Banastre Tarleton
Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet (21 August 1754 - 15 January 1833) was a British general and politician best known for having commanded the British Legion during the American Revolutionary War. He was infamous for his ruthless methods, and was known by his American opponents as "Bloody Ban" or "Ban the Butcher". He later served as MP for Liverpool from 1790 - 1812, where he was noted for his support for the slave trade.
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| “ | I have promised the young men who chose to assist me in this expedition the plunder of the leaders of the faction. If warfare allows me, I shall give these disturbers of the peace no quarter. If humanity obliges me to spare their lives, I shall convey them close prisoners to Camden. For confiscation must take place in their effects. I must discriminate with severity. | „ |
| ~ Banastre Tarleton |
Biography
Tarleton was born in Liverpool in 1754 into a wealthy family whose money came from slave trading. After squandering his inheritance on gambling he was forced to purchase a commission in the 1st Dragoon Guards, where he soon proved to be a talented horseman and leader of men. Due to his abilities he was able to quickly rise to the position of lieutenant colonel without buying any more commissions.
In December 1775, lieutenant colonel Tarleton sailed to North America to participate in the suppression of the American Revolution. He led a party in December 1776 which captured American general Charles Lee, who was later released in a prisoner exchange. In 1780 he was made head of the British Legion, an American Loyalist light infantry force nicknamed "Tarleton's Raiders", and in May led them to South Carolina to support siege operations in Charleston. This culminated in the capture of Charleston, one of the worst American defeats of the war.
Tarleton's most infamous act was the Waxhaws Massacre, which occurred soon after the fall of Charleston. Governor of Charleston John Rutledge had escaped the battle and fled to North Carolina with troops under Colonel Abraham Buford, and General Charles Cornwallis ordered Tarleton to pursue and capture Rutledge. After riding for fifty-five hours, Tarleton caught up to Buford's detachment at Waxhaws, a settlement on the border of North and South Carolina, only to find that Rutledge had already escaped. Tarleton and Buford began parley, with Tarleton's representative informing Buford that Tarleton would not ask him to surrender a second time. Tarleton continued his march towards Buford's line during the negotiations, a violation of the accepted customs of warfare at the time. Buford ultimately refused Tarleton's terms and continued marching northwards, but Tarleton soon caught up and easily decimated Buford's rear guard before attacking the main body, whose line broke almost immediately.
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 and lead 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 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 virtually destroyed by Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781, with only Tarleton himself and 200 of his men escaping. Cavalry commander William Washington personally attacked Tarleton and wounded his right hand with his sword before pursuing him for sixteen miles before Tarleton managed to escape. He was later captured at the Battle of Yorktown, where the British officially surrendered, and was the only British commander at the battle not to be invited to dine by the American captors. Despite Tarleton having violated both the British and American Articles of War by mistreating civilians and declaring at Waxhaws that surrender would not be accepted, neither side court-martialled him and he was able to return home at the end of the war.
Tarleton stood for election as MP for Liverpool upon returning home. He won election in 1790 and was consistently re-elected until 1812. During his time in office he was noted for his pro-slavery stance, as his family's money came from the slave trade. He argued in the House of Commons in favour of the Atlantic slave trade due to its economic benefits and was known for ridiculing anti-slavery MPs.
Tarleton died in Herefordshire in 1833.