Daniel Morgan Avenue, named for the famous American Revolutionary general, runs from Pine Street, across Church and St. John Streets, becomes South Daniel Morgan when it crosses West Main, and ends at John B. White, Sr. Boulevard. The historical marker is on Daniel Morgan Avenue, near the intersection of Pine St.
There are tons of books and websites relating to Morgan and maybe one day I’ll write another one. But not today! For now I’ll just throw out a couple of the highlights.
Born on July 6, 1736, Morgan spent his early life working all sorts of odd jobs. He fought in the French and Indian War, and got himself into some serious trouble for punching his superior officer. He was sentenced to 499 lashes, which was normally a lethal punishment. This probably explains his hatred for the British!
After the Revolution began, he organized a company of militia that became known as Morgan’s Riflemen. Their guerilla tactics, which Morgan learned while fighting Indians, became the thorn in the side of the British regulars fighting in the South.
Morgan is most famous for his defeat of the British at the Battle of Cowpens. This is considered by many historians to be the turning point of the American fight for independence from Britain. If you have ever seen the Mel Gibson film “The Patriot”, the final battle scene was based on the tactics use by Morgan at Cowpens.
An interesting factoid that I learned while researching this post is that Daniel Morgan’s cousin was none other than the legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone! I thought that was pretty cool.
Morgan died on July 6, 1802, on what was his sixty-sixth birthday.