Banastre Tarleton

After becoming commander of the British Legion, a force of American Loyalist cavalry and light infantry, also called Tarleton's Raiders, Tarleton went to South Carolina, at the beginning of 1780. There, Tarleton's Raiders supported Sir Henry Clinton in the siege operations that culminated in the capture of Charleston.[8] The siege and capture of the city were part of the British strategy in the southern military theatre meant to restore royal authority over the southern colonies of British North America.

After Tarleton's first major victory at Monck's Corner, during the Siege of Charleston, a soldier of the British Legion was involved in an attempted sexual assault that entered legend. The attack by one of Tarleton's soldiers against a civilian woman in the area was halted by one of his companions.[11]

The Battle of Waxhaw Creek (29 May 1780), in Lancaster County, South Carolina

On 29 May 1780, Colonel Tarleton, with a force of 149 mounted soldiers, overtook a detachment of 350 to 380 Virginia Continentals, led by Colonel Abraham Buford, who refused to surrender or to stop his march. Only after sustaining many casualties did Buford order the American soldiers to surrender. Nonetheless, Tarleton's forces ignored the white flag and massacred the soldiers of Buford's detachment; 113 American soldiers were killed, 203 were captured, and 150 were severely wounded. The British army casualties were 5 soldiers killed and 12 soldiers wounded.[12] From the perspective of the British Army, the affair of the massacre is known as the Battle of Waxhaw Creek. In that time, the American rebels used the phrase "Tarleton's quarter" (shooting after surrender) as meaning "no quarter offered". In the 19th century, American historians represented Tarleton as a ruthless butcher, whilst the perspective of some contemporary historians has changed in this regard.[13]

An eye-witness, the American field surgeon Robert Brownfield, wrote that Colonel Buford raised the white flag of surrender to the British Legion, "expecting the usual treatment sanctioned by civilized warfare"; yet, while Buford called for quarter, Colonel Tarleton's horse was shot with a musket ball, felling horse and man. On seeing that, the Loyalist cavalrymen believed that the Virginia Continentals had shot their commander – while they asked him for mercy. Enraged, the Loyalist troops attacked the Virginians with an "indiscriminate carnage never surpassed by the most ruthless atrocities of the most barbarous savages"; in the aftermath, the British Legion soldiers killed wounded American soldiers where they lay.[14]

Colonel Tarleton's account, published in 1787, said that his horse had been shot from under him, and that his soldiers, thinking him dead, engaged in "a vindictive asperity not easily restrained".[15] On the other hand, Tarleton advocated repression, and criticized the mildness of Lord Cornwallis's methods, because moderation "did not reconcile enemies, but ... discourages friends".[16]

Regardless of the extent to which they were true or false, the reports of British atrocities motivated Whig-leaning colonials to support the American Revolution.[13] In the event, on 7 October 1780, at the Battle of Kings Mountain, South Carolina, soldiers of the Continental Army, having heard of the slaughter at Waxhaw Creek, killed surrendering American Loyalists, after a sniper killed their British commanding officer, Maj. Patrick Ferguson.[17]

In South Carolina, Col. Tarleton's British Legion were harried by Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox", an American militia commander who practiced guerrilla warfare against the British. Throughout the campaigns, Tarleton was unable to capture him or thwart his operations. Marion's local popularity among anti-British South Carolinians ensured continual aid and comfort for the American cause. In contrast, Colonel Tarleton alienated the colonial citizens with arbitrary confiscations of cattle and food stocks.[18]

Tarleton materially helped Cornwallis to win the Battle of Camden in August 1780.[8] On 22 August, he was promoted to major in the 79th Regiment of Foot (Royal Liverpool Volunteers).[19] He defeated Thomas Sumter at Fishing Creek, aka "Catawba Fords", but was less successful when he encountered the same general at Blackstock's Farm in November 1780.[8]

On 17 January 1781 Tarleton's forces were virtually destroyed by American Brigadier General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens. Tarleton and about 200 men escaped the battlefield.[20] William Washington commanded the rebel cavalry; he was attacked by the British commander and two of his men. Tarleton was stopped by Washington himself, who attacked him with his sword, calling out, "Where is now the boasting Tarleton?" A cornet of the 17th, Thomas Patterson, rode up to strike Washington but was shot by Washington's orderly trumpeter.[21] Washington survived this assault and in the process wounded Tarleton's right hand with a sabre blow, while Tarleton creased Washington's knee with a pistol shot that also wounded his horse. Washington pursued Tarleton for sixteen miles, but gave up the chase when he came to the plantation of Adam Goudylock near Thicketty Creek. Retreating from his defeat at the Battle of Cowpens, Tarleton was able to escape capture by forcing a local plantation owner, Adam Goudylock, to serve as a guide.[22]

Tarleton's Movements historical marker in Adams Grove, Virginia

He was successful in a skirmish at Torrence's Tavern while the British crossed the Catawba River (Cowan's Ford Skirmish 1 February 1781) and took part in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781. With his men, Tarleton marched with Cornwallis into Virginia.[8] There he carried out a series of small expeditions while in Virginia. Among them was a raid on Charlottesville, where the state government had relocated following the British occupation of the capital at Richmond. He was trying to capture Governor Thomas Jefferson and members of the Virginia legislature. The raid was partially foiled by the ride of Jack Jouett, with Jefferson and all but seven of the legislators escaping over the mountains. Tarleton destroyed arms and munitions and succeeded in dispersing the Assembly.

Tarleton was brevetted to lieutenant-colonel in the 79th Foot on 26 June 1781.[23] In July 1781 some of his forces allegedly were involved in Francisco's Fight, an alleged skirmish between colonial Peter Francisco and nine of Tarleton's dragoons, which resulted in one dead, eight wounded and Francisco capturing eight horses.[24] After other missions, Cornwallis instructed Tarleton to hold Gloucester Point, during the Siege of Yorktown. On 4 October 1781, the French Lauzun's Legion and the British cavalry, commanded by Tarleton, skirmished at Gloucester Point. Tarleton was unhorsed, and Lauzun's Legion drove the British within their lines, before being ordered to withdraw by the Marquis de Choisy.[25][26][27] The Legion suffered three Hussars killed, and two officers and eleven Hussars wounded.[28] Fifty British were killed or wounded, including Tarleton.[29] The British surrendered Gloucester Point to the French and Americans after the surrender at Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781. After the surrender, the senior British officers were invited to dinner by their American captors, and the only one not to get an invitation was Tarleton. He returned to Britain on parole, finished with this war at the age of 27.[8]

• American writer Washington Irving's biography of George Washington referred to an alleged argument between Tarleton and fellow British officer Patrick Ferguson over whether a soldier guilty of criminal misconduct ought to be executed or released. According to Irving:

"We honor the rough soldier Ferguson for the fiat of instant death with which he would have requited the most infamous and dastardly outrage that brutalizes warfare." Tarleton, on the other hand, reveled in his own misconduct and that of his soldiers.[44]

• In the 1835 novel Horse-Shoe Robinson by John Pendleton Kennedy, a historical romance set against the Southern campaigns in the American War of Independence, fictional characters interact with the historic figure of Tarleton. He is depicted as a forceful martial character, sensitive to the duties of honour and chivalry.
• In the 1959–1961 American Disney television series The Swamp Fox, John Sutton portrayed Colonel Banastre Tarleton.
• In the alternate history series The Domination by S. M. Stirling, Castle Tarleton, in the Domination capitol Archona, is named after him.
• In the novel Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell (the first in the Richard Sharpe series), the novel's main antagonist, Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson is said to be a cousin of Tarleton. He relies on his cousin's political connections to support his position.
• In the 1986 film Sweet Liberty Tarleton is played by actor Michael Caine and portrayed to the history professor Michael Burgess' (Alan Alda) dismay as a romantic, dashing hero.
• In the 2000 film The Patriot, the fictitious Colonel William Tavington (played by Jason Isaacs) was based on Tarleton.[45]
• In the 2006 film Amazing Grace, Tarleton is played by Ciarán Hinds and is portrayed as a leading supporter of the slave trade and a major opponent of William Wilberforce.
• In the episode "The Sin Eater" of the 2013 TV series Sleepy Hollow, a villainous British army officer named "Colonel Tarleton," played by actor Craig Parker, is featured as the commander of protagonist Ichabod Crane. during a flashback to Crane's service in the Revolutionary War. Other than the name and his cruelty towards accused colonial rebels, it is unclear whether or not the character is based on the historical Tarleton. He turns out to be a demon disguised in human form, and is listed in the credits only as "Tarleton Demon."
• In Rick Riordan's spin-off novel The Blood of Olympus, Banastre Tarleton is mentioned to be a Roman demigod; his mother is Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War.
• Tarleton is a minor character in Diana Gabaldon's novel Written in My Own Heart's Blood, part of the Outlander series.
• Tarleton is a character in Donna Thorland's 2016 historical fiction novel The Dutch Girl. He is depicted as a cruel womanizing soldier determined to get what, and whom, he wants.
• The 1971 science-fiction book The Star Treasure by Keith Laumer has a protagonist named Banastre Tarleton. The story and character have no connection with the historical figure of that name.
• In the Matthew Hervey novels by the writer Allan Mallinson, General Tarleton is often referenced in the context of Herveys friend and mentor Daniel Coates, whom had (fictionally) been Tarletons Trumpeter Corporal during his own long Cavalry Service where he gained the skills to tutor the young Hervey during his childhood and influenced his decision to join the 6th Light Dragoons. General Tarleton features in person in the 8th book of the series Company of Spears