It was therefore with great confidence in the result that he intrusted this Southern campaign to the charge of Nathaniel Greene; and for the same reasons he sent him his best engineer, and his best corps of rifles and horse. General Greene, immediately upon taking command, removed all commissary supplies from the coast, to avoid liability of their seizure, and to maintain his food-supply. He ordered Quartermaster-General Carrington to collect all magazines upon the Roanoke, for ready access whenever he might need ammunition or commissary supplies. He wrote to Baron Steuben, to “hasten forward his recruits”; to the Governors of Virginia and North Carolina, to “fill up their quotas of regulars and call in all the militia _that they could arm_”; to Shelby, Campbell, and other participants in the Battle of King’s Mountain, fought on the eighth of October, 1780, “to come forward and assist in the overthrow of Cornwallis, and defeat his second attempt to invade North Carolina.” It is certain from his letters to Washington, that he expected to realize success. The battle of Cowpens immediately followed. While awaiting response to his demands for troops, both militia and regulars, Greene promptly detached Morgan, with Colonels Washington and Howard, to learn the movements of Cornwallis and Tarleton, and fritter away their strength by worrying tactics. Morgan came so near Tarleton as to know that he could have a fight, if he wanted a fight. This he resolved to have. Few military events on record show superior tact, daring, and success. He placed his command in the sharp bend of Broad River, then swollen by rains, and so deep and swift that neither boat, horse nor man could cross it; where, as he afterwards reported, “his men had to fight, or drown.” All that he asked of his advanced militia was, that they would give two volleys and scamper from his front, and re-form in his rear. He secreted Washington’s dragoons out of view, for their opportunity. Tarleton dashed madly after the scattering militia, and before he could rally his impetuous charge of horse and foot, was taken in the rear, utterly routed, and barely saved himself after a sabre-cut from Colonel Washington; leaving on the field, or as prisoners, seven hundred and eighty of his command, two cannon, fifty-five wagons, one hundred horses, and eight hundred muskets. Cornwallis was but twenty-five miles distant; but the exchange of sharp words afterwards, between himself and Tarleton, did not lessen the value and prestige of this timely American victory. Congress and various States united in recognition of Morgan’s gallant conduct. Broken down by rheumatism, he was compelled to leave active service. From Quebec, in 1775, to Cowpens, in 1780, he had been “weighed” in many battle-scales, and never “found wanting.”