Pickens’ militiamen obeyed their orders to open fire at “a killing distance.” Tarleton’s infantry staggered under the fire, but then rallied and continued to advance up the swale. Pickens’ men fired their two shots and broke contact, but a contingent of Legion dragoons charged at the fleeing militiamen on the right. Colonel Washington’s cavalry drove off the enemy dragoons, allowing Morgan and Pickens to regroup the disordered Patriot militia. The main British line reached Colonel Howard’s Continental troops and the two sides traded several close-ranged volleys, with the British getting the worst of the exchange. Tarleton responded by sending the 71st Highlanders and a troop of dragoons to extend the British left. While Washington once again drove off the British dragoons, Howard ordered Capt. Andrew Wallace to “refuse the right” and face his company rightwards towards the Highlanders. In the confusion of battle, Wallace’s company fired a volley and turned rearwards, actions mirrored by the other units. The largely leaderless British troops surged forward in pursuit of an apparently beaten enemy.
"The Disposition of Battle being thus formed, small Parties of Riflemen were detached to skirmish with the Enemy...Col. Picken's Command then kept up a Fire by Regiments retreating agreeable to their Orders. When the Enemy advanced to our Line, they received a well-directed and incessant Fire, but their Numbers being superiour to ours, the gained our Flanks, which obliged us to change our Position. "
Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan to Maj. Gen. Nathanael GreeneGreene, Nathanael. “The papers of General Nathanael Greene.” Vol. VII. Chapel Hill: Published for the Rhode Island Historical Society [by] University of North Carolina Press, 1976, p. 154.