Daniel Morgan survived 500 lashes from the British military and carried that grudge into the American Revolution. This episode traces his path from a teenager who left home after a fight with his father, to a frontier teamster in the Shenandoah Valley, to a commander who forbade flogging his own troops. We also look at Abigail Curry, who taught him to read and write.

We follow Morgan’s 600-mile Beeline March to Boston, the long rifle and his sniper tactics, his capture at Quebec and his refusal to hand his sword to a British officer, and Timothy Murphy’s shot that killed General Simon Fraser at Saratoga. Then we break down the layered trap at Cowpens that destroyed Banastre Tarleton’s legion, along with Morgan’s sciatica and his complicated later years.

• How the 500-lash sentence shaped Morgan’s empathy for ordinary soldiers
• Why the long rifle’s range and slow reload dictated Morgan’s tactics
• Why Washington initially objected to targeting British officers
• How Morgan gave militia permission to fire two volleys and then fall back
• The double envelopment at Cowpens and its role in the road to Yorktown