The Americans made great efforts to regain possession of South Carolina; but their army of six thousand men, under General Gates, was routed at _Camden_ by two thousand British, under Earl Cornwallis, on the 16th of August. The men of the SEVENTEENTH attached to Tarleton's legion shared in the conflict. "The cavalry completed the route with their usual promptitude and gallantry, and after great exertions during the action, continued the pursuit to Hanginrock, twenty-two miles from the place where the action commenced, during which many of the enemy were slain, and many prisoners taken, with one hundred and fifty waggons, and all the baggage and camp equipage. On the morning of the 17th Colonel Tarleton was again despatched in pursuit, and on the 18th surprised seven hundred men, killing one hundred and fifty on the spot, and taking three hundred prisoners, three cannon, and forty-four waggons[3]." [Sidenote: 1781] During the winter reinforcements were sent from New York to South Carolina, including a detachment of the SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons, which landed in December, and joined Earl Cornwallis's camp on the 6th of January, 1781. The SEVENTEENTH were afterwards attached to the troops under Colonel Tarleton, who was directed to force the Americans under General Morgan to pass the Broad river. The British overtook their opponents on the 17th of January, at a place called _Cowpens_; the Seventh Royal Fusiliers, the infantry of the legion, and a corps of light infantry, with a troop of cavalry on each flank, commenced the action, and soon forced the enemy to give way; but being too eager in the pursuit to preserve sufficient order, Morgan's corps faced about and gave them a heavy fire; this produced great confusion and serious loss, including two guns. The cavalry of the legion quitted the field, excepting about fourteen men, who joined forty of the SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons, and, at the head of this little band of heroes, Colonel Tarleton made a desperate charge on the whole of the American cavalry, and drove them back on their infantry, recapturing his baggage, and cutting to pieces the detachment of the enemy which had taken possession of it. He afterwards retired to Hamilton's ford. Cornet Thomas Patterson of the regiment was killed on this occasion[4], and Lieutenant Henry Nettles wounded; several private soldiers and troop horses were also killed and wounded.