Tarleton, Sir Banastre (1754–1833), a British army officer in the American Revolutionary War. After serving in the North, 1776–79, he became commander of the British Legion, a group of American Tories active in the South. He was noted for his daring and ruthlessness. Tarleton, as a lieutenant colonel, aided in a number of British victories, including those at Charleston and Camden in 1780. His troops were routed at Cowpens in 1781, but he continued to fight minor cavalry actions until the war's end.
After returning to England, Tarleton served in Parliament, 1790–1806 and 1807–12. He was made a general in 1812 and a baronet in 1815.
Tarleton wrote History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (1781).