Banastre Tarleton

Who was Banastre Tarleton?

General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB 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 he had fired upon surrendering Continental Army troops at the Battle of Waxhaws. In a fictional novel The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson by Robert D. Bass he was given the nickname '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 as a Member of Parliament for Liverpool and became a prominent Whig politician. Tarleton's cavalrymen were frequently called 'Tarleton's Raiders'.