Daniel Morgan gained experience as a wagoner during the French and Indian War before becoming a Continental officer. In 1775 he raised a Virginia rifle company and marched to the army outside Boston. His men joined Benedict Arnold's difficult expedition through Maine to Quebec. During the failed attack on the city that December, Morgan pressed forward after Arnold was wounded, but he and many of his soldiers were captured. He returned through parole and exchange.

In 1777 he commanded a specially organized rifle corps that supported the campaign against John Burgoyne. His riflemen and light infantry fought at both Saratoga battles. At Freeman's Farm they regrouped after an initially scattered advance; at Bemis Heights they helped attack the British position. Morgan later served in the Monmouth campaign. Poor health and dissatisfaction over promotion led him to take an furlough in 1779.

He returned to active duty in the southern theater in 1780 and received promotion to brigadier general. On January 17, 1781, he defeated Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens in South Carolina. His deployment used successive lines of riflemen, militia, and experienced infantry, with cavalry in support. Planned militia withdrawals helped draw the British forward, while a later infantry retreat and counterattack developed amid the fighting. Morgan rallied his men and exploited the opportunity to envelop much of Tarleton's force.

Illness forced him to leave field command soon after Cowpens, limiting his participation in the remainder of Nathanael Greene's campaign. Congress recognized his victory. After the war he farmed in Virginia and returned to military duty during the federal response to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Elected to the House of Representatives, he served from 1797 to 1799 before retiring because of declining health. He died in 1802. His experience connected frontier rifle tactics with the disciplined infantry and cavalry cooperation needed in larger Continental operations.