Eastern Acorn Press 1989
Forward by: Herbert Faulkner West
111 pages with Maps, sources and index
ISBN 0-915992-05-1
Price $9.50

While recently returning from Maudlin, South Carolina where my wife and I attended "The Battle of Cowpens Convention", we stumbled over the battlefield of Cowpens. Promising we did not have to walk over the rain soaked battlefield my wife consented to stopping at the battlefield's information center. We are both aware of the treasures that can be found in the "gift shops". No longer do tourists visit historic sights leaving with rubber tomahawks. Today historic sights are excellent places to find reprinted books and other texts pertaining to history.

It was at this battlefield Information Center where I picked up a valuable little jem entitled "The Battle of Cowpens" by Kenneth Roberts, for under four dollars! This short work by the author of "Arundel", "Rabble In Arms", "Boon Island" and "Northwest Passage" was unknown to either of us. It was Mr. Roberts' last work and is his attempt to improve his original "Collier's" abridged edition with an unabridged full text. Mr. West writes an enlightening forward dealing with the author's life and works. West explains Roberts ideas and ideals of writing historical novels. More importantly the forward reveals how Roberts' achieved the ideal from the idea as revealed through both critique and example.

Much to my liking the chapters are informative and as short as a single page with one paragraph. Somehow Roberts' delivers the goods, the people are sketched out and their actions and reactions are clearly developed. The short biographies of the main characters who took part in the battle are interwoven within the confines of the actual battle. Roberts also explores and defines ever so succinctly the character of both "Patriot" and "Tory".

Should you travel to Cowpens do stop by the Information Center and pick this book up. Originally written in 1957 it loses nothing with time. The student of the war in the South will find the note book style not only fascinating but also a valuable addition to his scholarly library. I highly recommend this work to the serious investigator of the American Revolution.

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