General Daniel Morgan, who won a brilliant victory at Cowpens, South Carolina, was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in 1736, of Welsh ancestry. Having moved to Virginia in 1753, he was commissioned a captain of Virginia riflemen in June 1775. During the following winter he accompanied General Benedict Arnold to Canada, and in the assault on Quebec of December 31, 1775, Morgan and his riflemen penetrated well into the city, where he was hemmed in and forced to surrender.

Late in 1776 he was released in an exchange of prisoners, and soon after commissioned colonel. In September 1777 he joined General Horatio Gates, then engaged in the campaign against General John Burgoyne, and took part in both battles of Saratoga. Morgan resigned from the army in July 1779 and retired to Virginia. After the battle of Camden, however, he joined Gates at Hilsborough, N.C., took command of a corps and was made brigadier general. British Generals Cornwallis and Tarleton attempted to entrap him in January 1781, but at Cowpens (Jan. 17) he defeated Tarleton and then escaped from Cornwallis into North Carolina.

In November 1794 Morgan commanded troops sent to suppress the Whiskey insurrection in Western Pennsylvania. He was a Federalist representative in Congress from 1797 to 1799, and died in Winchester, Virginia, July 6, 1802.