Tarleton’s Legion Officer, Charleston, 1780

At the beginning of the American Revolution, the British Army had to raise new units on the colonies to support the already deployed regiments. That was the case of the British Legion, raised in New York in 1778, that merged into a single force diverse smaller infantry and cavalry loyalist units.

The unit was known as Tarleton’s Legion or Tarleton’s Raiders because of his lieutenant colonel, Barnastre Tarleton, a very capable commander with a fierce reputation. The unit was composed both of infantry and light cavalry, so it was really well suited to the special characteristics of the American War. They took part on many major battles of the war, like the siege of Charleston, Cowpens (where they suffered so much losses on their infantry arm that they got permanently transformed into a exclusively cavalry unit), Guilford Courthouse or Yorktown, where the unit was disbanded after surrendering to the French Army.

But the event that gained them their ruthless reputation was the controversial Battle of Waxhawks, also known as the Waxhawks Massacre, were they slaughtered a significant number of continental soldiers after they already had surrendered. Accounts differ in important details about the circumstances of the event and the degree of involvement of Barnastre Tarleton in it.

Our bust depicts a gallant officer of this unit, probably of British origin.