America Untold:
Forgotten heroes, Forgotten Stories
Scarlet Ingstad
Christian, Independent Author, Historian
Christian, Independent Author, Historian
Welcome to a brand new article series all about the life of Banastre Tarleton! This content was originally part of a biography I was working on, but after some "soul-searching," I realized my passion is in writing my blog posts and historical fiction novels. So, instead, every so often I'll release another chapter of what would have been the bio for you all to read for free! This series will cover Tarleton's life from this segment, the intro and history of the Tarleton family line, through the Battle of Waxhaws. Enjoy! Introduction Bloody Ban, The Butcher, The Green Dragoon. These are all monikers applied to Banastre Tarleton both during his life and after his death. For centuries, Banastre inspired both fear and rage, becoming the quintessential villain of the American Revolutionary War. But does Banastre Tarleton deserve some of these colorful nicknames? What did he do to earn these labels, who assigned them, and why do we still view him this way today? While the Americans vilified him, the British hailed him as a darling of the American Revolution, and to this day, describe him as victorious, daring and courageous. Much of Banastre’s time during the American Revolution is well-documented, but by very biased sources. Banastre exalts himself in his own memoirs for his efforts during the Southern Campaign, criticizing his superiors and expressing his frustrations with the rebel forces of General George Washington. These rebel forces frequently wrote about Banastre as well, describing him as a terror, a hellion, and a man filled with uncontrollable rage and a thirst for blood. However, many of these rebel officers and soldiers wrote these words after losing to Banastre in battle. So, what is the truth? Is Banastre Tarleton truly the horrific individual we’ve come to accept? Or are the descriptions simply exaggerated tales from bitter, defeated enemies? Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I posit that both reputations are true, but they have both been exaggerated to extremes. Banastre Tarleton was brutal and ruthless in defending the Crown, making him a true villain to the American forces and simultaneously a hero to England. In 1835 a man by the name of Moses Hall appealed to the United States government for a pension due to his service during the American Revolution. He claimed to remember the events that took place in the Southern Campaign with startling clarity, recounting events in great detail. Hall explained that one day, a detachment of North Carolina militiamen discovered an abandoned British Legion campsite. Hall tripped over something, realizing a moment later it was a sixteen year old boy, barely alive. The British thought the boy was a spy and allegedly ran him through with a bayonet, leaving him to die slowly. The boy spoke as he bled, and in the words of Hall: “The sight of this unoffending boy, butchered rather than be encumbered...on the march, I assume, relieved me of my distressful feelings for the slaughter of the Tories, and I desired nothing so much as the opportunity of participating in their destruction.” This single account became the foundation for Banastre Tarleton’s long-standing reputation. The movie The Patriot has also done Tarleton no favors with his modern-day reputation and legacy. The fictional character, Colonel William Tavington, portrayed by Jason Isaacs, is loosely based on the rumors, legends, and true stories of Banastre Tarleton’s actions during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. In June of 2020, Dr. Craig Bruce Smith published an article analyzing The Patriot, including how the British Legion, specifically Colonel Tavington, are portrayed. According to Dr. Smith, The Patriot managed to capture the brutality and terror of 18th century combat in the southern states. It also questioned the concepts of honor and morality, debating the meaning behind how one defines civilized warfare and patriotism. Tavington even asks the main protagonist, South Carolina planter Benjamin Martin, “Would you like a lesson, sir, on the rules of war?” This question remains present in every analysis of the real Banastre Tarleton. Later in the film, Col. Tavington makes another problematic statement as he orders the burning of a church full of men, women and children: “The honor is found in the end not the means. This will be forgotten.” Utilizing this concept of “bloody virtue,” Tavington justified all of his violent actions, claiming that after the war ended everything he did would be understood and accepted. While this is a fictional rendition of Tarleton and the Southern Campaign, it does exemplify the reputation assigned to him over the past couple centuries as well as an interesting notion of “bloody virtue,” a concept this study center around. The British Legion burned towns and killed their enemies with precision, speed, and efficiency. But does this warrant their reputation? What exactly are these “rules of war” in the 18th century world? Analyzing both Tarleton’s actions, and the actions of those he fought against will provide a complete understanding of warfare in the south during the Revolution and a better understanding of who Banastre Tarleton truly was. Christopher Ward's opinion of Tarleton is worthy of additional analysis. Ward was a notable historian who served as president of the Historical Society of Delaware who also worked with the Federal Writer’s Project. Ward’s 1941 two volume publication, The War of the Revolution, was hailed as an instant modern classic of American historical scholarship and a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction Revolutionary War history. Regarding Tarleton, Ward stated: “He was shrewd, sudden, and swift to strike. As a leader of cavalry, he was unmatched on either side for alertness and rapidity of movement, dash, daring, and vigor of attack. As a man, he was cold-hearted, vindictive, and utterly ruthless. He wrote his name in letters of blood all across the history of the war in the South.” Anthony Scotti cites this in his 2019 study on Tarleton and posits that: “It is necessary ‘to move beyond the prevailing posture of contempt’ for Banastre Tarleton. Indeed, the man is a controversial subject even to this day, but understanding him is undoubtedly more useful to historical inquiry than merely condemning him.” As the author and historian of this particular work on Tarleton, I readily agree and intend to achieve this very goal. The only complete biography about Banastre Tarleton was written in the 1950’s by a man named Robert Bass. His book, The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton & Mary Robinson, provides a full analysis of Tarleton’s life, but it is not a perfect book. There are many instances where Bass makes definitive claims with little to no evidence. Additionally, the stories of Tarleton’s actions in the 1780 and 1781 Southern Campaign are embellished, adding to the legends and myths behind what truly happened during this time period. Portions of this book color Tarleton’s reputation and are partially responsible for the modern-day view of who Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion were. One of the most recent books about Banastre was released in 2020 by John Knight, War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion. Knight’s extensive research aided in revealing a different side to the demonized-Tarleton, demonstrating how many of his peers, subordinates, and supervisors viewed him. Additionally, Knight explored Tarleton’s incredible battle tactics and examined the actions of those he interacted with, comparing and contrasting them to Banastre’s own actions. Knight’s research is thorough, making his analysis considerably more reputable than many others. Banastre Tarleton interacted with numerous well-known figures from 1770 until his death in 1833. This study analyzes these interactions and provides a new perspective into events that transformed both America and England. In addition to revealing a more complete assessment of Tarleton, this article series will also lend new insights into the historiography of the time period, the perspective of the British during the American Revolution, and the Southern Campaign. 1. The Tarleton Family
Banastre Tarleton was born on August 21, 1754 to an upper-middle class family in England. To fully understand Banastre’s life, it is imperative to take a gander at where his family came from. Tudor registrars were the first to record the Tarleton family and referred to them as yeomen and “stubborn [Roman Catholic] Recusants” during the reign of King George II. By the time King George III took the throne, the Tarletons transitioned from farmers and defenders of Rome to merchants and traders. The Tarletons originated from Fazakerley and Aigburth near Liverpool, a town built on the shipping industry, specifically the cargo the ships carried. This cargo consisted of sugar, Indigo, rice, cotton, and enslaved persons. In 1771, there were 23 slaver ships that sailed from Bristol, 58 from London, and 107 from Liverpool alone. The slave trade essentially created Liverpool and turned it into a prosperous town whose dependence on the trade shaped both its culture and politics. In the early seventeenth century, Aigburth Hall served as the family seat, but how Aigburth Hall came to the Tarletons possession remains unknown. In the late seventeenth century, Aigburth Hall transferred to the Harringtons due to the lack of a male Tarleton heir in the senior branch of the family. Dorothy Tarleton married John Harrington of Huyton Hey, thereby transferring the Tarleton possession of Aigburth Hall to the Harrington family. Over the course of the next century, the possession of the property changed multiple times until John Tarleton IV and his son, Thomas, purchased it just before the onset of the American Revolutionary War. John Tarleton IV and Thomas Tarleton represented a junior family line called the Bolesworth branch which had just begun to settle in Liverpool during the seventeenth century. This junior line began with John Tarleton I, the son of Edward Tarleton I. John was not mentioned in Edward Tarleton’s will upon his death at Aigburth in 1626. John then died shortly after his father, leaving behind his son, Edward Tarleton II born in 1628. Edward died in 1690 after serving as mayor of Liverpool in 1682, marking the first of a long line Tarletons serving as mayors of the city. Edward was also a ship-owner and the owner of multiple residences in town, specifically the Church Stile house in the Chapel Yard, a fish house on Chapel Street, and a rope house on the Heath. Essentially, Edward Tarleton served as the cornerstone of the Bolesworth Tarleton fortune. His property, specifically his ships, would shape the Tarleton legacy for many generations. In the eighteenth century, Edward’s children continued adding to the Tarleton wealth. His oldest son, John Tarleton II, became a popular physician in Lancaster and later Fenwick Street. Edward’s second son, Edward Tarleton II, became mayor of Liverpool in 1712. Carefully arranged marriages also began to shape the Tarleton name and fortune. Anne Tarleton, daughter of John Tarleton II, married Ralph Williamson. Their children became very successful slave traders and West India merchants about halfway through the eighteenth century. Through a series of marriages, the Tarleton family drew closer to the Clayton and Houghton families, who had very strong ties to the Atlantic trade. The slave trade during the eighteenth century became the backbone for the Tarleton fortune. The Liverpool Tarletons participated in the African and West Indian trades over the span of several generations. In 1720, Thomas Tarleton I prepared ships for numerous trips to Africa. Along with his brother John Tarleton III, he even commanded voyages to Africa himself. However, with their premature deaths, the Tarleton family’s trade activity declined in the 1730s through the early 1740s. Thomas’ son, John Tarleton IV, revived the family trade business in ways that would change the trajectory of the Tarleton fortunes. John IV invested in multiple forms of trade with several countries, to include Ireland, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Greenland for whale fishery business. However, John’s trade endeavors primarily centered around Africa and the West Indies due to the sheer prosperity of the slave trade and sugar plantations from 1763 through 1776. The “silver age of sugar” encouraged many planters at this time to expand their output of sugar, which in turn led to an increase in demand for slave labor. John IV took full advantage of the situation and began to build up the Tarleton family fortune based on the trade of both sugar and enslaved persons. The last half of the eighteenth century became a fortuitous era for African and West Indian merchants and traders. John IV became a manager and part-owner of several slave ships, to include the Swan and the Tarleton in the 1750s, and the John in the 1760s. These ships frequently unloaded their cargo of enslaved persons in Jamaica. The Tarleton, according to the Liverpool Registry of Merchant Ships, could carry over 500 enslaved persons per voyage. John IV also held multiple shares in various West Indian traders, especially within the Leeward Islands, specifically Antigua. Following the Seven Years War, John expanded this trade to the Ceded Islands. During the cessation of Grenada by France to Britain, John IV purchased a house and store at St. George’s, Grenada to assist with his business. Prior to his death in 1773, he also owned the Belfield Estate at Dominica. John followed his fellow traders regarding their motivation to trade with foreign colonies like Cuba and Martinique during the Seven Years War. During the 1750s, John Tarleton’s wealth lay primarily in ships and goods, but after purchasing the sugar house in Castle Street near the end of the decade, a new era began to emerge for the Tarleton family fortune. The purchasing of estates both at home and overseas began to add significant funds to the Tarleton wealth, especially the estates in the West Indies. In 1770 John was even able to purchase a portion of the Aigburth Hall estate, the original family house. Upon his death in 1773, approximately one-third of John Tarleton IV’s fortune lay in real estate acquired from 1763 through 1773. From 1748 through 1773, John’s fortune grew from approximately £6,000 to about £80,000. At the time of his death. John’s fortune amounted to the equivalent of 8 million dollars by today’s standards. Through John Tarleton IV’s endeavors, the Tarletons emerged as one of the most prominent merchant families in Liverpool during the mid-to-late-eighteenth century. He also served as mayor of Liverpool in 1764 and, three years later was asked to serve as a parliamentary candidate for the Liverpool constituency. Prominent African and West Indian merchants underwrote his candidacy. Despite John’s decision to decline this offer (allegedly after whale-men rioted and prevented his appearance at the Liverpool hustings), the offer itself reveals how society at this time viewed John and the Tarleton name. He was so well-liked he was even given the nickname “The Great T.” This societal notoriety is also noted in other ways, including the fact that he sent three of his sons to Oxford colleges to study the law, and the drastic change in the composition of his wealth in the final ten years of his life. John Tarleton established an amicable business relationship with Henry Laurens of South Carolina. In 1760 the Charles Town company, Austin, Laurens, and Appleby, frequently filled John Tarleton’s brigantine Fanny with a variety of cargo, primarily food-related items, supplies for making clothes, and household items bound for Jamaica and other islands in the West Indies. Henry Laurens considered John Tarleton a vital customer. He wrote to John IV, saying that he was “always glad to receive your commands,” thanked him for his politeness and many favors, and mentioned that he looked forward to meeting John in Bristol. The irony of this friendly work relationship is that both men are the fathers of Revolutionary War heroes on opposing sides of the war. Henry Laurens was the father if John Laurens, an important member of George Washington’s inner circle who history hailed as a hero, and John Tarleton IV was the father of Banastre Tarleton, a man whom history would remember for his less-than-savory actions during the war. John Tarleton IV married Jane Parker of Cuerden, Lancashire and they had seven children in total. They lost their first child, a girl named Jane, when she was an infant. The fourth son, William Tarleton, died at a young age in 1778. The remaining children, four sons and one daughter, added to the family legacy in very different ways. John V, Clayton, and Thomas decided to continue the family business of trading enslaved persons and investing in property. Later on, John V would become a Member of Parliament and stand opposed to his own brother, Banastre, while Thomas inherited the majority of his father’s property, including the Bolesworth Castle, the family seat at the time, making him the central figure of the Tarleton family. Thomas also became a notable sugar refiner, while his brothers John and Clayton married wealthy women from prominent families. Bridget, the only surviving daughter of John and Jane Tarleton, married Edward Falkner, another wealthy Liverpool merchant who also served as a Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1788. The joining of the Tarletons and Falkners through this marriage added wealth and notoriety to both families. John, Clayton, and Thomas all partnered with Daniel Backhouse in the African and West Indian trading firm they named Tarleton & Backhouse. Clayton later became mayor in 1792 after leaving the firm the year prior. John allegedly left the firm just before Clayton did after a “very violent quarrel” with Backhouse over terms of renewal. Despite these changes, Thomas reportedly remained with the firm. Whether partnered together or on their own, the three brothers continued the legacy left behind by their father. Clayton’s correspondence during the 1790s provides additional evidence that the Tarleton family remained heavily vested in the African slave trade. In March of 1790, the investment in Liverpool ships and cargo totaled over £1 million, £85,000 of which accounted for the Tarleton & Backhouse firm. Tarleton & Backhouse, at this point in time, was the third largest firm engaged in the Liverpool slave trade. However, unlike his siblings, Banastre Tarleton, second son of John IV and Jane, had no interest in the family business. Instead, Banastre squandered some of the family’s fortune (his inheritance to be exact) through his actions shortly after his father’s death. These actions eventually led Banastre playing a leading role in the American Revolution as commander of the British Legion in the southern colonies, where his name became synonymous with death, terror and destruction. Stay tuned for the next segment of the “Bloody Valor” series, where we’ll learn about Banastre’s early years in England and how he found himself in the midst of the American Revolution. Sources: John C. Dann, ed., The Revolution Remembered; Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 201-203. Craig Bruce Smith, “Revolution then: The Patriot stands alone.” The Spectator, June 29, 2020. https://spectator.us/book-and-art/revolution-then-patriot-stands-alone/. Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution. NewYork: Skyhorse Publishing, 2011. Anthony J. Scotti, Brutal Virtue: The Myth and Reality of Banastre Tarleton. Berwyn Heights: Heritage Books, Inc., May 1, 2019. Robert Bass, The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton & Mary Robinson, 1957. John Knight, The War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, December 18, 2020. British History Online, “Aigburth” and “Fazakerly,” www.british-history.ac.uk. Tarleton Family Archives, Liverpool Records Office, ref NRA 7189 Tarleton. “European Traders,” International Slavery Museum, Liverpool. www.liverpool-museums.org.uk/history-of-slavery/europe. P.D. Richardson, "American Material from the Tarleton Papers in Liverpool Record Office.” British Records Relating to in Microform (BRRAM) Series, 1974 https://microform.digital/map/guides/R96797.pdf. Robert Craig and Rupert Jarvis, Liverpool Registry of Merchant Ships. Manchester: Chetham, 1967. Robert Hamilton Vetch, “John Tarleton.” Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 55. “The Henry Laurens Papers, 1747-1860,” The South Carolina Historical Society, SCHS 37/3, Microfilm Roll #45/132 Letter book, 1762-1764. 1 vol. Nora McMillan, “Mrs. Edward Bury (Priscilla Susan Falkner), Botanical Artist,” The Nook, Vol 5: pgs 71-75. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/jsbnh.1968.5.1.71
1 Comment
Katrina Ann Foreman
10/12/2023 07:57:18 pm
Thank you.He is a figure worthy of study.I may be a bit biased as I first made his aquaintance in London at the National Gallery.
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Scarlet Ingstad
I am an independent author and historian seeking to uplift the stories of the lesser-known heroes and heroines of the American Revolution, alongside modern-day heroes and heroines who have served in the U.S. military and continue their service through their historical work. Archives
March 2022
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