gan’s position, he fed his infantry into a direct
frontal assault. The militia fired and fell back
as planned, inflicting some losses. The British
were then totally halted by the stand of Mor-
gan’s Continentals, who after firing several
volleys feigned a retreat. The Legion, so ac-
customed to seeing the backs of their oppo-
nents, immediately broke ranks and began a
disorderly pursuit, which was suddenly halted
when Morgan’s men inexplicably halted,
turned, and fired into their ranks. At this junc-
ture the militia appeared from behind a rise
and attacked one flank while Washington’s
cavalry assailed the another. Tarleton tried
desperately to reform his ranks, but the Le-
gion dissolved into a mass of fugitives and
fled. Washington, saber drawn, managed to
exchange a few cuts with the surprised
British commander before he escaped and
took off, hotly pursued by the victors. Lasting
only an hour, Cowpens was a minor tactical
masterpiece that cost the British 500 dead
and captured—and Tarleton his reputation.
Morgan’s losses in this stunning reversal of
fortune were only 12 killed and 60 wounded.
British officers had long regarded Tarleton
as too cocky for his own good; now crest-
fallen, he tendered his resignation. Cornwallis
refused and then advanced against Greene,
hoping to catch him before he could unite his
forces with Morgan. He barely failed in this
task, and on March 6, 1781, his 1,900 men en-
gaged a force nearly three times its size at
Guilford Courthouse. After a hard-fought ac-
tion, the British kept the field—but with stag-
gering losses. Tarleton, as usual, was in the
thick of the fray and lost two fingers. The
British then retreated into Virginia, where the
brash horseman was directed to conduct a se-
ries of lighting raids. One of these nearly cap-
tured Governor Thomas Jefferson at Char-
lottesville on June 4, 1781. At length, Tarleton
was recalled by Cornwallis and joined the
main army, then entrenched at Yorktown.
Throughout the siege of that place, he com-
manded the forces on the Gloucester side of
the river and conducted many exciting, but ul-
timately fruitless, forays. He was taken pris-
oner following Cornwallis’s surrender there in
October and paroled. While awaiting ex-
change, Tarleton frequently protested the fact
that American officers never invited him to
dinner. These complaints would have amused
the southern militiamen, who would just as
soon have seen him hanged by the neck.
Tarleton returned to England in 1782 and
was greeted as a hero. He became a lieutenant
colonel of dragoons, and between 1786 and
1806 he served intermittently in Parliament.
Over the years Tarleton accrued additional pro-
motions, rising to major general in 1794, but he
never again held a combat command. He con-
tinued living as a compulsive gambler, with ex-
travagant tastes in clothing, food, and women,
until marrying Susan Bertie, the daughter of the
Duke of Lancaster, in 1798. This maneuver had
a greater effect on him than Cowpens, for he
exchanged his florid lifestyle for that of a re-
spectable country gentleman. In May 1820, Tar-
leton was made a Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of the Bath at the behest of King George
IV, a lifelong friend. He died at Leintwardine on
January 25, 1833, largely forgotten in his own
country—but infamous in the annals of Ameri-
can military history.Bibliography
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