04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield

From 04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield, SC

While having our Motor Home serviced at Freightliner, we visited the Cowpens National battlefield. It is only a few miles down highway 11 from the Service Center. This was a key victory for the patriots in the late stages of the war.

The patriots were lead by Daniel Morgan, one of the best generals of the Revolutionary War. He was opposed by infamous British General “Bloody” Banastre Tarleton, whose troops had previously massacred about 150 patriots who attempted to surrender at the Battle of Waxsaws (SC).

Cowpens was just what its name implied, an open area with scattered trees where locals brought their cattle to fatten before driving them to market.

From 04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield, SC

Morgan knew Tarleton was impetuous and had a low regard for militia. He used this to his advantage. He placed sharpshooters out front. Next a row of militia and, somewhat hidden in the background, the trained Continental Troops.

This is roughly the initial view for the British. In the distance across the open area would have been the sharpshooters with the militia in a row behind. Hidden in the background were the Continentals, mostly from Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

From 04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield, SC

Knowing the militia were not trained to withstand a bayonet or cavalry charge from the British, he told the sharpshooters and militia he only needed three good volleys from them. The sharpshooters fired first, then withdrew back to the line of militia. The militia and sharpshooters fired two volleys and then withdrew back through the Continentals. The fire from the militia and sharpshooters killed about 2/3 of the officers who had been their main targets, but the British thought the patriots were fleeing and began a ragged charge.

The Continentals were standing their ground, but a troop of Scottish Highlanders pressed one flank. Orders were given to one Patriot company to turn and face the new threat. The orders were misunderstood and the other companies turned about and began to retreat backwards in an orderly fashion. Morgan and the other commanders quickly regained control, had them reload as they marched and then turn about and fire into the oncoming British at point blank range. Meanwhile the Patriot Dragons (or cavalry) moved around to one side and the reformed militia came around to the other side. They quickly enveloped (surrounded) the British. The battle was over in about 18 minutes with an American victory although Tarleton and about 250 of his Dragoons managed to escape. This is considered one of the most successful envelopments in military history.

Apparently women played a key role telling the men where to shoot.

From 04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield, SC

It also appears that women were good shoots and excellent in close combat keeping their purses close at hand to swing in a deadly fashion at the enemy.

From 04-09 Cowpens National Battlefield, SC

It was interesting to learn that the average American was 5’5’’ tall. So this statue beside Monique is about the right height for a Patriot soldier.

We stayed two nights at the nearby Kings Mountain State Park. It is next to the Kings Mountain National Battlefield, another key Patriot victory. There is much history to see in SC. Everyone knows about Fort Sumter and the Civil War battles, but few realize more Revolutionary War battles and skirmishes were fought in SC than any other state.

04-09 Camp Freightliner

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We both attended Camp Freightliner at the Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney, SC which is in upstate SC about 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. We were one of two couples in attendance. All the others were the husbands only with the wives out shopping or just relaxing in the adjacent waiting room. It costs $100 for one or $150 for a couple. We both highly recommend that the wives attend. It is a real bargain considering they feed you three nice meals and provide a ton of information in the notebook and CD they give you along with the classroom presentations. The instructor, Mike Cody, was both entertaining and informative. He knows a lot about the freightliner chassis and the various engines used over the past years.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

I was able to get some key questions answered. The most important was resolution to a nagging concern about the amount of oil to use. The first time I took the coach in for an oil change in Jackson, Mississippi, the dip stick measured way over full. I took it back to the dealership on the way out of town, and they drained at least a gallon of oil out. When I got to the next campground, it still measured over full and I drained another quart or two. At the next oil change, the same thing happened, but the Cummins Dealer in Columbia, SC convinced me they had used what the book specified and that the dip stick needed to be recalibrated. Well the CAT book says 22 quarts of oil and in Columbia they added 2 more to fill the oil filter for a total of 24 quarts. It turns out Freightliner had gone round and round with CAT over this issue since the engines were blowing excessive oil out the bypass tube. They finally determined that 19 quarts is the correct amount for the size sump pan in the engine used in a motor home. That is how much they installed when I had it serviced and the dip stick reads correctly at the full mark. So now I know how much to specify for my engine.

We stayed an extra day to have our coach serviced. We had the major 24 month service performed plus a couple of extra things so it took all day. So we went to Cowpens National Battlefield which is discussed in our next post. We also stopped by the Chesnee Telephone Company and had a nice visit with Hannah Lancaster, her brother Bud Askins, and Annette Williams. While at BellSouth one of my jobs had been to interfaced with the Independent Telephone Companies in SC. The folks at Chesnee were always a delight to work with.

We met a lot of nice people at Camp Freightliner. We especially enjoyed spending time with Jim Matheny and Mark and Bev Hollobaugh. We had a great meal together at the Highway 11 Restaurant which is near the Cowpens Battlefield. (Note the size of the salad bowls - in ole timey metal wash basins.)

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

Jim also joined us one morning for breakfast at Strawberry Hill which as the name implies is on a hill where they grow strawberries. Unfortunately the strawberries were not quite ready for picking.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We love finding local restaurants like this.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We also had a nice meal one evening at Applebee's with Tom and Debbie Bartholomew. It is always nice to meet new people and learn more about them and the places they live and have travelled. Most RVers are the nicest people you will ever want to meet.