The Green Dragoon (Paperback)

~ Robert D. Bass (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

About the Author

Robert D. Bass, born near Scranton, South Carolina was one of the nation's leading scholars of the American revolution in South Carolina. Dr. Bass was a professor at several prestigious colleges and universities across the country. He was honored by the SC Hall of Fame, the American Revolution Round Table and the American Association of State and Local History

Product Details

• Paperback: 490 pages
• Publisher: Sandlapper Pub Co (January 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878441638
• ISBN-13: 978-0878441631
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #733,379 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Eighteenth Century Rake (and his Mistress), June 4, 2004

By	Matherson (New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Banastre Tarleton was, in many ways, something of an ideal young man, measured by the standards of English eighteenth century culture. Highly literate, well-educated, and brilliant as a cavalryman. As a cavalry colonel for the British side in the American Revolution, he participated in several key victories, particularly in the Carolinas, before being defeated at Cowpens and, again, at Yorktown. Tarleton was (and remains) reviled by American partisans as the cruellest of the English warriors, and though Bass relates several unsavory episodes in unsparing detail, he was not quite the unregenerate scumbag that is so often featured in popular histories. Having said that, his later career in English politics was an unmitigated disaster: constantly up to his eyeballs in gambling schemes, he flitted from party to party and had an unerring knack of finding the wrong issue on which to campaign.

Mary Robinson, his long-suffering mistress, was an entirely different kettle of fish. Something of an underrated star of English literature, she was also one of the great actresses of her day. Her story in many respects resembles that of her contemporary, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire (who makes several appearances in these pages), especially given her dalliances with Whig politics. In other respects she reminds one of other great female intellectuals of this era such as Gertrude de Stael or (a little earlier) Madame du Chatelet.

An engaging joint biography of two strong, if star-crossed individuals.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT, January 8, 2004

By A Customer

Clearly one of the best books written on Banastre Tarleton. Clear, clean prose on a most complex man. A highly intellectual biography, perhaps over some heads in many ways--but well worth the effort. The book makes clear that it is important to remember that there was another side to our revolution.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated, February 20, 2008

By	Scholar "18th century student" (USA) - See all my reviews

This is the only bio of BT, so there are not many options besides this book if you want to learn more @ the dragoon. More than half the book is his career and love life AFTER the American Rev. Dated prose.