A Brief History of the Mighty Moo Festival & Reunion

The Town of Cowpens was made famous, for the first time, on January 17, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. The battle was an overwhelming victory by American revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. The Battle of Cowpens was an important turning point for the Americans in South Carolina from the British, and went down in history as the great American tactical masterpiece of the war.

On January 17, 1943, exactly 162 years after the Battle of Cowpens the USS Cowpens CVL-25 was launched. She was named after the famous Revolutionary War battle, and nicknamed the “Mighty Moo”. The CVL-25 was a WWII Aircraft Carrier converted from a light cruiser.

The “Mighty Moo” was in the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific from 1943-1945.  During the 22 months that the Cowpens served in the war in the South Pacific, she flew 10,634 flights, participated in 2,452 action sorties, destroyed 108 enemy planes in the air, destroyed 198 enemy planes on the ground, dropped 657 tons of bombs, fired 3063 rockets, and sank 39 ships.

The USS Cowpens was decommissioned on Jan 13, 1947.  She was awarded twelve Battle Stars and a Navy Unit Commendation for service during World War II; this was a huge honor for the Cowpens and her crew.

 On July 2, 1977 one former crewman from the USS Cowpens attended Cowpens first Mighty Moo Festival which began by mailing invitations to several South Carolina newspapers searching for crewmen who served aboard the USS Cowpens. Mr.0. J. Simpson came from Charleston, SC after reading the article in the Charleston News.  He said, “I had always wanted to come to Cowpens and felt this was as good a time as ever to come”.

This was only the beginning of the festival for our small town in 1978 3 crewman attended, in 1981 9, by 1982 115 Mighty Moo crewman and their families from all over the United States participated in the festival. In 2007, only 27 crewmen and more than 80 of their family members were able to join us. 

On March 3, 1989, a new page in history began; the US Navy launched the second USS Cowpens CG-63, also known as the “Thundering Herd”. The CG-63 is an Aegis guided missile cruiser of the Ticonderoga class. 

It's a multi-mission surface combatant capable of supporting carrier battle groups, amphibious forces, independent operations, or acting as the flagship of a surface action group. The primary roles of the Cowpens are Anti-Air Warfare and Strike Warfare, while performing superbly in secondary roles in Undersea Warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, and Naval Surface Fire Support for ground forces ashore. The Cowpens serves as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Japan as part of Battle Force Seventh Fleet.

 We are extremely proud of the fact the USS Cowpens CG - 63 launched the first Tomahawk from the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since that first reunion 30 years ago, our festival has grown from a town picnic to a four day celebration. During this celebration, former crewmen, of the USS Cowpens CVL-25, and crewmen from the current USS Cowpens CG-63, journey to Cowpens for a reunion and celebration to honor them for their service to the United States of America.

It is the common goal of the members of the Mighty Moo Festival Committee to ensure the very special men of the USS Cowpens has a good time. Beginning on Wednesday night a community church service and gospel singing is held at the First Baptist Church of Cowpens. Thursday evening is the opening night of carnival rides and food concessions and a new Miss Cowpens is crowned at the Miss Cowpens Beauty Pageant. On Friday morning a baseball game is played between former crewman and a local little league team at Red Moore Field. Also on Friday a Scholarship Funding Golf Tournament with proceeds from the tournament going to benefit a deserving senior at Broome High School in recent years we have been able to go from awarding a $1000.00 scholarship to awarding $3000.00. Saturday is the main event day. Festivities begin with a Main Street Parade honoring not only former and current USS Cowpens Crewman, but our local veterans and young men and women returning from over seas as well 

We also have, craft vendors, a car & bike cruise in and entertainment through out the day and beginning at 9:30 fireworks display. On both Friday and Saturday evening festivities conclude with a street dance.

The Historical Society opens the Cowpens Museum daily, in 1997; it was placed on the National Register of historical places in South Carolina. The Museum is based in a 100 year old train depot.  The museum binds the history the Town of Cowpens, the Revolutionary War, World War II, and the war in the in the Gulf. A section of the museum houses information pertaining to the activities of CG-63. One room in the museum houses many pictures and memorabilia that have been donated by the crewmen by the crewman of the CVL-25.

In 2003 Captain Charles Dixon presented the Mighty Moo Committee with the American flag which was flown during the first launch of the Tomahawk missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom. This flag is housed in our museum. 

Through the years many bonds and friendships has been formed between the crewmen and their wives, our committee, the crew of the USS Cowpens CG-63 and the people of Cowpens. There is no doubt about it the crewman of the USS Cowpens are very much apart of our town as we are apart of them.

Each year our Festival continues to improve and grow. This year’s festival was our most successful to date! Attendance at all events was significantly higher than any previous year as well as a record number of food and craft vendor, carnival attendance, and parade entries.

Make plans to attends the 2008 Mighty Moo Festival. It is sure to be fun for all.

(864) 463 - 9116 / (864) 580 - 9766 / (864) 463 - 3988 / (864) 804 - 8080