Daniel Morgan (1736-1802) was a pivotal figure in the American Revolutionary War. Born on July 6, 1736, likely in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Morgan left home as a teenager and moved just outside of Winchester. When Morgan arrived in Virginia, he was poor and illiterate. With this limited education, he worked at a sawmill and became known as an exceptional frontiersman and marksman. He worked in various trades in the Shenandoah Valley before beginning a career as a teamster, transporting supplies over the Blue Ridge Mountains to new settlements farther west and bringing back products from the frontier to the eastern markets.
In the French and Indian War, Morgan also served as a teamster, moving supplies to aid the British Army. He gained a reputation for insubordination after a physical altercation with an officer resulted in 500 lashes as punishment – typically a fatal number. Afterwards, Morgan would often boast that the British miscounted and only gave him 499 lashes. Morgan later served as a rifleman in the provincial forces assigned to protect Virginia’s western settlements from Native American raids. During this period, Morgan's reputation grew as an expert rifleman and military commander.
In 1757 Morgan was commissioned in George Washington’s Virginia Regiment. During this time, Morgan received his only wound in action, which very nearly killed him. He and two escorts were returning from Fort Edwards to Winchester, VA when they were ambushed by a group of French and Native Americans at Hanging Rock, VA (now West Virginia). A musket ball went through the back of Morgan’s neck, grazed the left side of his neck, and passed through his mouth near the jawbone – dislodging some teeth. He miraculously survived, but carried the scars with him the rest of his life. Afterwards, Morgan returned to Winchester and met Abigail Curry, who helped to calm his boisterous behavior and taught him additional reading and writing skills. The couple went on to have two children.
When the Revolution began in the spring of 1775, Morgan commanded a force of riflemen who were tasked with reinforcing Washington’s growing Continental Army then outside of Boston. After a grueling march covering more than 500 miles in twenty-one days, Morgan’s men arrived in New England, where they quickly gained a reputation for their hard fighting and the incredible accuracy of their rifled weapons, as opposed to the more common smoothbore muskets used by most soldiers. They also distinguished themselves from much of the Continental Army by wearing hunting shirts, a relatively simple construction of linen or deerskin squares with fringes running down each seam. This was considered a distinctly American fashion that the British Army soon associated with the growing reputation of the American riflemen.
Morgan’s riflemen played important roles in several major battles, including the Battle of Quebec and the Battle of Saratoga. Throughout the war, Morgan performed well, but he resigned from the army in 1777 after feeling insulted when he failed to receive several promotions. When the Continental Army’s southern forces suffered a crushing defeat in 1780 at the Battle of Camden, Morgan reluctantly came out of retirement to help turn the situation around. On January 17, 1781, Morgan won his greatest victory at the Battle of Cowpens, completely defeating a British force led by the notorious Banastre Tarleton. This battle proved an important turning point in the war and severely weakened the British army for the remainder of the Southern Campaign, providing Washington with a distinct advantage during the Battle of Yorktown. After the war, Morgan briefly returned to military service to help suppress the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. He later served in the United States Congress from 1797-1799 before dying at home in Virginia in 1802. Daniel Morgan's legacy, like many of his contemporaries, is complex. Today, multiple counties across the country are named after him due to the role he played in the American Revolution. However, his ownership of multiple enslaved people raises important questions about the ideals of freedom and equality upon which the nation was founded. Learn more about Morgan's life in this 2019 lecture, Daniel Morgan, Virginian.
Portrait Context:
In this portrait, General Daniel Morgan is portrayed in his buff and blue Continental Army uniform by artist Charles Wilson Peale. Many of Peale’s portraits include dramatic and detailed backgrounds full of symbolism, but this relatively simple portrait gives focus to Morgan. This is one of two paintings of Morgan by Peale, who is known for realistic proportions and expression. One of the most well-known early American artists, Peale was a noted painter of Revolutionary-era individuals, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin.