Bucks historians ranked this Durham native second only to George Washington as a war hero
When I first came across a mention of Daniel Morgan and the Never Fails, I thought perhaps they were one-hit wonders of the rock ‘n’ roll world. Perhaps Danny was that other rocker from Gainesville, Fla. who believed he was so much better than local boy Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Not even close to the truth. Stephen Willey of the Durham Township Historical Society made that clear. I have a new appreciation of Daniel Morgan and his crack riflemen of the American Revolution after Stephen sent me an 1895 newspaper clipping. It concerned the annual Buckwampun Literary Association meeting in Durham. The Democrat newspaper waxed poetically about the beauty of the setting, much like it remains today. “The fair county of Bucks ne’er wore a more luxuriant garb. Hill and brake and fen, stream and wood and glen invited admiration with such persistence that even the most prosaic said, ‘How beautiful.’”
Durham is distinctive not only for its pulchritude but for producing implements of war. Residents mined iron in the spiny hills sandwiching the village where its blast furnace turned out cannon balls for George Washington’s army. The newspaper also noted that in Durham “the renowned General Daniel Morgan, commander of the ‘Never Fails’ Virginia riflemen, was born and raised to manhood.” His fame was “second to that of no leader in the War for Independence, save the beloved Commander-in-Chief himself.”
Daniel was born in 1736 near the furnace, the son of its charcoal burner. As a powerfully built teen, Dan worked odd jobs before deciding to relocate to Virginia’s bustling Shenandoah Valley. He earned enough money in just two years to become a teamster with his own fleet of horse-drawn wagons. In the 1750s, he shuttled supplies to the British Army battling the French on the Pennsylvania frontier. During that time, a lieutenant struck Morgan with the flat of his sword for something he said. He reacted by knocking the Redcoat out with his fist. Charged with hitting an officer, Morgan barely survived a normally fatal punishment of 500 lashes shredding the skin on his back. Though he later accepted the lieutenant’s apology, Daniel never forgave the British.
Back home in Winchester, he organized a company of 90 Virginia rifleman known as the “Never Fails” guarding the frontier. His daring and skill as colonel led to him and his men being called to Boston in 1775 to fight the Brits at the outbreak of the American Revolution. “The Never Fails” ― part of Gen. Washington’s “Flying Camp” cavalry from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania ― were incredibly accurate sharpshooters. Daniel Morgan soon commanded the entire regiment. “One of Morgan’s most valuable qualities was his ability to think beyond the confines of accepted standards of warfare,” according to the American Battlefield Trust. He favored hit-and-run attacks in New York and New Jersey in 1777. His frontiersmen sometimes wore Indian disguises. He was characterized as the “Omega of the Revolution”, deft at terrorizing the British.
Though the Never Fails were indispensable to Washington, Morgan resigned and went home after being bypassed for promotion. As the war moved into the South in 1780 however, Washington convinced him to rejoin the fight with 8 companies of Virginia sharpshooters. They headed into South Carolina to hunt British nemesis Lt. Col Banatre Tarleton and a major portion of the British army. The two sides collided in Cowpens, S.C. where the Americans feigned retreat. Tarleton impulsively charged, savoring victory. The Never Fails stopped, turned, and counterattacked in unison backed by cavalry previously hidden from view. It was a rout, a major turning point in the war.
In 1790, Congress elevated Daniel Morgan to brigadier general and awarded him a gold medal. He served one term in the House of Representatives as a Federalist and died in1802 with burial in Winchester. Back in Durham in 1895, the literary society celebrated his life and that of the Never Fails. They never did.
Sources include “The History of Bucks County” by W.W.H. Davis published in 1876;“Portrait of Daniel Morgan” by the American Battlefield Trust on the web at www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/daniel-morgan, and “Buckwampun meets on sacred soil” published in “The Democrat” newspaper of Doylestown on June 7, 1895.
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: American Revolution heroes Daniel Morgan and the Never Fails
