Early Life
Born on August 21, 1754 in Liverpool, England, Banastre Tarleton’s family had grown wealthy trading sugar and slaves. After studying law for a brief period, he purchased a cornet’s commission, the lowest commissioned officer rank, in the 1st Dragoon Guards in April 1775.

American Revolution
After the American colonies revolted, his regiment sailed from England to rendezvous with Major General Henry Clinton near Charleston, South Carolina in June 1776. When the attempt to capture the city failed, they joined the main British army at New York, and Tarleton participated in the Battle of Long Island where the rebel army was driven out of New York City. While leading a scouting party, he found Major General Charles Lee, the second highest-ranking officer in the rebel army, having breakfast at a tavern on December 13. As a former British officer, Lee was more feared than General George Washington, so the capture won him the rank of captain. A brave officer, Tarleton was promoted to major in August 1778 and given command of the British Legion, a combined regiment of cavalry and infantry made up of New York Tories. He was only twenty-four years old.

Tarleton was part of the army led by Clinton to capture Charleston in the spring of 1780. As Clinton tightened his grip around the city, Tarleton was sent with the British Legion and Major Patrick Ferguson’s Queen’s Rangers on April 13 to attack a force of American cavalry under Brigadier General Isaac Huger that guarded Monck’s Crossroads, a key part of Charleston’s connection to the rest of South Carolina. Tarleton demonstrated the first use of what would become his signature methods: move fast, catch the enemy by surprise and charge with sword and bayonet. While most of Huger’s men escaped into the darkness, Tarleton let his men rampage after the fight and Ferguson wanted to have several of Tarleton’s men executed for brutality.

When Charleston surrendered on May 9, the main rebel army in the South went into captivity and Clinton handed over command to Major General Charles Cornwallis. With the goal of solidifying British control of South Carolina, Tarleton was ordered to capture South Carolina governor John Rutledge, who was being escorted by Colonel Abraham Buford to North Carolina. Never one to let exhausted horses get in the way of killing rebels, Tarleton ruthlessly drove his troops forward, until he had caught up with Buford near Camden on the morning of May 30. Although he had left many of his men behind, Tarleton ordered a charge, and they would have been cut down but Buford had the Continentals fire a single volley when the cavalry was only ten yards away, so they were routed. Many of the rebels had been killed after they surrendered and while it is unknown whether Tarleton had actively encouraged a massacre or was unable to prevent it, he quickly acquired a reputation as a savage. He was nicknamed Bloody Ban, and Americans would shout “Tarleton’s Quarter” and “Buford’s Quarter” on other battlefields.

After continuing to round up rebel leaders, Tarleton was part of Cornwallis’ army when he crushed a rebel army under Major General Horatio Gates at Camden on August 17. When the rebel militia broke, his British Legion was sent to slice them up. The next day, Tarleton found Thomas Sumter’s band of partisans literally napping at Fishing Rock. Although he was outnumbered, a quick charge netted several hundred prisoners for a handful of casualties.

As partisan leader Frances Marion’s raids against Tory units became increasingly irritating, Tarleton was sent to eliminate him as a threat. All too aware that Tarleton was an excellent cavalry commander, who rode fast and hit hard without warning, Marion moved carefully and escaped from a trap by fleeing into a swamp, knowing that Tarleton would refuse to follow. While Marion survived, Tarleton instructed suspected rebel sympathizers in the “Error of Insurrection” by torching more than thirty plantations. When Sumter won a surprising victory against a rash British commander near the main British camp, Tarleton’s British Legion was reinforced with 250 Highlanders and dispatched to deal with him. Although the partisans outnumbered Tarleton two to one, the militia commanders knew all too well that he had never been beaten, so they dug in at Blackstock’s Farm. Tarleton’s pursuit had been so rapid that he had left much of his infantry and all of his artillery behind but he still ordered a charge since there was only an hour of daylight left. Badly outnumbered and attacking an enemy protected by farm buildings, the charge was easily beaten off and the rebels slipped away in the darkness before reinforcements could arrive. Later events would show that Tarleton had not learned from the experience.

Brigadier General Daniel Morgan had led a mixed force of Continentals and militia into South Carolina to threaten British outposts while Major General Nathanael Greene tried to rebuild the survivors of Camden into an army. Tarleton had been given additional infantry and sent to eliminate Morgan while Cornwallis advanced into North Carolina. Morgan’s scouts found that Tarleton was not far behind and would catch up before he could get his men across a river, so he decided to make a stand at Hannah’s Cowpens on January 17, 1781. Realizing that Tarleton was feared for fast, aggressive charges, he arranged his men in three lines, with the militia in the first two lines and the Continentals as the third line, hidden by a small rise. Morgan gambled that Tarleton would see the militia and order an immediate charge, so the British troops would be worn down by each line until they were disorganized and vulnerable to the Continentals. As usual, Tarleton had driven his men hard in pursuit of Morgan, so when the trap closed, the exhausted men surrendered, and Tarleton escaped with less than 15% of his original force.

After rejoining Cornwallis, he took part in the lengthy chase of the main rebel army under Greene and the decisive battle at Guilford Courthouse, where the British won the battle but could not afford the losses. Tarleton had been hit in the hand by a bullet and two fingers on his right hand were amputated, but he accompanied Cornwallis when he abandoned the Carolinas and moved into Virginia. Tarleton returned to his true specialty, executing lightning raids against the Virginia legislature, and Governor Thomas Jefferson barely avoided capture. Cornwallis had been ordered to prepare a base in the Chesapeake Bay so that his force could be picked up by the navy and brought to New York City for a new offensive. Yorktown was selected but Cornwallis found himself blockaded by a French fleet and besieged by a combined French-American army. After eight days of heavy shelling, he surrendered on October 17, 1781, which enabled the peace party to win control of Parliament.

Post Revolution Career
After the surrender of Yorktown, Tarleton was the only British officer who was not invited to a series of dinner parties given by French and American officers. Despite the crushing defeat at Cowpens, he was treated as a conquering hero when he returned to England. Although he became part of the Prince of Wales’s circle, his Whiggish sympathies prevented him from going to India as Cornwallis’ cavalry commander. Forgetting the defeat at Cowpens, he presented himself as a military expert during debates in the House of Commons, where he represented Liverpool from 1790 to 1812. He criticized Wellington throughout the Napoleonic War, largely because he had desired the command of British forces in Spain. Since his brothers continued the family business, he routinely opposed the efforts of abolitionists to end the slave trade. Proud of his service during the revolution, Tarleton would raise his mangled hand in the air at political rallies and shout “For King and Country!” He received promotion to major general in 1794 and general in 1812, but he never fought in a war after the revolution. He only received a knighthood when his old drinking partner, the Prince of Wales, became king in 1820.

Although he had a fifteen year long relationship with the actress Mary Robinson, a former mistress of the Prince of Wales, and married Susan Bertie in 1798, he had no children. He died in January 1833.

Related Movies:

The Patriot (2000)
Directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger
A peaceful farmer, haunted by his savagery during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), wants to remain neutral during the American Revolution but the death of his son drives him to become a guerrilla. (please click here to read the review)

Amazing Grace (2006)
Directed by Michael Apted, starring Ioan Gruffudd and Romola Garai
William Wilburforce struggles against public indifference and the powerful slave trading lobby to win support for his crusade to abolish slavery in Britain.

Further Reading:

The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas-John Buchanan, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.

The author’s descriptions of the terrain show that he has spent a great deal of time visiting historical sites in the Carolinas, which bring the terrain to life for the reader, although the overly detailed descriptions can be a bit distracting at times. Although it focuses on the Carolinas Campaign (February 1780 to August 1781), the author provides brief but insightful biographical sketches and portraits of all of the major leaders in the South on either side in order to provide more depth. It is not a one stop examination of the Carolinas Campaign since it ends with the battle at Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, hence the name. Buchanan is the rare historian who is an excellent researcher and an entertaining writer, and he has produced a superb book that sets the standard for other works in the field.


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