Personal Facts
- Nickname: The Old Wagoner.
- Born: Around 1735 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
- Parents: James Morgan (father) and Eleanor Lloyd (mother).
- Spouse: Abigail Curry (1772).
- Died: July 6, 1802, in Westchester, Virginia.
- Buried: Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.
- Part of: French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War, Continental Army.
Key Details
- In 1757, a British officer hit Morgan with the flat of his sword. Morgan responded by knocking the officer to the ground. According to legend, Morgan received 500 lashes as punishment for retaliating.
- Morgan and his men were backwoodsmen who were experts at sharpshooting with their rifles, which were much more accurate than the muskets used by many New England militiamen. Their skill took a significant toll on the British during the Battles of Saratoga.
- At the Battle of Quebec, the American forces were trapped in the city with no escape. However, Morgan refused to surrender to the British. Instead, he gave his weapon to a French priest.
- When Morgan was away from the army, he was a farmer, and he called his farm “Soldier’s Rest.”
Significance
Daniel Morgan is important to American History due to his bravery and leadership during pivotal moments of the American Revolutionary War. His backwoods experience and fighting skills were a good match for the guerrilla warfare strategy employed by Nathanael Greene in the Southern Campaign. Morgan utilized his knowledge of the enemy and his own men to lay a trap at the Battle of Cowpens, which was perfectly executed, resulting in one of the Continental Army’s most significant victories of the war.
Biography
Early Life
Very little is known about Daniel Morgan’s early life. His date of birth and place of birth are uncertain. However, it is generally believed that he was born around 1735 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
- Morgan quarreled with his father and moved to the Shenandoah Valley in 1753.
- He worked as a farm laborer and wagoner (wagon driver).
French and Indian War
Morgan served in the Virginia Militia during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). He was a wagoneer in the British force led by Edward Braddock, which was defeated at the Battle of Monongahela (1755).
- Afterward, he evacuated wounded soldiers and hauled supplies to frontier posts.
- According to legend, he was given 500 lashes after striking a British officer who had hit him with a sword.
- He became a junior officer in 1758.
- While on a mission to deliver messages to Winchester, Virginia, he was shot by a Native American Indian. The bullet passed through his neck and mouth, causing him to lose teeth on one side.
After the war ended in America, he received a small land grant near Winchester, Virginia, in 1762.
- He lived with Abigail Curry in 1762 and married her about 10 years later.
- Morgan developed a reputation as a fierce fighter and bold leader, serving in the militia again during Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763–1766).
- He took part in Dunmore’s War in 1774, which resulted in the defeat of the Shawnee in the Ohio Country.
American Revolutionary War
When the American Revolutionary War started, he gathered riflemen from Virginia and marched to Cambridge to join the American forces at the Siege of Boston (1775–1776).
- Virginia commissioned Morgan as a Captain of one of two rifle companies on June 22, 1775.
- He enlisted 96 men in 10 days.
- He led his company about 600 miles to the Boston lines without losing a man.
Canada Campaign
When Congress made plans to launch a campaign against British forces in Canada, Benedict Arnold was selected to lead an army through Maine to attack Quebec from the east.
- Morgan and his men volunteered to join Arnold’s Expedition.
- When they reached Quebec, they merged with the main Northern Army under the command of General Richard Montgomery.
Battle of Quebec
On December 31, 1775, the Americans attacked Quebec. However, bad weather and poor execution on their part led to disaster.
- Montgomery was killed, and Arnold was badly wounded.
- Morgan took command of the American forces.
- Morgan was forced to surrender, ending the Battle of Quebec.
Morgan was taken as a prisoner and later released in a prisoner exchange, ending his role in the Invasion of Quebec.
- He was in Quebec until the summer of 1776.
- He returned on parole and was freed via a prisoner exchange in January 1777.
Operations in New Jersey
Morgan returned to the Continental Army, and Congress appointed him Colonel of the 11th Virginia Regiment.
- Morgan joined General George Washington’s Army a few months later.
- He served with distinction in the operations in New Jersey in the early part of 1777.
- Washington selected him to lead 500 riflemen known as “the Corps of Rangers.”
Saratoga Campaign
As General John Burgoyne marched his army toward Albany, New York, Washington sent Morgan and his men north to assist General Horatio Gates.
- Morgan and his riflemen played a decisive role in winning the Battle of Freeman’s Farm and the Battle of Bemis Heights.
- They were the only American rifle unit that fought in the battles.
- His riflemen inflicted heavy casualties on British forces in both battles.
- Soon after, Morgan and his men helped capture Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga, forcing Burgoyne to surrender.
Philadelphia Campaign
After Saratoga, he joined Washington for the Philadelphia Campaign (1777–1778) but saw little action.
- He was engaged in several small skirmishes with British troops in December 1777.
- During the Winter at Valley Forge, his 11th Virginia Regiment was grouped with General William Woodford and the 7th Virginia.
- Morgan did not participate in the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778).
- After the battle, Morgan pursued and harassed the British.
Leave from the Army
Morgan decided to take leave from the army on July 18, 1779, after Anthony Wayne was selected to command a new light infantry brigade over him.
- In June 1780, Congress ordered him to report to General Horatio Gates, who had taken command of the Southern Department.
- Morgan refused the order in protest because Congress had not restored his rank or promoted him to General.
Return to the Army
Despite this, he rejoined the army after learning about the American defeat at the Battle of Camden.
- On October 2, 1780, Gates gave him command of a corps of light troops.
- Congress appointed him Brigadier General on October 13, 1780.
Two months later, Gates was replaced by General Nathanael Greene, who confirmed Morgan’s rank and position. Greene divided the Southern Army between himself and Morgan and sent Morgan westward to threaten British outposts in the South Carolina Backcountry. General Charles Cornwallis responded by sending Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton in pursuit of Morgan.
Battle of Cowpens
On January 17, 1781, Morgan fought Tarleton at Cowpens, South Carolina.
- Morgan used a false retreat tactic to lure Tarleton into a trap and defeat him.
- The victory at Cowpens became a classic example of battlefield strategy.
- After the battle, Morgan withdrew and joined General Greene’s main force.
- Together, they retreated into Virginia.
- Suffering from illness, Morgan took a leave of absence on February 10, 1781.
Virginia Raids
- British forces led raids in Virginia.
- Marquis de Lafayette was sent to engage them.
- Morgan went to join him, but the raids were over by the time he arrived.
Later Years
Morgan retired from the army and lived in Virginia, but returned to service briefly in 1794 to help end the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania.
- Morgan ran for Congress as a member of the Federalist Party in 1795 and lost.
- He was elected to the United States Congress in 1797.
- Poor health prevented him from seeking reelection.
- Morgan retired to Winchester, Virginia.
- He died in Winchester in 1802.
Appendix
Narrative
AHC Note — This narrative of the life of Daniel Morgan is adapted from the Dictionary of American Biography (1943). Please note that minor text corrections have been made and additional spacing has been added to improve readability.
Daniel Morgan, the son of James and Eleanor Morgan, was of Welsh ancestry and was probably born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. However, some authorities claim he was born just across the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where his father was an ironmaster at the Durham Iron Works.
The meager records of his youth tell us that, after quarreling with his father, he made his way to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where he worked as a farm laborer and teamster until he had saved sufficient money to become an independent wagoner.
He accompanied Braddock’s ill-fated expedition as a wagoner. Later, he transported supplies to the frontier posts of Virginia. After striking a British subaltern, the hot-tempered, impulsive youth received 500 lashes on his bare back, yet freely forgave the officer upon the latter’s expression of contrition.
He served as a Lieutenant in Pontiac’s War. In 1774, he accompanied Lord Dunmore’s expedition to western Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, his marriage to Abigail Bailey gradually transformed him from a boisterous, pugnacious youth into a high-spirited man, eager to improve his mind and to acquire a competence.
At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Congress commissioned him, June 22, 1775, as Captain of one of the two companies of riflemen to be raised in Virginia. Within ten days, he enlisted his company, and 21 days later, he reached Boston from Winchester, Virginia, with his company intact.
After a short period of comparative inactivity, he volunteered for Arnold’s arduous expedition through the Maine wilderness to Quebec. He accompanied Arnold’s column in the assault, December 31, 1775. After Arnold was wounded, the other officers insisted that Morgan take command. He led them forward, captured the first barrier, being one of the first over, and penetrated a considerable distance into the Lower City. However, the failure of the other troops to join him, he reluctantly surrendered to overwhelming odds.
After his release the following autumn, Congress commissioned him Colonel of a regiment to be raised in Virginia on November 12, 1776. After rejoining Washington the following April, he organized a corps of 500 sharpshooters and participated in various movements in New Jersey. In August, he was sent north with his men to assist Gates in opposing Burgoyne’s advance.
Here, his troops rendered such signal service at the battles of Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights that Gates, replying to Washington’s request for their return, declared that he could not spare “the corps the army of General Burgoyne are most afraid of.”
Morgan’s indignant refusal to participate in the intrigues against Washington led to an estrangement between him and Gates, though the latter had warmly welcomed him upon his arrival.
After Burgoyne’s surrender, Washington recalled him to assist in the campaign around Philadelphia in the fall and winter of 1777. Though not actually engaged in the Battle of Monmouth, he effectively pursued the British after that engagement.
Impaired health and dissatisfaction with the course pursued by Congress regarding army promotions led him to resign in July 1779. He retired to Virginia, where he occupied himself in erecting his mansion, “Soldier’s Rest.”
Recalled to active service in 1780, he joined Gates, with whom he had become reconciled, shortly after the latter’s disastrous defeat at Camden. When Greene succeeded Gates in command of the southern department, the former placed Morgan, recently promoted to Brigadier General, in command of the troops in western North Carolina, which were opposing the advance of the British northward from Charleston.
Failing to obtain Greene’s consent to his plan of creating a diversion by advancing into Georgia, Morgan gradually retired northward before the advancing British under Tarleton until he reached the Cowpens, a few miles south of the North Carolina boundary. Here, with the Broad River in his rear, he determined to make a stand with his small force of somewhat over 800.
On January 17, 1781, largely by the effective work of his cavalry, he won the brilliant victory of Cowpens, one of the decisive victories of the war, for which he received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal.
Fearing a union of Tarleton’s shattered troops with the main army under Cornwallis and an effort to cut him off, he retreated rapidly northward, effecting a junction early in February with Greene’s troops at Guilford Court House.
Ill health shortly afterward again forced his retirement from active duty; however, he joined Lafayette for a short time in July to defend Virginia.
At the conclusion of the war, he advanced money, so far as his straitened circumstances permitted, to many of his needy soldiers, taking their scrip as security, subject to redemption. This act led, for a time, to the charge, which he bitterly resented, even to the point of a personal encounter, that he was speculating in his soldiers’ necessities.
Retiring to his estate, he devoted himself with such success to the restoration of his shattered fortune that by 1796, he owned more than 250,000 acres on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.
In 1794, in command of the Virginia Militia, he assisted in suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. After the main army withdrew, he remained in control of the district, where he successfully pursued a policy of conciliation.
Defeated for Congress in 1795, he was successful in 1797, serving one term. Indicative of his intense partisanship is his comment in a letter of 1798 regarding the Democrats: “They at this time look like a parsell of Egg sucking Dogs that have been caut Breaking up Hens Nests.”
Morgan was stout and active, six feet in height, “exactly fitted for the toils and pomp of war.” Wild in his youth, he later became a devout member of the Presbyterian Church in his later years. His two daughters, Nancy and Betty, married Presley Neville and James Heard, respectively.
Learn More About Daniel Morgan
- Daniel Morgan (George Washington’s Mount Vernon)
- Daniel Morgan (American Battlefield Trust)
- Men of the Revolution: Daniel Morgan (American Heritage)
- Daniel Morgan (National Park Service)
Video of Daniel Morgan
This video from the American Battlefield Trust discusses the career of Daniel Morgan.
