Battle of Cowpens in the American Revolution

Battle of Cowpens in the American Revolution The Battle of Cowpens was fought January 17, 1781  during the American Revolution (1775-1783) and saw American forces win one of their most tactically decisive victories of the conflict. In late 1780, British commander Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis sought to conquer the Carolinas and destroy Major General Nathanael Greenes small American army in the region. As he retreated north Greene directed Brigadier General Daniel Morgan to a take a force west to raise morale in the region and find supplies. Pursued by the aggressive  Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, Morgan made a stand in a pasture area known as the Cowpens. Correctly assessing his opponents reckless nature, Morgans men conducted a double envelopment of the British and effectively destroyed Tarletons command. Background After taking command of the battered American army in the South, Major General Nathanael Greene divided his forces in December 1780. While Greene led one wing of the army towards supplies at Cheraw, SC, the other, commanded by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, moved to locate additional supplies for the army and stir up support in the back country. Aware the Greene had split his forces, Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis dispatched an 1,100-man force under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to destroy Morgans command. A bold leader, Tarleton was notorious for atrocities committed by his men at earlier engagements including the Battle of Waxhaws.   Riding out with a mixed force of cavalry and infantry, Tarleton pursued Morgan into northwestern South Carolina. A veteran of the wars early Canadian campaigns and a hero of the Battle of Saratoga, Morgan was a gifted leader who knew how to obtain the best from his men. Rallying his command in a pastureland known as the Cowpens, Morgan devised a cunning plan to defeat Tarleton. Possessing a varied force of Continentals, militia, and cavalry, Morgan chose Cowpens as it was between the Broad and Pacolet Rivers which cut off his lines of retreat. Armies Commanders American Brigadier General Daniel Morgan1,000 men British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton1,100 men Morgans Plan While opposite to traditional military thinking, the Morgan knew his militia would fight harder and be less inclined to flee if their lines of retreat were removed. For the battle, Morgan placed his reliable Continental infantry, led by Colonel John Eager Howard, on the slope of a hill. This position was between a ravine and a stream which would prevent Tarleton from moving around his flanks. In front of the Continentals, Morgan formed a line of militia under Colonel Andrew Pickens. Forward of these two lines was a select group of 150 skirmishers. Lieutenant Colonel William Washingtons cavalry (around 110 men) was placed out of sight behind the hill. Morgans plan for the battle called for the skirmishers to engage Tarletons men before falling back. Knowing that the militia was unreliable in combat, he asked that they fire two volleys before retreating behind the hill. Having been engaged by the first two lines, Tarleton would be forced to attack uphill against Howards veteran troops. Once Tarleton was sufficiently weakened, the Americans would switch over to the attack. Tarleton Attacks Breaking camp at 2:00 AM on January 17, Tarleton pressed on to the Cowpens. Spotting Morgans troops, he immediately formed his men for battle despite the fact they had received little food or sleep in the preceding two days. Placing his infantry in the center, with cavalry on the flanks, Tarleton ordered his men forward with a force of dragoons in lead.  Encountering the American skirmishers, the dragoons took casualties and withdrew. Pushing forward his infantry, Tarleton continued  taking losses but was able to force the skirmishers back. Retreating as planned, the skirmishers kept firing as they withdrew. Pressing on, the British engaged Pickens militia who fired their two volleys and promptly fell back around the hill. Believing the Americans were in full retreat, Tarleton ordered his men forward against the Continentals (Map). Morgans Victory Ordering the 71st Highlanders to attack the American right, Tarleton sought to sweep the Americans from the field. Seeing this movement, Howard directed a force of Virginia militia supporting his Continentals to turn to meet the attack. Misunderstanding the order, the militia instead began withdrawing. Driving forward to exploit this, the British broke formation and then were stunned when the militia promptly stopped, turned, and opened fire on them. Unleashing a devastating volley at a range of about thirty yards, the Americans brought Tarletons advance to a halt. Their volley complete, Howards line drew bayonets and charged the British supported by rifle fire from Virginia and Georgia militia. Their advance stopped,the British were stunned when Washingtons cavalry rode round the hill and struck their right flank.While this was occurring, Pickens militia re-entered the fray from the left, completing a 360-degree march around the hill (Map). Caught in a classic double envelopment and stunned by their circumstances, nearly half of Tarletons command ceased fighting and fell to the ground. With his right and center collapsing, Tarleton gathered his cavalry reserve, his British Legion, and rode into the fray against the American horsemen. Unable to have any effect, he began withdrawing with what forces he could gather. During this effort, he was personally attacked by Washington. As the two fought, Washingtons orderly saved his life when a British dragoon moved to strike him. Following this incident, Tarleton shot Washingtons horse from under him and fled the field. Aftermath Coupled with the victory at Kings Mountain three months before, the Battle of Cowpens aided in blunting the British initiative in the South and regaining some momentum for the Patriot cause. In addition, Morgans triumph effectively removed a small British army from the field and relieved pressure on Greenes command. In the fighting, Morgans command sustained between 120-170 casualties, while Tarleton suffered approximately 300-400 dead and wounded as well as around 600 captured. Though the Battle of Cowpens was relatively small in regard to numbers involved, it played a key role in the conflict as it deprived the British of desperately needed troops and altered Cornwallis future plans. Rather continuing efforts to pacify South Carolina, the British commander instead focused his efforts on pursuing Greene. This resulted in a costly victory at Guilford Court House in March and his ultimate withdraw to Yorktown where his army was captured that October.

Scenario Analysis In Finance Essay Example

Scenario Analysis In Finance Essay Example Scenario Analysis In Finance Essay Scenario Analysis In Finance Essay Finance Scenario Analysis Introduction Scenario 1: Increased expenses used in financing Increasing the level of expenses alongside increased revenues in the overall leads to a decrease in the EBIT. The increase in the amount of expenses happens to be at a higher rate than that the increase in the revenue and this depreciates the level of operating income obtained after deducting expenses. Expenses such as advertising, sales and distribution as well as administration expenses have a heavy weight on the income level and this leads to the reduction in the profits level of the company. From the analysis, it is clear that the increase in the amount of corporate expenses as well as the selling, general and administrative expenses from (2.2M, 12.9M) in 1997 to (4.2M, 30.7M) in 1999 significantly affects the operating income. Ideally, selling, general and administrative expenses take a significant portion of the expenses. Irrespective of the tax amount charged, the net profit after taxes will always decrease with increase in the variable and fixed expenses. In the above scenari o, EBIT decreased from $157,501 in 2001 to $252,034 in year 2004. Scenario 2: Financing assets through significant capital expenditure Ideally, increasing the amount of capital allocated to making capital expenditures through investment in assets is profitable and though leads to incurring of huge initial outlay, it results to increase in revenues especially when the items acquired are used in the generation of additional cashflows. The assets purchased have different payback times and while others take a short time to generate revenues which cover the costs incurred in purchasing them, others have long payback times but the overall aim was to generate an incremental cashflow which in this case can be seen to have increased from $2.035M in 1997 to 18.6M in 2001 and finally to $138.7 M in 2004. Scenario 3: Increasing debt ratio and earning per share The increase in debt ratio which is brought about by increasing borrowings from external sources can be seen to have a negative effect on the cashflows mainly because it leads to the reduction in the equity level. Failure of the organization to generate enough cashflows from utilizing its assets efficiently and to be in a position to repay off its debts is what makes the cashflows adverse. One of the consequence of this is reduced earnings per share since more money is used to pay off debts and less is distributed to the shareholders.