vent militia reinforcements from reaching the
defenders. He also frequently operated in con-
cert with two other talented partisan leaders,
Patrick Fergusonand John Graves Sim-
coe. By this time Tarleton had perfected his
tactical formula: accurate reconnaissance
coupled with a sudden, relentless assault
against an unprepared enemy. In quick suc-
cession, the British Legion attacked and
wiped out three larger American detachments
at Monck’s Corner (April 14, 1780), Lenud’s
Ferry (May 6), and the Waxhaws (May 29). It
was during this last skirmish that the British
Legion gained lasting notoriety by slaughter-
ing soldiers trying to surrender. Tarleton be-
came forever branded as “Bloody Ban,” and
his atrocities were denounced as “Tarleton’s
quarter.” But his ruthlessness on the battle-
field, coupled with the terror it inspired, dis-
suaded militia from being where they were
needed most.
After Charleston’s surrender, the British Le-
gion accompanied the advance of Gen.
Charles Cornwallisto Camden, South Car-
olina. Meanwhile, an American army under
Gen. Horatio Gates marched south to confront
Cornwallis, and their armies collided at Cam-
den on August 16, 1780. Gates was completely
defeated, and Tarleton gained additional lau-
rels by pursuing the fugitives for 20 miles,
sabering those he caught, and capturing all
their baggage and artillery. Subsequent British
movements were then hampered by partisan
forces under Gen. Thomas Sumter, and Corn-
wallis tasked Tarleton with eliminating the
problem. After two weeks of maneuvering and
scouting, the Legion surprised Sumter’s larger
force at Fishing Creek, South Carolina, on Au-
gust 18, 1780, and wiped it out. Sumter barely
escaped with his life. Tarleton was then un-
leashed against guerrillas under Col. Francis
Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” who artfully
dodged the British thunderbolt by withdraw-
ing deep into the swampland. Within weeks,
Sumter had regrouped and reformed his
forces and was hitting British supply lines
again. The hard-charging Tarleton caught up
with him at Blackstocks, South Carolina, on
November 20, 1780, defeated and wounded
Sumter in a hard-fought battle, and forced his
command to scatter. It seemed no militia
force—then the only organized American re-
sistance in the south—could resist this cruel,
impetuous, dandy. But far from being intimi-
dated, the population began using Tarleton’s
quarter as a rallying cry against him.
The 26-year-old Tarleton was by now firmly
established as Cornwallis’s main striking
force, and he continued as a personal favorite
of that aggressive officer. The general sought
to follow up his success with an immediate in-
vasion of North Carolina, but the death of Col.
Patrick Ferguson at King’s Mountain forced
him to withdraw. By fall, Cornwallis was
ready to resume his march, especially seeing
that a new commander, Gen. Nathaniel
Greene, had arrived and was consolidating his
shattered forces. With the British close be-
hind, Greene took the unprecedented step of
splitting his army into two divisions, dispatch-
ing one under Gen. Daniel Morgan to operate
independently. Cornwallis did the same and
sent Tarleton in hot pursuit of Morgan’s band
with slightly more than 1,000 men. The two
sides seemed evenly matched. On January 17,
1781, the Americans awaited the British on-
slaught at an open field known as Hannah’s
Cowpens. Acknowledging the unsteady na-
ture of his forces, Morgan resorted to a bril-
liant tactical expedient. His army was arrayed
into three lines: The first two consisted of
militia, who were ordered to fire only two vol-
leys at close range and then retire; the third
line consisted of the veteran Delaware and
Maryland Continentals and a cavalry
squadron under Col. William Washington,
upon whose fate the battle rested. With his
back to the Broad River, retreat was impossi-
ble, but Morgan was counting on Tarleton’s
customary impetuosity.
As expected, the British made contact with
Morgan outposts around seven o’clock in the
morning, and a preliminary exchange of gun-
fire toppled 15 Legion dragoons from their
saddles. Tarleton came galloping up soon
after; without pausing to reconnoiter Mor-TARLETON, BANASTRE