Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, 1782

Engraving, oval vignette, published by the 'London Magazine', 1782.

Tarleton served in America from 1776, but his military career in the early part of the War of Independence (1775-1783) was relatively undistinguished. This changed towards the end of 1778, when he was appointed to the command of the British Legion, a Loyalist American force. Tarleton soon proved himself a dashing leader of light cavalry, and during the British campaign in the southern colonies, the Legion won a brilliant reputation as a raiding force. It also acquired an exaggerated reputation for brutality.