On 13 and 14 January, 2001, the Cowpens NB will hold its annual observance
of Cowpens Battle fought there 17 Jan 1781.  For those seriously interested in
the RevWar in the South, or participants in this battle in particular, this 
is one
event you should seriously consider attending.   Patriot forces included 
men from
SC, GA, NC, VA, MD and DE.  Brit forces included all the same plus NJ (possibly
NY), England, and Scotland.

The Cowpens NB is located north of I-85 about 10 miles n. of Spartanburg SC 
and
about 10 miles w. of Gaffney SC.  A number of motels can  be found at exit 
92 (with
the peach-shaped water tank that can be seen for miles!) near Gaffney (where
the SC Scenic Highway 11 crosses I-85).  For those coming from GA, I'd suggest
you consider using SC 11 (starts at the SC Welcome Center just as you cross the
bridge into SC) either coming or going.  It is a beautiful drive, 
particularly s. of I-26.

John Buchanon, author of "The Road to Guilford Courthouse" will be there 
both days
and will participate in panel discussion on Saturday.  Other panel 
participants will be
Dr. Christine Swager (wrote the delightful "Black Crows and White 
Cockades"), Dr.
Walter Edgar (wrote a recently released history of SC), Dr. Gregory Massey 
(wrote
a recently released biography of John Laurens).

On Sunday, Dr. Larry Babits (author of "Devil of a Whipping", the most 
exhaustive
treatment ever written about the Cowpens Battle) will be there.  I expect 
that he will
be persuaded to conduct a guided tour of the battlefield.

Dr. Bobby Moss will be there one or both days.  He is the author of 
"Patriots at the
Cowpens", and also the recently released annotated diary of loyalist doctor 
Uzal
Johnson, and numerous books relating to individual records of area patriots 
and loyalists.
You can see more about Dr. Moss and his work at
http://jrshelby.com/scotia/

Meanwhile, down in the basement, ....!
============================
For the very first time, I will be sharing a project where I have used 2+ 
gb of map images
(topo, old maps, modern maps),  OziExplorer software, 
[http://www.oziexplorer.com/]
numerous printed and online resources, and in some cases a gps, to locate 
and plot as
many as possible of the locations identified as significant in the 
RevWar.  Of the some
3000 or so world-wide locations which I have found in various listings, I 
have plotted coordinates
for 80% of them.  I have a remaining 'want-list' of 400+ locations, 1/3 of 
which are in SC,
very few of which I can ever expect to locate.

The SCROOTS site
http://scroots.org/places.html
  was very useful in that it provided a number of the old maps that I 
use.  E.g., I have the entire
1825 SC Mills Atlas included.

[Note: this is still very much a 'work-in-progress'.  I can't at this time 
offer
'lookups' to the general public other than those attending these sessions.]

I started with the listing provided on John K. Robertson's site:
http://www.281.com/robertson/battles/17752.htm
but supplemented it with additional sites and listings.   JKR makes a 
valiant effort
to provide a composite and comprehensive listing of such sites, to verify 
them as
possible with printed sources, and list each skirmish/battle only once 
(noting its
name variants).  My criteria is much looser.  I am essentially creating a 
digital
gazetteer of locations listed *somewhere* as significant to the RevWar, 
usually
but not always a site where armed conflict occurred.  My quest of "where 
is/was it?" is
quite tough enough.  I have to leave it to others to prove what may or may 
not have
happened there.

I have digital images of the 1:250,000 topo maps for *all* US sites plotted.

In a couple of sessions, I will do an introductory presentation for about 
half the time
and will devote the remainder of the time to the interests of the 
audience.  We will
be using a computer projector in an area that limits the audience to 25 or so.

Some things we may consider (dependent on the interests of the audience):
-Which continents were *not* involved in the RevWar?
-Which states *outside* the original 13 colonies had sites?
-What was the northernmost site? Southernmost? Easternmost? Westernmost?
-Which major nations were allied with the British in the war?  Which took a 
position
     in opposition?  Less than favorable to British interests?
-Were there more sites in northern colonies or in the southern ones?
-Where were the battles with the Indians?  Where were the Valley Towns or the
     Lower Towns?
-Was the Battle of Fishdam Ford fought on the east bank of the Broad (as two
     historical markers attest) or on the west side?
-Which sites (islands, points, inlets, necks) no longer exist?  Which sites 
(ferries,
     fords, battle/skirmish) are now inundated by lakes?   Which have been 
covered
     with city streets?  Which significant NC site has been 'preserved' 
beneath 2
     schools and a stadium?
-Which area roads from the early 1800s lie beneath modern SC highways?
     How can we know?
-Which sites are now known by a different name?

More info, updates on the Cowpens anniversary program should be available at
http://www.nps.gov/cowp/
Be sure to click on "in depth".  If you can't find the schedule, on request 
I will send
you a copy of the 2-day program.

John Robertson

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