On this field, the Continentals blunted the British advance, then charged with bayonets flashing. Cavalry struck the left and right of the 71st, and the militia reformed and surged against both flanks. British troops found themselves overwhelmed and surrounded as Morgan executed a double envelopment. In less than an hour, the crucial Battle of Cowpens had been decided. A classic use of this military tactic had taken place at the Battle of Cannae in southern Italy in 216 B.C., where soldiers under Hannibal surrounded and crushed a much larger, superior Roman army.