ar unleashed during the Revolution burst forth. Only the
intervention of Shelby and Campbell kept the frontiersmen from
annihilating Ferguson's Tories. As it was, the British lost 1,000 men,
700 of them captives. Ferguson was killed.

Cowpens was a personal victory for General Daniel Morgan who felt he had
been slighted by congress. Greene gave him a full command and sent him
off to find Tarleton. He found him at Cowpens, not too far from King's
Mountain. Morgan utilized his riflemen, light infantry, and cavalry and
Continental regulars in an unconventional manner. He thoroughly whipped
Tarleton, who up until that time had been invincible. Morgan's men killed
100 British, captured 800, and seized Tarleton's entire supply train.

The combination of King's Mountain and Cowpens completely disrupted
Cornwallis' plan and led him into the series of mistakes which ended at
Yorktown.[46]

[46] Ward, American Revolution, II, 792.

Even when he suffered defeat or a stalemate, as he did at Guilford
Courthouse (Greensboro, North Carolina) in March 1781, Greene made
Cornwallis pay such a heavy price that the British general could not
afford the cost of victory. Wandering aimlessly after Greene across North
Carolina and unable to live off the barren countryside, Cornwallis
retreated eastward to Wilmington. There in the spring of 1781, with only
1400 of his original 3,000 troops left, he decided to move north and join
Benedict Arnold's troops who had invaded Virginia on December 30, 1781.

The Invasion of Virginia, 1781

Three times before the British had appeared in the Chesapeake. In 1777
Admiral Howe sent a fleet into the upper Bay to assist the grand attack
which was to take New York and Philadelphia simultaneously. He had
withdrawn without contact after Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga ruined the
scheme.

Admiral George Collier swept into Hampton Roads in May 1779, burned the
shipyard at Gosport, captured 130 ships, occupied Portsmouth, and raided
the countryside, doing $2,000,000 damage. Before he could be challenged
by General Thomas Nelson, Jr., and the Virginia militia he was gone. One
consequence of the raid was the loss of all future loyalist support for
the British. At Collier's arrival, the numerous Norfolk-Portsmouth
loyalists came out from under cover, only to be abandoned when the
British left after a few days. They never ventured forth again.

In October 1780 General Alexander Leslie descended upon Hampto