The legends of Cowpens are dense and pervasive. While writing The Battle of Cowpens, Reexamined, I found many legends growing out of the battle, to the point that it became clear that much of what we knew about Cowpens was legend, not fact. A good example is the question of what weapons the Americans carried into battle.

The standard military weapon of the day was also the standard hunting weapon, a flintlock musket. Accurate to 40 yards, commanders used them in massed volleys beginning at 150 yards, taking advantage of a volume of fire rather than aimed shots. The Continental soldiers carried muskets, as did their professional British counterparts.

The American militiaman showed up for duty with the weapon he owned. In most cases, it was a musket. In some, a rifle, and this presented advantages and disabilities. The rifle was much more accurate at distances. A man-sized target presented no problem for an experienced rifleman 300 yards away, a feat unthinkable with a musket. Its downside was reloading time. A good rifleman might get off one shot a minute, often one in two minutes. These times contrasted dramatically with reloading times of several a minute for the musket.

What, then, did Morgan’s men carry at Cowpens? Unfortunately, this question has become buried in legends accreting to the battle. As with many of the misunderstandings about the battle, this can be attributed to Lee. Lee, a vivid and dramatic writer, penned a popular memoir of the southern war. His versions of events, right or wrong, drew great audiences who believed what they read. Lee was not at Cowpens, and his writing tells us he was only generally aware of what happened there. He knew Morgan had innovated new battle tactics involving the rifle. In this, Lee was correct. Morgan had massed riflemen on his first line with orders to take down the British command structure. The innovation worked extremely well, and the riflemen took a deep toll of British officers and noncommissioned officers.

Lee learned of the battle imperfectly. Although aware something was done with the riflemen, his understanding was incomplete. When he put pen to paper to write his book, he insisted, incorrectly, that all Morgan’s men carried rifles. This would have been essentially impossible. Morgan wanted three rounds from the militia. Given the rifle’s reloading time, Morgan could get no more than two, perhaps only one, firing from a rifleman. Moreover, the contemporary records remarked on a few, selected units carrying rifles. This made sense; the rifle was the exception. A musket was expected. Most of the units on the field attracted no comment on their armament, meaning they carried, as expected, the standard flintlock musket. Even so, the idea that all Morgan’s men carried rifles gained great traction, maintaining prominence to the present day.

It is long past time to rid the battle of many of its legends. While many made fascinating stories, some, like the idea all the Americans carried rifles, need to be discarded once and for all. Morgan was a brilliant commander and innovator. While he added new depth to the use of the rifle, arming his entire army with them was not one of his innovations.