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Morgan was a large, rough man, poorly educated, and he preferred drinking and gambling to study. But he also showed a huge capacity for work. He worked clearing land, in a sawmill, and as a teamster. In a year he had saved enough to buy his own team, and concentrated on being a teamster.
In 1758 he joined a company of Virginia rangers as an Ensign. While carrying dispatches from Fort Edward (near Capon Bridge, West Virginia) to Winchester, Virginia, his party of only three men was ambushed. The other two were killed and Daniel was seriously wounded. A bullet hit him in the neck and went through his cheek. It knocked out the teeth in his left jaw, but he stayed in the saddle and was able to escape.
He remained active in the local militia. In 1763 he was a Lieutenant preparing forces to resist the Indian uprising known as Pontiac's Conspiracy. In 1774 he went to war again in the action known as Lord Dunmore's War, now a Captain of militia. In a campaign that lasted five months he led his company against the Shawnee Indians, striking deep into Ohio.
Later that year, when the Congress decided to invade Canada, Colonel Benedict Arnold convinced George Washington to send an eastern offensive against Quebec in support of Montgomery's effort. From among his forces Washington agreed to send three rifle companies, if they volunteered. All of these companies at Boston volunteered, so lots were use to choose who should go, and Morgan's company was among those chosen. Arnold named Captain Morgan to lead all three companies as a unit. The expedition set out Fort Western on September 25, with Morgan's men leading the advance party.
At the start, the Arnold Expedition had about 1,000 men, but by the time they arrived at the Isle of Orleans[?] on November 9 it had been reduced to 600. (Note: historian's have never reached a consensus on the use of a standard name for this epic journey.) When Montgomery arrived they launched their disastrous assault, the Battle of Quebec (1775)[?], on the morning of December 31. Arnold's force attacked the lower city from the North, but went down early with a bullet in his leg. Morgan took over leadership of this force, and they successfully entered the city following Daniel over the first barricade. When Montgomery fell, the British General Carleton, moved cannon and men to the first barricade, behind Morgan's force. Split up in the lower city, subject to fire from all sides, they were forced to surrender piecemeal. Morgan himself finally gave his sword to a French priest, refusing to give it up to the British troops. He was among the 372 men captured, and remained a prisoner until exchanged in January 1777.
His recruiting test for riflemen became a campfire legend. He got several broadsides printed with a picture of the head of a British officer (some versions said King George) and only recruited those who could hit this target with their first shot at 100 yards. Word of this even reached England, and Morgan was regarded as a war criminal, since aiming at particular people wasn't viewed as sporting. Aiming at officers was viewed as criminal.
On June 13, 1777 Morgan was placed in command of an assembled Light Infantry Corp of 500 riflemen, including his own. Washington assigned them to harass General William Howe's rear guard, and Morgan followed and attacked them during their entire withdrawal across New Jersey.
Before the Battle of Saratoga, Morgan's riflemen were able to drive Burgoyne's Indians behind the British regulars. This meant that the British didn't have any good intelligence about American movement and force disposition.
For the rest of the afternoon, American fire held the British in check. But, repeated American charges were repelled by British bayonets. Eventually, low on ammunition, the Americans withdrew. The British claimed victory, since they held the field, but they had twice the casualties of the Americans.
Passing through the Canadian loyalists, Morgan's Virginia sharpshooters got the British light infantry trapped in a cross fire between themselves and Dearborn's regiment. Although the light infantry broke, General Fraser was rallying them, when Benedict Arnold arrived to remark that that man was with a regiment. Morgan reluctantly ordered him shot by a sniper, and Timothy Murphy obliged him.
With Fraser mortally wounded, the light-infantry fell back into and through the redoubts occupied by Burgoyne's main force. Morgan was one of those who then followed Arnold's lead to turn the counter-attack from the British middle. Burgoyne retired to his starting positions, but about 500 men poorer for the effort. That night, he withdrew to the village of Saratoga, New York about 8 miles to the northwest.
During the next week, as Burgoyne dug in, Morgan and his men moved to his north. Their ability to cut up any patrols sent in their direction, convinced the British that retreat wasn't possible.
Throughout this period Morgan became increasingly dissatisfied with the army and the Congress. He had never been politically active, or cultivated a relationship with the Congress. As a result, he was repeatedly passed over for promotion to Brigadier, favor going to men with less combat experience but better political connections. While still a Colonel with Washington, he had temporarily commanded Weedon's brigade, and felt himself ready for the position. Besides this, his legs and back aggravated him from the abuse taken during the Quebec Expedition. He was allowed to resign on June 30, 1779 and returned home to Winhester.
In June of 1780 he was urged to reenter the service by General Gates, but he declined. Gates was taking command in the Southern Department and Morgan felt that being outranked by so many militia officers would limit his usefulness. After Gate's disaster at the Battle of Camden, Morgan thrust all other considerations aside, and went to join the Southern command at Hillsboro, North Carolina[?].
Morgan met his new Department Commander, Nathaniel Greene, on December 3, 1780 at Charlotte, North Carolina. Greene didn't change his command assignment, but did give him new orders. Greene had decided to split his army and annoy the enemy in order to buy time to rebuild his force. He gave Morgan's command of about 700 men the job of foraging and enemy harassment in the back country of South Carolina, while avoiding direct battle.
When this strategy became apparent, the British General Cornwallis sent Colonel Banastre Tarleton[?]'s British Legion to track him down. Morgan talked with many of the militia who had fought Tarleton before, and decided to disobey his orders, by setting up a direct confrontation.
Morgan's plan took advantage of Tarleton's tendencies for quick action and his disdain for the militia, as well as the longer range and accuracy of his Virginia riflemen. The marksmen were positioned to the front, then the militia, then the regulars at the hilltop. The first two units were to withdraw as soon as they were seriously threatened, but after inflicting damage. This would invite a premature charge.
The strategy worked very well. In less than an hour, Tarleton's 1,076 men had took 110 killed, and 712 captured. The captives included 200 wounded. Although Tarleton escaped, the Americans captured all his supplies and equipment, even including the officers slaves.
Cornwallis had lost not only Tarleton's legion, but his light infantry, wwhich limited his speed of reation for the rest of the campaign. Congress later voted Morgan a gold medal for his actions, while Virginia gave him land and an estate (abandoned by a Tory). The damp and chill had aggravated his sciatica to the point where he was in constant pain. So on February 10, he returned to his Virginia farm. On July 7, 1781 Mogan briefly joined Lafayette to once more pursue Banastre Tarleton, this time in Virginia, but they were not successful.
In 1794 he was briefly recalled to national service, as he lead militia units to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. By presenting a massive show of force, he managed to resolve the protests without a shot being fired. Morgan ran election for the U.S. Congress twice, as a Federalist. He lost in 1794 but won nest time to serve a term from 1797 to 1799. He died on July 6, 1802 at Saratoga.
In 1821 Virginia named a new county Morgan County in his honor. (It is now in West Virginia.) The states of Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee followed their example.
Morgan and his actions served as one of the sources for the fictional Benjamin Martin character in The Patriot movie released in 2000.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump