The Green Dragoon

A dual biography of "The Green Dragoon," Banastre Tarleton and his wife Mary Robinson. Tarleton was commander of the British Legion, and noteworthy for leading British troops during the American Revolutionary War. Banastre Tarleton was born August 21, 1754 in Liverpool, England to an upper middle-class family. He studied law at Oxford and joined the military in 1775. He sailed with Lord Cornwallis where the British fleet dropped anchor in the Charleston harbor and attempted to attack the palmetto log fort near Sullivan s Island. The British were not successful at taking the fort and headed north to form ground troops. Three weeks before his 24th birthday, Tarleton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the British Legion, a military unit composed of infantry and cavalry troops. Tarleton combined the troops to form his own green-jacketed dragoons, a group of mounted infantrymen who rode on horseback into battle and dismounted to fight. Tarleton led a powerful combat team including raids in the upstate and took an active part in battles all over the Carolinas. Swiftly moving his troops from Beaufort to Charleston to Goose Creek and Moncks Corner, the cavalry advanced northward, keeping in motion to gain intelligence of the enemy s design. Bloody Tarleton was perhaps best known for his barbaric actions in killing men even after they surrendered and begged for quarter. Tarleton s quarter, essentially meaning no quarter, became the battle cry of American riflemen.