Patriots: the Old Wagoner

I must confess on the need for a refresher course in the battles and names of the American Revolution. I had never heard of Colonel Daniel Morgan (1736-1802) until research for this book began. He was a captain early in his military career, so in reading of his life I began thinking of Captain Morgan rum. In fact, he was related to the pirate Daniel Morgan!!  Arrrgh.  Only this guy was no pirate. He was a brilliant military strategist, and he was the one who relentlessly and repeatedly pursued British General Tarleton, the venomous beast and warmonger.

Morgan was a large, bawdy fellow, whose parents immigrated from Wales to colonial New Jersey.  Young Daniel had a falling out with his dad, and ran away from home at 16.  He went to Virginia, barely literate, and worked at sawmill until eventually joining the British militia and acting as a wagoner in the French and Indian War.  This is where "Old Wagoner" comes from, but I have to tell you I have no clue what a "wagoner" is.

The trouble with Morgan was that he was outspoken (also loved to gamble and fight), and in the heat of an argument he bunched his superior officer in the face.  He was nearly lashed to death for insubordination, and he hated the British from that point forward. 

Morgan joined the cause during the time of the Boston Massacre, and took orders from General Washington.  He played key roles in the successful battles of Saratoga and Cowpens.  He had sciatica, which made warfare and extensive traveling very painful.  He, like Francis Marion, tried to retire by 1780.  But he was needed, so he switched from Washington's mid Atlantic to General Nathaniel Greene's Southern Army.  He destroyed General Tartleton's Tory legion of fighters by organizing and successfully lauding a double envelopment of the enemy.  He also designed Greene's battle plan for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse here, in modern day Greensboro. 

Morgan retired in 1782 to his 250,000 acre estate in Winchester, Virginia which he named Saratoga.  He had 2 daughters with his housekeeper, don't worry, he did marry her, and one love child named Willoughby whom he fathered while in Charles Towne.  Oh, you scallywag, you.