Recently, I was in the National Gallery and I clapped eyes on the most gorgeous man. Our eyes met across a crowded gallery and I felt compelled to get closer to him. I went over to introduce myself because I knew he was the man for me...
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| Colonel Banastre Talerton (1782) Joshua Reynolds National Gallery, London |
Look at those legs! Look at that hat! Swit swoo! I'm sure he won't be an amoral killing machine. When I returned home, I immediately rushed to research him, with hope in my heart. Oh dear...
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| Young Banastre Tarleton (1770s) Richard Cosway |
Born in the summer of 1754, Banastre Tarleton was the third of seven children born to Liverpool Mayor, John Tarleton (1718-1773). His grandfather had been a slave trader and shipowner and his younger brother John was a member of Parliament in 1792, and also a slave trader. Young Tarleston went to Oxford in 1771, preparing to become a lawyer, but instead inherited money from his father's death and went well and truly off the rails. Hurrah!
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| Tickets and passes for the Cocoa Tree club |
On his father's death in 1773, Tarleston inherited £5,000 which translates to over £300,000 in today's money. Impressively, he managed to squander most of it in less than a year, on gambling and ladies, mostly at the Cocoa Tree club, to which Lord Byron was a member. The club was notorious for being a money drain, with extortionate amounts of money being exchanged at cards or in bribes among the most fashionable men of London. With what was left of his inheritance, he purchased a commission in 1775, entering the 1st Dragoon Guards as a cavalry officers. Due to his skill as a leader and talent on a horse, he worked himself up to a Lieutenant Colonel all at a very early age.
At the age of 21, Tartleton sailed to North America to join the War of Independence, where much of his dubious reputation was built. He led a scouting party that surrounded White's Tavern on Basking Ridge and captured General Charles Lee in his dressing gown (which is a terrible place to get captured). He fought in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, working his way up the rank because he was just so bloody good at what he did. He was given his own unit, christened 'Tarleton's Raiders' and he dressed them in green jackets so that if you were on the battlefield and you saw a sea of green approaching you, you knew you were in trouble.
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| Siege of Charlestown 1780 (19th century) Alonzo Chappel |
One of the things I love about Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton is that whilst fighting in the war, he made time to send letters home to the newspapers about what he was getting up to. What they published was actually extracts from his letters to Sir Henry Clinton, his General. A letter from October 1779, published in Saunder's News-Letter relates a skirmish at Poundbridge, finishing with a cheery summary of the battle: 'With pleasure I relate to your excellency, that the loss sustained by his majesty's troops is trifling, 1 hussar of the legion killed, 1 wounded, 1 horse of 17th dragoons killed, the whole of the detachment, except the above, being returned to camp. the infantry of the legion, mounted on horses, are extremely fatigued by a march of 64 miles in 23 hours.' From his letters you get an impression of a young, gifted soldier who drove himself as hard as he drove his troops, so no wonder they followed him with the same passion. The problems came while Tarleton's Raiders were winning. After the Siege of Charleston, one or more of the soldiers sexually assaulted the local women after winning a victory. This perceived lack of control of his troops raised questions, but that was just the start of it.
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| Sign at the site of the Battle of Waxhaws |
The Battle of Waxhaws is what cemented Banastre Tarleton's reputation as an out-and-out bastard and led to his charming nicknames such as 'Bloody Ban' and 'the Butcher', but again it was less of what he did but more what his men got up to. In May 1780, Tarlton got a surrender from Colonel Buford, however as the troops prepared for this, Tarleton's horse was shot from under him and it fell, trapping him beneath it. Seeing their commander fall whilst taking a surrender, and believing the musket had come from the Virginians, the Raiders slaughtered anyone they could get their hands on, including killing injured American soldier's where they lay. Unsurprisingly, American historians in the 19th century saw this as an appalling war-crime, hence the nicknames, but generally it can be seen as further proof of the lack of discipline but also the ferocious devotion of the troops to their young, precocious commander.
It was in the Spring of 1781 that his (and everyone else's) luck ran out. During the Battle of Guilford Court House, Banastre had two of his fingers of his right hand shot off. This didn't initially seem to slow him down as he battled on through the year to the British surrender in October of that year. When invitations were sent for the senior British officers to have dinner with the American victors, the only one not to receive an invite was Bloody Ban, who went home in retirement, aged 27.
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| Victorian engraving of Banastre Tarleton for a biography |
As soon as Tartleton returned home, his portrait was painted by Joshua Reynolds who cleverly disguised his war wound by the pose he placed him in, as if he is reaching for his sword. His hand became his great weapon in politics. He wrote his experiences in battle in Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (1781), available for free download here. He then went into politics, standing for MP for Liverpool, a seat he claimed in 1790 until 1812. Disappointingly unsurprising, he was a supporter of slavery, not only because of his family history but also because of its significance for the port in Liverpool. He also was a first-class cricketer, named as the best bowler at a match in May 1784 (according to a historical account quoted in the Liverpool Daily Post in June 1942). According to Wisden, Tarleton played for Brighton, the forerunner of the modern Sussex Club. When fighting erupted in the Peninsular War, Tartleton had great hopes of leading the troops, but instead that role was given to the slightly younger Duke of Wellington. 'Bloody Ban' was never to go to war again.
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| Mary Robinson as Perdita (1782) John Hoppner |
As interesting as his military career was, I find his love life as fascinating and far more sympathetic. In Tartleton's obituary in 1833, quite a few column inches of the Morning Chronicle were dedicated to his romance with Mary Robinson, a leading actress and writer, and previous-mistress of the Prince of Wales. Tarleton seduced Mary on a bet (lovely) but their romance lasted 15 years and through Mary's illness and paralysis. In 1783, Mary suffered a miscarriage and Paula Byrne, in her biography of Robinson, suggests that the actress developed an infection which left her paralyzed. Tarleton loved her so much that he would arrive at her house, carry her to his carriage, then to her favourite theatre in Covent Garden, where she had seen great success playing 'Perdita' in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. The paralysis led Mary to a different career and she excelled as a writer of poetry, plays and novels. The lovers possibly had a child, as related in this blog, but still the couple parted ways after naughty Ban's roving eye strayed towards Mary's 21 year old daughter by her first marriage. He finally married in 1798, to an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Ancaster, Susan Bertie and Mary Robinson died in 1800. When Tartleton died in 1833 his checkered, 'romantic' and scandalous life provided much fodder for his biographers who saw him as an MP second and a lover-soldier first.
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| Detail from the Reynold's portrait |
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| A Tarleton helmet, c.1810 |
A slightly odd legacy for the Bloody Butcher of the American Revolution is a hat, the Tarleton helmet. The leather helmet had a plume of fur (or wool for lower ranks) across the top and it remained popular until the end of the Napoleonic wars. It is the luscious concoction that the man himself wears in his portrait, with the massive plume billowing in the winds of war. It no doubt added to the romance that surrounded him, and was adopted by other armies, such as King Ludwig II of Bavaria's troops until his untimely death in 1886 (another romantic if ever there was one).
So, how should we remember the man under the hat? It is easy to forget how young he was when he led his troops in the American Civil War, and he undoubtedly made as many mistakes as he made brilliant strategic and brave moves. The violence that accompanied his troops diminished his victories and it is unsurprising that he is still viewed as a butcher. When you develop such a reputation in war in order to intimidate your rivals you risk forever being tarred by your own propaganda, no matter the truth behind it. The care he took of his lover, carrying her to her favourite box in the theatre is heart-meltingly romantic and certainly gives a different side to the soldier-politician. The slave-trading sympathies relate to his history and location, but are damning, thanks to the clear vision of time but he was no different in many ways than vast swathes of rich men of his generation. In the end I just have to admit that although Joshua Reynolds captures the beauty of an exceptional young man, knowing his background has rendered him somewhat less attractive.
Damn, why are all the handsome ones so appalling?
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