Tarleton

Banastre Tarleton

Military leader (1754-1833), who fought for the British forces during the American Revolution.

Tarleton was raised in Liverpool, England, where his father was mayor. He studied at Oxford University and the Middle Temple of the Inns of Court, a school for preparing lawyers in London. Tarleton sailed to America in 1776 with Lord Cornwallis, commander of the British forces in the colonies. Tarleton took part in the battle for New York City and the attack on Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina. While serving in a unit of dragoons in 1776, he captured General Charles Lee, second-in-command of the colonial Continental Army. Tarleton was promoted to commandant of the British Legion, a mixed force of cavalry, which became famous as Tarleton's Green Horse because of the color of their uniforms.

Tarleton distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the South. Following a battle with Colonel Abraham Buford's regiment at Waxhaw Creek, South Carolina, he earned the epithet "Bloody Tarleton." He fought at Camden, South Carolina, and routed Brigadier General Thomas Sumter at Catawba Fords at Fishing Creek, South Carolina. Tarleton chased Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion into swamp country unfamiliar to the British and gave Marion the nickname of "Swamp Fox" when he could not capture him.**

Checked by Brigadier General Sumter at Blackstock, South Carolina, Tarleton was defeated by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens at Chesnee, South Carolina, on January 17, 1781. Tarleton continued to fight gallantly until the British surrender at Yorktown, on October 19, 1781.

Returning to England in 1782, Tarleton fell in with the set of people around the Prince of Wales and became a notorious gambler. Fleeing from his gaming debts, he went to France in 1786 and wrote History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (1787).

Tarleton then returned to England where he was elected to Parliament from Liverpool in 1790 and served for 22 years. As the representative of shipping interests, he led the reaction against social reformer William Wilberforce's antislavery movement. Tarleton was promoted to general in 1812 and made a baronet in 1815.

**Portrayed in the movie, "The Patriot." See also movie reviews of the movie.

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