Editing Banastre Tarleton
The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then publish the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
| Latest revision | Your text | ||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
During the attack, some accounts report that Tarleton personally cut down a fourteen-year-old American ensign with his sabre after he attempted to raise the white flag of surrender (the ensign would ultimately survive the battle). Soon after, Colonel Buford saw that all was lost and sent a representative towards Tarleton's line bearing the white flag. However, just as the flag was raised one of the American soldiers shot Tarleton's horse from under him, leaving him trapped beneath it. Incensed by the apparent betrayal, Tarleton's men refused to accept the surrender and continued the attack even though the white flag was visible. 113 Americans were killed, most of them after the white flag was raised, although Buford managed to escape once it became clear the surrender had been refused. The incident at Waxhaws contributed to Tarleton's reputation as a butcher, although he did not actually order the massacre, and led the Americans to use the phrase "Tarleton's quarter" to describe refusal to accept surrender. | During the attack, some accounts report that Tarleton personally cut down a fourteen-year-old American ensign with his sabre after he attempted to raise the white flag of surrender (the ensign would ultimately survive the battle). Soon after, Colonel Buford saw that all was lost and sent a representative towards Tarleton's line bearing the white flag. However, just as the flag was raised one of the American soldiers shot Tarleton's horse from under him, leaving him trapped beneath it. Incensed by the apparent betrayal, Tarleton's men refused to accept the surrender and continued the attack even though the white flag was visible. 113 Americans were killed, most of them after the white flag was raised, although Buford managed to escape once it became clear the surrender had been refused. The incident at Waxhaws contributed to Tarleton's reputation as a butcher, although he did not actually order the massacre, and led the Americans to use the phrase "Tarleton's quarter" to describe refusal to accept surrender. | ||
Tarleton regularly skirmished with Patriot militia under the command of Francis Marion in South Carolina. Tarleton was never able to defeat or capture Marion, and alienated the locals with his attempts to punish Marion's supporters through arbitrary confiscations of grain and livestock and burning of the homes of those suspected to be sympathetic to the rebels, with Marion lamenting that Tarleton had "burnt all the houses and destroyed all the corn" from Camden to Nelson's Ferry. On one occasion in November 1780, Tarleton plundered the home of Richard Richardson, an American general who had died earlier that year. Tarleton, out of spite for the recent execution for spying of his | Tarleton regularly skirmished with Patriot militia under the command of Francis Marion in South Carolina. Tarleton was never able to defeat or capture Marion, and alienated the locals with his attempts to punish Marion's supporters through arbitrary confiscations of grain and livestock and burning of the homes of those suspected to be sympathetic to the rebels, with Marion lamenting that Tarleton had "burnt all the houses and destroyed all the corn" from Camden to Nelson's Ferry. On one occasion in November 1780, Tarleton plundered the home of Richard Richardson, an American general who had died earlier that year. Tarleton, out of spite for the recent execution for spying of his fried Major John André by the Americans, ordered Richardson's grave ripped open and his body dug up so that he could "look upon the face of such a brave man". He and his men looted the Richardson house, before locking the family livestock in the barn and burning down both the barn and the plantation house, leaving the Richardson family destitute. Before leaving, Tarleton had Richardson's wife flogged in the hope that she would reveal the whereabouts of Francis Marion. | ||
Tarleton's forces were known to mistreat civilians. Historian Anthony Scotti records an account of a sixteen-year-old civilian being bayonetted to death by Tarleton's Raiders after wandering too near their camp, and another of a fourteen-year-old bugler being sabred to death by drunken dragoons under Tarleton's command. Tarleton himself recorded an incident in South Carolina in which he ordered his men to charge down a large crowd of soldiers and civilians, resulting in 50 deaths. Most of the casualties were likely civilians who had been unable to get out of the way. Tarleton also boasted of having "butchered more men and lain with more women than anybody else in the army", which has been interpreted by some to be an admission of raping American women. While no accounts of Tarleton himself committing rape have been found, higher authorities did on at least two occasions discipline some of his men for rape, Tarleton himself having failed to do so in violation of the British Articles of War. | Tarleton's forces were known to mistreat civilians. Historian Anthony Scotti records an account of a sixteen-year-old civilian being bayonetted to death by Tarleton's Raiders after wandering too near their camp, and another of a fourteen-year-old bugler being sabred to death by drunken dragoons under Tarleton's command. Tarleton himself recorded an incident in South Carolina in which he ordered his men to charge down a large crowd of soldiers and civilians, resulting in 50 deaths. Most of the casualties were likely civilians who had been unable to get out of the way. Tarleton also boasted of having "butchered more men and lain with more women than anybody else in the army", which has been interpreted by some to be an admission of raping American women. While no accounts of Tarleton himself committing rape have been found, higher authorities did on at least two occasions discipline some of his men for rape, Tarleton himself having failed to do so in violation of the British Articles of War. | ||