This privately published pamphlet provides a succinct self-description on its opening page:

"The definitive history of British Colonel Banastre Tarleton's Southside Virginia Raid (July 9 - July 24, 1781) during the Yorktown Campaign of the American Revolution to destroy Virginia military and Continental supply depots at Amelia Court House, Prince Edward Court House, Charlotte Court House and Bedford as contained in official records, period correspondence and oral tradition."

The author is a military historian with a background in air force intelligence work, and he has, indeed, dipped into a wide variety of sources, ranging from well-known collections such as The Cornwallis Papers to minor local histories and little known memoirs. His narrative style is clear, straightforward and makes it easy to follow the progress of Tarleton's detachment and the opposition forces called out to counter them on a map of the area. (Unfortunately, the map that is included is small and rather difficult to use for someone like me who suffers from poor eyesight.)

The author sticks close to his sources with minor interjections of elaboration and analysis, and provides the reader with expansive footnotes which make it easy to determine how much of the material is primary and what is taken from oral traditions that were passed down through generations before being recorded. And where the "family tales" are concerned, he limits himself to sane and reasonable material, anecdotes and memories which aren't painful to swallow. Even Peter Francisco makes his appearance in an early and relatively unembellished account, minus the tall-tale spin that his anecdote later acquired. Well, okay, he does include another of the surfeit of "spunky housewife" stories, but I swear, there's no escaping those. (I think I'm going to start collecting those actively, just to see how many dozen I can find.)

The coverage of the raid is broken down into five chapters. "Prelude to Yorktown" provides background on the situation, Cornwallis's rationale for the raid and his orders to Tarleton, and a separate section covering Tarleton's back story. This last is the only section of the pamphlet with which I have serious complaints, so I'll come back to it in a minute. The remaining four chapters cover "The Raid" (Tarleton's advance), "The Militia Mobilizes" (the rebel forces response), "The Return Trip," (including a couple of scarily narrow escapes) and "The Aftermath." I found the aftermath section particularly interesting for its discussion of the wide-ranging effects of the raid, such as tying up large numbers of enemy troops, which are normally ignored when labelling it a general failure.

Given the overall dispassionate and well-researched nature of the document, the one section which was both a surprise and a great disappointment was the 2 1/2 page introduction to "Bloody Banastre." That's the exact title, and, unfortunately, it trots out a stock set of bloody myths. Brownfield is the authority presented on Waxhaws, and even the hoary old chestnut about Tarleton sabering the boy who is trying to raise the white flag gets trotted out to add to the list of "Legion atrocities."

The irony is that once you get into the actual meat of the pamphlet, Eanes' provides a (multi-generational) comment from someone who met Tarleton, saying that he "would always rebuke his men for depredations and in many instances showed a kind spirit." (a longer excerpt.) And presuming that military skirmishes and the destruction of army stores cannot in anyone's mind classify as "atrocities," the worst naughties committed by his legionnaires during the raid seem to have been the theft of a boy's shoe and knee buckles (which Tarleton ordered to be returned), the confiscation of a few horses to replace worn-out ones, and the fatal bayonetting of some women's undergarments. (The women involved were not wearing them at the time, by the way.)

So long as you skip the unfortunate little prologue, this is an interesting, well-organized and useful document, and well worth its modest price.

Fifty-eight pages, center-stapled with a cardstock cover. The price at the time of this writing is $5.95 + $2 postage, and it's available from

E. & H. Publishing Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 4, Burkeville, VA 23922

E. & H. Publishing seems to specialize in special-interest books focused on Virginia. Their catalog of titles runs the gamut from Civil War material to one entitled "Elvis in Virginia: A Book About the Role Virginia Played in the Life and Career of Elvis Presley."

[Thanks to Greg and Jim Eanes for kindly providing me with a copy of the booklet for review.]