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takes command of the militia, recruits more Patriots, and
harries the British at every turn.
Tavington responds by intensifying his campaign
against the rebels. His culminating barbarity is to round up
the villagers of Wakefield (including Gabriel’s fiancé), herd
them into a church, and set it ablaze. All perish in unimagin-
able (and mercifully unfilmed) agony. Martin checks his rage
long enough to plot the defeat of Cornwallis’s army. This
occurs at the Battle of Cowpens, where the militia holds its
position despite being blasted by British artillery and deci-
mated by repeated fusillades. When Tavington leads a cavalry
charge, Martin’s eyes widen and he reaches for the toma-
hawk. Tavington dies at Martin’s hands, and Cornwallis is
routed, too; the latter’s subsequent surrender at Yorktown is
now a foregone conclusion.
Historians have found much to criticize in the movie’s
retelling of the war in the South. There was no such person
as Benjamin Martin, though elements of his story can be
found in the exploits of guerrilla leaders such as Francis
Marion (“the Swamp Fox”), Thomas Sumter, Andrew
Pickens, and General Daniel Morgan, who commanded the
Continentals at Cowpens. Although the British cavalry wear
red uniforms in the movie, they were known as the Green
Dragoons for a reason that seemingly eluded the filmmak-
ers. The movie’s version of the Battle of Cowpens featured
a glorious display of fireworks, though neither army’s
artillery in South Carolina was capable
of firing explosive shells. Cornwallis
was not humiliated at Cowpens
because he was not there. In the
movie the British are caricatured as
either evil geniuses or bungling twits,
and the Patriots as big-hearted rogues
or pious patriarchs. The real combat-
ants doubtless adhered less pre-
dictably to type. The most serious
deviation from the historical record
was the incineration of the occupied
church: There is no record of any such
event.“The Patriotis to history what
Godzilla was to biology,” declared his-
torian David Hackett Fischer.
However,The Patriotraises and
thoughtfully addresses an important
historical issue: How can any society
reconcile peaceable virtues—love for
family, neighborliness, cooperation—
with the violence of war? In The
Patriot, the dilemma is symbolized by
Martin’s tomahawk. This weapon helps
free his captured son and vanquish
the evil Tavington; and yet it is also a
manifestation of Martin’s savage, even
pathological, rage. Martin’s secretA
s the opening credits roll, Benjamin Martin (played by
Mel Gibson) pries open a wooden box. It contains yel-
lowing papers, a few medals, and a tomahawk. He lifts the
tomahawk, fingers its handle gingerly, and stares at the
blade.“I had long feared that my sins would revisit me,” a
voice intones,“and the cost is more than I can bear.” The
viewer suspects—rightly, it turns out—that Martin’s sins
were violent, and that they had something to do with
hacking people apart. But at the outset of The Patriot,
Hollywood’s $100-million blockbuster on the American
Revolution, Martin is more pacifist than patriot. When the
South Carolina legislature votes to go to war with Great
Britain, he publicly declares that his chief obligation is to
his family:“I will not fight.”
He soon changes his mind after the British capture
Charleston (1780) which brings onto the scene a villainous
British cavalry officer, Colonel Tavington. Ordered by
General Cornwallis to subdue the insurrection in the coun-
tryside, Tavington ransacks plantations, forces slaves into
the king’s service, and hounds the rebel militia. He also
arrests Gabriel (Heath Ledger), Martin’s oldest son, and
orders the boy’s execution as a spy. When Gabriel’s
younger brother tries to intervene, Tavington shoots the
boy dead. Overcome with rage, Martin races to his room,
grabs the hatchet, and proceeds to bury it—repeatedly—
into the chests and skulls of countless British soldiers. He
RE-VIEWING THE PAST
The Patriot
William Ranney’s painting, The Battle of Cowpens(1845) anticipated an error of the movie, The
Patriot.General Daniel Morgan’s troops are shown in green uniforms while the British cavalry
are wearing red. In fact the British commander, Banastre Tarleton, on whom Tavington was
based, commanded the Green Dragoons, a name reflected in their uniform color.
Source: William Ranney, The Battle of Cowpens. Oil on canvas. Photo by Sam Holland. Courtesy South Carolina
State House.