COWPENS, a town of Spartanburg county, S.C., U.S.A., in the N. part of the state. Pop. (191o) (193o) 1,115. It is served by the Southern railway. In colonial days cattle were rounded up and branded here—whence the name. Seven miles N. of the town is the field of the battle of Cowpens, fought on Jan. 17, 1781, during the Revolutionary war, between the Americans under Gen. Daniel Morgan and the British under Col. (later Gen. Sir) Banastre Tarleton, the British being defeated. A monument was erected on the battlefield in 18S9, but was much defaced during the Civil War. The town was founded in 1876, and incor porated in 1880.