A Continental Soldier (Kind of)

At the Cowpens Battlefield, they have this display set up as you see above. It lets you take a musket to your shoulder to “see what they saw”. From there you can get a good idea of the terrain on the battlefield that day in January of 1781.

At Cowpens, the American forces were made up of a mix of the regular Continental Army, and the militia. Or State troops as they were called. The Continentals were made up of units from Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. They had all seen a lot of action. In a lot of ways they were the cream of the American army and were allowed to head south due to the general stalemate that was going on up north. Combined that with the fact that they were led by General Daniel Morgan and back up by a number of equally well-seasoned militia troops, it is really no wonder they carried the day.

• A few interesting things about the Continentals that fought that day.
• Their average height was 5ft 6in (Which is what the shadow figure in the picture stands at.)
• Their musket weighed 10 Pounds
• Each piece of lead shot they carried weighed approx 1 ounce.
• The weather on the day of the battle had a temperature of 55-65 degrees with a wind that would reach 10 knots.

We have looked and will look again at the battle from a tactical and strategic view. For just a second thought we should put that wooden replica up to our own shoulder and think what it must have been like to stand there.