Here are some comments which his contemporaries and later historians have made about Banastre Tarleton. Generally, they are opinions and snippets which jumped out at me while I was reading, but for which I haven't found a use in other articles. The selection is cheerfully slanted towards the good. Far too many sources choose specifically to print only the bad, which leaves readers with the impression that no other viewpoints exist, then or now. (There are a few bad ones, as well, but only when they're original or entertaining!)

Tarleton "was undoubtedly seen by his fellow officers in many lights. At the least, some probably viewed him as nothing more than a syncophant. At the most, others presumably recognized him as a gallant comrade. However, what is more likely is the middle ground of a general consensus: a young, arrogant officer who demonstrated ability and skill and was rewarded for his promise."

-- Anthony Scotti, Jr. Brutal Virtue, the Myth and Reality of Banastre Tarleton.
 

"We have said that Cornwallis had subordinates who were foot, and hand, and staff, and sword to him. Tarleton was his hunting leopard, glossy, beautifully mottled, but swift and fell -- when roused by resistance, ferocious. Even this does not give an adequate idea of the velocity of his movements. He was the falcon, which, when unhooded and cast off, darts with arrowy swiftness on its prey. Few were the commanders opposed to him whom he did not at one time or another surprise -- and among them were Colonel Washington, Sumpter, and some others -- the very men more accustomed than all others in the American army to study and practise this line of soldiership. Tarleton was a man of imposing, and, when necessary, dignified manners -- his conversation that of a soldier and well bred man of the world. There was not an appearance of bloodthirstiness about him, and he knew how to be studiously courteous to a foe. We cannot convince ourselves that he was cruel by nature, or took any pleasure in the atrocities committed by his band. We take him to have been one of those smooth, hard, unfeeling men, often met with, who have no positive cruelty of disposition, no brutalized taste for mere blood or crime, but who are not easily overcome by human distress -- who, with the decisive promptitude of their energetic natures, do what they regard as necessary to their end with little ceremony or compunction -- who, as principals, would not perhaps commit a gratuitous crime, but who, as subordinates, would unhesitatingly wade through seas of blood to obey the very letter of their orders."

-- Henry S. Randall, in The Life of Thomas Jefferson (1858). His comments on Tarleton all display this same weird blend of admiration (sometimes approaching hero-worship) and hatred, expressed in the way-over-the-top style of the 19th century.
 

"Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton...arrogant, ruthless, and by all reports (including his own) utterly charming."

-- Karen Hayden, in an online article Remembering Jack Jouett, Virginia's Paul Revere, see links.
 

"Tarleton was a remarkable soldier with an instinctive talent for war. He achieved his successes, usually at very small cost, by the secrecy of his operations, the high standard of training of his officers and men, and by his own skill and daring in action. He fought with the object of inflicting every possible loss and injury on his enemy, and he has been accused of undue harshness, and even of cruelty. American writers have gone so far as to describe him as 'a devil incarnate,' but the same writers call Lord Cornwallis, an exceptionally humane soldier, 'a relentless savage.' Such unmeasured language loses all effect, and leaves no stain on the persons attacked."

-- Colonel H.W. Pearse, in General Sir Banastre Tarleton, BT., G.C.B., The Cavalry Journal, Vol. 5, #17 (January, 1910)
 

"Being of a lively disposition and rather involved in his circumstances, he had recourse to the Army, as a profession in which, from his natural activity, and courage, he would be sure of making his fortune or dying in the pursuit of it."

-- London Chronicle, October 14, 1780.
 

"Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton's good spirit and conduct in the management of his cavalry, was conspicuous during the whole action."

-- The Earl Cornwallis, dispatches to the British government after the battle of Guilford Courthouse.
 

"Tarleton deserves credit for his rapid marches, hard, driving attacks, and an approach to warfare that seems more modern than that of some contemporaries. The ability to obtain information ahead of the army, the rapidity with which he pursued and destroyed opposition forces, and achieved maximum efforts, at times, from a rather motley group, reflect favorably on his abilities, even though he was often somewhat impulsive on the battlefield."

-- Lawrence Babits; A Devil of a Whipping; The Battle of Cowpens
 

"A handsome, rake-hell young man, with no small conceit of himself; short, heavily built, with enormously muscular thighs amply revealed in the skin-tight breeches of the mode; dark, plethoric, with a small, dark and piercing eye -- it is easy to see the appeal such a person would make to the ever-languishing Perdita. He was what the Spanish call "muy hombre," and, unhampered by modesty, he wore with a flourish the laurels of his American campaign. ... [He] had received from his native Liverpool the acclamation to which his brilliant conduct of the famous "Green Horse" entitled him. He had gone up, with a swelling chest, part of one hand shot dramatically away; and Liverpool, bursting into illumination and joybells, had accorded him, at the Exchange, such a reception as no previous citizen had ever received. One of Tarleton's major assets was the type of personality that invites celebrations; he was at his best when surrounded with adulation, he was accustomed from his dealings with his troops, who regarded him as a combination of hero and devil, to enthusiasm and applause, and never hesitated to call for it."

-- Marguerite Steen; The Lost One: A Biography of Mary Robinson
 

"In Lt. Col. Tarleton, [I] had a colleague, full of enterprise and spirit, and anxious for every opportunity of distinguishing himself."

-- Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe
 

"On this march toward North Carolina, Cornwallis had with him a redheaded twenty-five-year-old lieutenant colonel named Banastre Tarleton. This brilliant little bully was the finest cavalry commander to emerge on either side. Energetic, resourceful, and imaginative, his slashing surprise attacks terrified the Americans."

-- Charles Bracelen Flood, Rise and Fight Again, p259. (Okay, this one is hardly "good" given Flood's overall bad opinion of Banastre, but I just fell over laughing when I hit the "brilliant little bully" comment!)
 

"I did not suffer by him. On the contrary he behaved very genteely with me. ... He gave strict orders to Capt. Mcleod to suffer nothing to be injured."

-- Thomas Jefferson, speaking of Tarleton's behavior during the "raid" on Monticello.
 

"[He has] a most gentle and genteel face as well as elegance, a certain air of ease, and French manners."

-- Joachim du Perron, Comte de Revel (a junior officer with De Rochambeau)
 

"Ah, the boy Ban. Face of an angel. Heart of a wolverine."

-- Howard Burnham's one-man show One Battle May Give Us America, or Never Play Hockey With a Bishop: Lord Cornwallis in the South, 1780-1
 

"Too polite to be religious; too witty to be learned; too youthful to be serious; and too handsome to be discreet."

-- Mary Robinson, describing her villain Treville in the novel The False Friend -- a thinly disguised strike at Banastre after the unfriendly termination of their fifteen-year affair.
 

"Without wealth, without title, without political friends, but on valor alone, in four years he had risen from obscurity to envied rank. Both Sir William Howe and Sir Henry Clinton had been attracted by his elegant manners and his ready speech; but his undenied courage, his daring leadership, and his intuitive grasp of cavalry tactics endeared him both to Sir William Erskine and to Lord Cornwallis."

-- Robert D. Bass; The Green Dragoon
 

"The Colonel has the air, manners, and address, of a man of rank; dignity without affectation, and politeness without pride: His breast is the seat of those passions, that warm our nature and exalt human reason: his disinterested integrity, incorruptible heart, and his invariable attachment to the interest of his country, justly entitle him to your patronage and support."

-- from An Address to the Freemen of Liverpool, a pamphlet Tarleton prepared prior to his candidacy for election in 1790.
 

"I am acquainted with his abilities, his honor, his courage, and his real zeal for the cause in which his country was engaged."

-- George Hanger, in An Address to the Army
 

"Though General Tarleton cannot be excused for voting against abolishing the Slave Trade, yet he has a most philanthropic heart, as those who served with him in America will attest."

-- The Oracle; March 1, 1796
 

"Loyal and free, he props the Public Weal,
With Reason's Eloquence, and Patriot Zeal!
With Nature's Language mocks the pow'r of Art;
Truth on his Tongue, and Freedom in his Heart!
And though this busy scene of life shall face,
And Power and Splendour prove an empty shade,
Still shall his Name adorn our grateful shore,
And Tarleton live till Time shall be no more!"

-- from Lines Written on the arrival of our Patriotic Representative General Tarleton, an anonymous tribute published in 1796.
 

"General Tarleton is known to you! He never run from an enemy's sword, nor run after a ministerial purse. In the field, and in the Senate, he performed his duty as a true Briton."

-- a declaration by Banastre's political supporters, 1796