Battle of Cowpens Special Event - K4C - 01/16-01/18, 2024

Andrew, I will be a NCS beginning Tuesday morning . Do you have echo-link? Russell / KE4GTQ

 

Thank you so much for the offer! But I will be in school until 3pm Eastern standard time. So I will not get to the shack until around 4pm. Thanks again.

 

Feel the excitement?

Almost Go Time within a few hours of the K4C Launch with multiple activations planned each of the next three days.

It is with great joy to announce that we will have a station operating from the National Park Service's Cowpens National Battlefield and at least one CW activation will be offered from a US West Coast Volunteer.

Remember to check the K4C page on QRZ for activation details of each Volunteer underneath the on-air sign that looks pretty much exactly like this when an Activation is underway:

Activations will also appear on the DX Summit cluster
Volunteers optionally may use Netlogger combined with over-the-air calls for Check-ins

Primary K4C Activations:
10AM EST / 15Z on/near 14.287MHz USB (following the Senile Net)
3PM EST/ 20Z on/near 7.195MHz LSB
7PM EST / 0Z on/near 7.195MHz LSB

....and will use Netlogger - Net Name ==> K4C Special Event Station
IMPORTANT: Please only sign into Netlogger if you can hear Net Control.

Netlogger for Mac/Windows/Linux is a free download here: https://netlogger.org/
Netlogger Companion for Android / iOS now available free
Net Control(s) will alternate between Netlogger and Over-the-Air calls.

Reminder: QSL Cards will be provided for this event at no charge - please include a self-addressed stamped envelope - donations welcome.

As often heard in the Colonies when exclaiming excitement, you have my very best:
Hip Hip HUZZA!!! - usually shouted three times accompanied by fist pumps...skyward...don't hit the person next to you, hi.

73,
Marc - W4OVT
On behalf of the esteemed K4C Volunteers and Event Sponsor, the 300+ Members of the TEN-TEC Legacy Nets which YOU are invited to Join - all XMITTER types are welcome and joining is free - visit here: https://groups.io/g/TENTECLEGACYNETS

 

Thanks for the contact. I have been a member of SAR for 9 years and these events give me a chance to combine 2 interest! Look forward to future contacts.

 

should it be envelopment vs. envelop? and thanks for the history lesson - good luck

 

Absolutely - darn spell checker - it is "Double Envelopment" - a strategy still taught today within Military Academies.

Morgan had studied this tactic which harkens all the way back to the Battle of Cannae in Italy 216 B.C. where Hannibal's infantry surrounded and massacred the larger Roman army.

It is also sometimes referred to as the "Pincer Movement" and "Horns of the Buffalo (or bull)."

It could be argued that Morgan implement another well known tactic mid-battle when a Commander order the advance against a line (and we know the British liked their lines!) call the "Boar Snout."

Good catch Vahe!

73,
Marc - W4OVT

 

Day One is in the books with a fantastic turn-out by 568 Compatriot Check-ins across 20m/40m/75m.

Team K4C is guzzling coffee and chasing donuts getting fueled for today's activations on this, the 243rd Anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens - January 17th, 1781.

It would be (9) nine months later Lord Cornwallis would offer terms of surrender at Yorktown, VA. His embarrassment so great he would send a lower ranked Officer to deliver the decision to not only abandon his Southern Strategy but the surrender of the entire British Army must to the shock of his Commander Sir Henry Clinton and the big boss, King Henry III.

It would be, as the leader of the British Forces in the Colonies quipped, a "chain of evils that happened in regular succession that led to the total loss of America" starting with the Battle of Kings Mountain that Clinton named starting his response.

The Battle of Cowpens would be the next Battle following Kings Mountain which occurred a little over (3) three months prior on October 7th, 1780.

The K4x Series will cover each of these Battles throughout 2024 with hope YOU can earn your award - still working on that idea - some of our Group favor a "Battle Sash" similar to the Scouting Merit Badge Sash with ornate badges representing each battle - another suggestion is a coaster set with respective battle engravings on each...maybe both.

And since we are K4x - why not offer a grand prize - an Elecraft K4 XMITTER drawing for those who worked each K4x event.

More on that to come - but now, it's time to man our battle stations - HUZZA!!!
K4C is NOW ACTIVATED on 7.272MHz LSB with Russell at the Cowpens Battlefield!!!

73
Marc - W4OVT on behalf of Team K4C

 

Following his unimaginable defeat at the Battle of Cowpens, the 26-year British Commander Banastre Tarleton, as K4C Volunteer NCS Pat AC1OC quipped:

"was cooking it through the woods at a full gallop"

...eventually reuniting with Commander Lord Cornwallis to tell his version of events the day prior.

Whatever Tarleton told to Cornwallis, it worked since the latter would pen in a letter "only the troops' misbehavior could have deprived the glory."

What Tarleton likely stated, as was written in his memoirs, his infantry at Cowpens broke formation being only "two deep" which made them vulnerable to attack and retreat.

The victor, Continental Army Brigadier General Daniel Morgan would describe his victory in a dispatch to his friend William Snickers "I was desirous to have a stroke at Tarlton [sic]...and I have given him a devil of a whipping" and then they celebrated with a Snickers bar - not true!

Tangentially, the origin of the candy name Snickers was inspired by a race horse by that name - true story.

Heralded as the most authoritative book on the Battle of Cowpens, author Lawrence E. Babits would adopt Morgan's description as his title:

]

A preview of Babits book is here:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Devil_of_a_Whipping/bUpBDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

An interesting tidbits on Morgan...he had resigned in mid-1779 largely due to worsening sciatica but also had also been passed over for promotion. But that would come in October 1780 when Morgan was promoted to Brigadier General - imagine his affirming satisfaction of winning the Battle of Cowpens just over three months later.

Congress would award Morgan with a Gold Medal shown in silver below. The original would be stolen so Congress approved a reissue that disappeared for two centuries. Upon its resurface, it would in 2022 fetch at auction 960,000 USD.
Source: https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VKYS3/1781-1839-daniel-morgan-at-cowpens-medal-gold-562-mm-dies-by-jean-jacques-barre-after-dupre-betts-593-julian-mi-7-loubat-8-sp



Morgan would receive his promotion to Major General in 1794, be elected to the US House of Representatives in 1796 serving a single term until 1799. He would die in the care of his daughter in 1802 - headstone below:



Today, January 18th, 2024 marks the final activation(s) of the K4C Special Event with brief on-air comments regarding the Battle's impact that would lead to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse two months later.

We will celebrate that Battle as K4G on March 14th-16th...with YOU!

We start this final day of K4C with 776 total Check-ins with gratitude to each Participant.

Hip Hip HUZZA!!!

73,
Marc - W4OVT on behalf of Team K4C

 

How about Guilford Courthouse (March), Fort 96 (May - June), Camden (August) and Yorktown (October)? I love these "nationally" important historical activations and being able to participate in them! So much historical stuff in SC (well Guilford is in NC I'll admit). If I could do it, I'd load up my gear and activate the "Liberty Trail". Keep up the great work (and the great art!) - history isn't dead nor is it boring. 73

 

Received numerous reports of winter storm related adversities that prevented quite a few Check-ins from making their K4C contact...sooo, this Sunday's 01/21 regularly scheduled 40m SSB TEN-TEC Legacy Net (K4x Sponsor) will operate as K4C per below:

BONUS ACTIVATION
Activation #13 - +/- 7.195MHz Sunday 01/21 4PM ET
Netlogger Suggested

Anyone able to activate at the Cowpens National Battlefield please email mailto:marc@w4ovt.org

73,
Marc - W4OVT

 

Hello Tate - great question! Pleased to report the answer was posted last month on the K4C QRZ page - I will cut and paste below:
https://www.qrz.com/db/K4C

ADDITIONAL 2024 K4x ACTIVATIONS

The exciting 2024 SES proposed agenda (below) honors pivotal American Revolution Southern Campaign Victories that led British Commander in the Colonies, Sir Henry Clinton, to describe as a "Chain of Evils" that led to Great Britain's "Total Loss of America."
K4B - The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge - February 27th-29th
K4G - The Battle of Guilford Courthouse - March 14th-16th
K4M - The Battle of Kings Mountain - October 1st-7th
K4Y - The Siege of Yorktown - October 17th-20th​

If another Battle was added it would be Musgrove's Mill or possibly a combination of Francis Marion "The Swamp Fox" and the Siege at Charleston the British won before moving inland to annihilate Continental General Horatio Gates and his Men at the Battle of Camden.

But both Charleston and Camden were British victories along with British stronghold at Fort Ninety-Six and their victory at The Battle of Waxhaws - each of these certainly deserving of Special Event services. We need a Ham Loyalist to own the British SES!

Although Guilford Courthouse was technically a British victory, it hastened Cornwallis's arrival to Yorktown...just in time to gaze upon the Atlantic only, no doubt to his horror, see an ocean full of French warships blocking his escape with Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse having arrived from the West Indies = impeccable timing and thankfully ignoring George Washington's desire for de Grasse to change course to New York instead.

Very little has been written about Washington's ill-conceived tactical strategy to once and for all take control of New York.

Washington's advisers along with the French command rejected the New York plan in favor of what would become victory at Yorktown.

This amounted to a mini-mutiny with Washington surrendering his New York ambitions...oh, to be a fly on those tent walls!

So, why was Washington advocating for a New York consolidation of Continental and French forces despite the success in the South?

IMO - it would be the southern successes, especially Kings Mountain where victory was achieved by both planning and execution by Patriot Militia = commoners made up of mostly farmers and frontiersmen who had no military training, had never fought before and most would never fight again.

All this from these amateur fighters and strategists?

Indeed, these commoners had defeated the world's most feared and well provisioned army - the British Army at the Battle of Kings Mountain where not a single one of Washington's Continental Officers or Infantry were present.

And it must be emphasized, Kings Mountain followed the humiliating defeat of Continental General Gates at the Battle of Camden.

IMO, Washington wanted to lure the British back to the north and as far away from the south as possible.

But even if a sliver of what is stated above were true, why was such defiance of Washington's wishes suppressed?

Easy answer: We love to lionize our heroes.

Outside of Washington's repeated military blunders, he was a great Leader, Statesman and President.

A final comment re: de Grasse - he was a proud seafarer believing wars could only be won by sea.

Following Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, de Grasse declared:

“You will have observed that, whatever efforts are made by the land armies, the navy must have the casting vote in the present contest.”

Gotta love his devotion to the sea!

Thanks again Tate for your passion for history and for your participation with K4C - "you're in the log!"

73,
Marc - W4OVT

 

I'm sorry I missed you guys! I had HamAlert set up to ping me for any CW spots on any band, but alas, nothing came up. Maybe next year. Looks like it was a great event. 73 Skip K4EAK

 

Hello Skip - per the post two messages up, you have another opportunity to participate in K4C 2024 tomorrow on 40m SSB at 4PM on/near 7.195MHz.

We are searching for portable K4x operators to offer CW activations.

Battlefield Activations can be done as POTA activations using HAMRS or equivalent so long as the logger has .adi file exporting.
You get your POTA credit, email me to the .adi file, and I will modify the .adi to upload to K4C Logbook - easy peasy and everyone's happy especially those CW Patriotic Hams who, like you, wish to participate in the stories of the Men Who Won America - HUZZA!!!

73,
Marc - W4OVT

 

j'ai apprécier vos n0mbreuses remarques, Merci