Banastre Tarleton

BANASTRE TARLETON (From Wikipedia) General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB (21 August 1754 – 15 January 1833) was a British soldier and politician. He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that his men had slaughtered surrendering Continental Army troops at the Battle of Waxhaws also known as the Waxhaw Massacre. In the biography The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson by Robert D. Bass (published in 1952) he was given the sobriquet 'Bloody Ban' and 'The Butcher', which has carried over into popular culture as being his nickname of the day, a moniker given to him for rebel propaganda purposes. He was hailed by the Loyalists and British as an outstanding leader of light cavalry and was praised for his tactical prowess and resolve, even against superior numbers. His green uniform was the standard of the British Legion, a provincial unit organised in New York in 1778. Tarleton was later elected a Member of Parliament for Liverpool and became a prominent Whig politician. Tarleton's cavalrymen were frequently called 'Tarleton's Raiders'. On 29 May 1780, Tarleton, with a force of 149 mounted soldiers, overtook a detachment of 350 to 380 Virginia Continentals led by Abraham Buford. Buford refused to surrender or even to stop his march. Only after sustaining heavy casualties did Buford order the surrender. Tarleton ignored the white flag and mercilessly massacred Buford's men. In the end, 113 Americans were killed and another 203 captured, 150 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind. Tarleton's casualties were 5 killed and 12 wounded.[10] The British called the affair the Battle of Waxhaw Creek, while the Americans called it the "Buford Massacre", "Tarleton's Quarter", or the "Waxhaw Massacre." In recounting Tarleton's action at the scene, an American field surgeon named Robert Brownfield wrote that Colonel Buford raised a white flag of surrender, "expecting the usual treatment sanctioned by civilized warfare". While Buford was calling for quarter, Tarleton's horse was struck by a musket ball and fell. This gave the loyalist cavalrymen the impression that the rebels had shot at their commander while asking for mercy. Enraged, the loyalist troops charged at the Virginians. According to Brownfield, the loyalists attacked, carrying out "indiscriminate carnage never surpassed by the most ruthless atrocities of the most barbarous savages." Tarleton's men stabbed the wounded where they lay. In Tarleton's own account, he virtually admits the massacre, stating that his horse had been shot from under him during the initial charge and his men, thinking him dead, engaged in "a vindictive asperity not easily restrained."[11] The Waxhaw massacre became an important rallying cry for the revolutionaries. Many people who had been more or less neutral became ardent supporters of the Revolution after the perceived atrocities.[12] "Tarleton's quarter," meaning no quarter would be offered to British and Loyalist soldiers, became a rallying cry for American patriots for the rest of the war especially at a temporary no quarter given for loyalist forces by American troops at the Battle of Kings Mountain,[13] 7 October 1780, where all the participants save for one British officer were colonists. One of Tarleton's nemeses in South Carolina was Francis Marion, an American militia commander and early practitioner of guerrilla warfare tactics, whom Tarleton was unable to capture or otherwise neutralise. Marion remained quite popular with South Carolina residents and continued his guerrilla campaign with their support. Tarleton, by contrast, alienated the citizenry by numerous acts of cruelty to the civilian population. For example, at one plantation of a deceased Patriot officer, he had the man's body dug up, then required the widow to serve him a meal. One of Marion's men later wrote of the incident: On one expedition (Nelson's Ferry – November 1780), Tarleton burnt the house, out houses, corn and fodder and a great part of the cattle, hogs and poultry, of the estate of Gen. Richardson. The general had been active with the Americans, but was now dead; and the British leader, in civilised times, made his widow and children suffer for the deeds of the husband and parent, after the manner of the East and coast of Barbary. What added to the cruel nature of the act, was that he had first dined in the house and helped himself to the abundant good cheer it afforded. But we have seen before the manner in which he requited hospitality. It was generally observed of Tarleton and his corps, that they not only exercised more acts of cruelty than any one in the British army, but also carried further the spirit of depredation. In 1784, Tarleton stood for election as M.P. for Liverpool, but was narrowly defeated. In 1790 he succeeded Richard Pennant as MP for Liverpool in the Parliament of Great Britain and, with the exception of a single year, remained in the House of Commons until 1812. He was a supporter of Charles James Fox despite their opposing views on the British role in the American War of Independence. Tarleton spoke on military matters and a variety of other subjects. He is especially noted for supporting the slave trade, with which the port of Liverpool was particularly associated. In reality, Tarleton was working to preserve the slavery business with his brothers Clayton and Thomas and he became well known for his taunting and mockery of the abolitionists. In 1794, he was promoted to Major-General, in 1801 to Lieutenant-General and in 1812 to General. He had hoped to be appointed to command British forces in the Peninsular War, but the position was instead given to Wellington. Tarleton died in January 1833, at Leintwardine, Herefordshire..

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