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In his renowned treatise On War, Carl von Clausewitz identified three specific factors which "produce decisive advantages" at the tactical level: surprise, the benefit of terrain, and concentric attack.1 Beginning his professional writings just three decades after the American Revolution, it is probable the famous Prussian studied the battle of Cowpens, a decisive American victory which exemplifies all three of his prescribed tactical factors. Whether or not Clausewitz studied Cowpens stands conjectural, but the battle unquestionably represents a lesson in the sound application of warfighting fundamentals. Decisions based upon core tactical principles enabled an outnumbered detachment of American regular and militia forces to route a highly experienced British combined arms unit at a pivotal moment in the American Revolution. The battle's legacy continues to the present - a powerful reminder of the roles maneuver, firepower, and engaged leadership play in determining war's victors. Most importantly, as understood through the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war, American success at the Battle of Cowpens illustrates the effective application of doctrine as seen through characteristics of the defense and the use of mission command.
Background
At the strategic level of war, the American Revolution developed into a stalemate in the northern colonies by the fall of 1778. Retreating to the safety of defensive positions in New York City, the overall British commander of the war, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, decided to shift the war's focus to a new theater in order to take advantage of supposed Loyalist sympathies in the southern colonies.2 In pursuit of this new strategy, he ordered Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell to sail and capture the influential city of Savannah. Campbell and his combined arms invasion force routed American forces at Savannah in late December 1778. In a foreshadow of battles to come in the southern colonies, the British Redcoat's professional military experience enabled them to infiltrate and capture the city with only 26 casualties as compared to 550 Americans killed or captured.3
Following Savannah, the British continued to militarily dominate the southern colonies. In October 1779, they successfully defended Savannah against a combined American and French force which outnumbered the British by a ratio of more than two to one. The British inflicted several hundred casualties during the assault, and the...