Cowpens, The 'Perfect' Battle – Today In Southern History
17 January 1781
On this date in 1781…
Continental Army forces and militia commanded by Daniel Morgan of Virginia won a decisive victory over the British Army led by Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens in northwestern Cherokee County, South Carolina. Cowpens was a turning point in the Patriot campain to retake South Carolina from British control.
Other Years:
1806 – James Madison Randolph, grandson of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born in the White House.
1821 – Mexico permitted Moses Austin and 300 American families to settle in Texas. After Moses Austin’s death leadership of the colony passes to his son Stephen F. Austin.
1874 – Armed Democrats seized and liberated the Texas government, ending radical reconstruction in Texas.
1893 – A group northern US-backed businessmen and sugar planters forced Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate her throne. The coup ended Hawaii’s ancestral monarchy.
1900 – Yaqui Indians in Texas proclaimed their independence from Mexico.
1983 – Alabama Gov George C Wallace, became governor for a record fourth time.
1998 – U.S. President Bill Clinton gave his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit becoming the first U.S. President to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil lawsuit.
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