attacking British. But in the confusion and noise of battle, the order was misunderstood as an order to retreat.
We then arrived at the Green River Road, around which the Battle was centered. In the photo above, continuing straight ahead on the paved trail would lead to a trail parking area. Turning right would lead to the preserved Robert Scruggs cabin. Scruggs moved to the Battlefield area and established a farm in the early 1800s and built a cabin around 1828. The cabin was passed down through the subsequent generations of his family until the National Park Service purchased the property in the mid-1970s. The NPS decided to preserve the cabin and restore it to its 1828 appearance.
We would be turning left at the intersection onto the Green River Road heading back toward the Visitor Center.