Banastre Tarleton’s First Commanding Raid

Pompous, mercifulness, void of empathy, this British cavalryman’s ambitious impulses and self-glorifying ego demanded that all under his command follow his lead in a blood fest carved throughout the colonies. Nicknamed ‘Bloody Ban’ for his ruthlessness, Banastre Tarleton was hated and feared by American patriots throughout the war. His legacy was such, that when Hollywood needed the ultimate villain to play opposite Mel Gibson’s sparkling, ‘stars and stripes’ patriot role, who better to model than Tarleton. However, even in one of Tarleton’s worst deviant moods, he did not, as depicted in the movie Patriots, lock up an entire community in their church and then gloat as it was torched to the ground. But still, Bloody Ban did have enough under his belt to warrant true, rightful hatred by those he terrorized under the guise of doing his duty. He also proved to be an incredible ‘spin doctor’, a skill necessary then, as it is shamefully now, to ignore the truth and come out smelling like a rose, even if you fell flat on your face in a hog pen.

By late June, 1779, Tarleton had served as a promising subordinate. He was picked to receive his first command to lead a mounted raiding party that would ride into ‘no man’s land’ in Westchester County, New York; a buffer zone between the two opposing armies. The force would his own British Legion along with detachments from three other units; considered an elite corps. Westchester County, just north of New York City, a rich, pristine country of lush farms and quaint small hamlets, by 1779 was torn to shreds by foraging raiding parties of both armies, probing for information while flexing their muscle. Most particularly, units of loyalists ‘cowboys’ roamed indiscriminately, attacking patriots as well as loyalists. For the British, it also served as a means for Commander-in-Chief General Henry Clinton to prove to the people back home that he was doing something about the war, rather than just enjoying the cushy fruits of New York City, as his predecessor proved so apt. For this particular raid, Tarleton was given a clear objective: rout and destroy the reported Americans in the region of Pound Ridge (also spelt Poundridge), capture a sought-after patriot, and return with much needed livestock and other foods.

From Failure to Success: Power of the Pen. Or in This Case, the Quill

Tarleton failed on all three counts. After attacking American dragoons stationed at the village with a two to one advantage, he chased them approximately two miles[1] before a bunch of militia farmers turned out and drove him back to town where he torched a house and meetinghouse. Tarleton was unable to capture the patriot he was after because the man wasn’t home. In fact, the guy was leading a group of militias chasing Tarleton half-way back to New York City. As for the cattle and food he rounded up, Tarleton had to abandon all of it. This on account of those damn militia and dragoons who doggedly pursued him. The only thing he returned with for all his efforts was an officer’s baggage[2] [Major Benjamin Tallmadge] stuffed with men’s underwear, some officer’s correspondence…and a flag.

But that did not stop Bloody Ben from reporting a complete triumph. And the key to success? What proved a propaganda gemstone? The regimental flag. Tarleton played it up to the hilt. A lightning strike and glorious charge that drove the Americans from the field of battle, while conveniently leaving out the part about those farmers shortly afterwards ganging up on him. Forget the underwear and focus on the accolades of honor obtained by stumbling across a regimental flag amongst the baggage. Just don’t mention all that food and livestock he abandoned. But of course, throw in Tarleton’s scorch and burn tactics, his path strewn by flames and anguish – which in truth, supported by first hand accounts, amounted to two buildings in Pound Ridge and one in Bedford. Once done, the rising hero had enough on paper to shine like polished silver. And for Clinton, desperate for success, even if in fact the raid’s results couldn’t pass the smell test, it was enough. He sent Tarleton’s report to mother England claiming a resounding victory. Tarleton become the star of the day, on the lips of all. It sealed his role in the war as a dashing, ‘get ‘er done’ celebrity who Clinton, and later General Cornwallis, unleashed on the civilian population to prop up their efforts to propagate the end of a costly war.

Details

In late June, 1779, Clinton was informed that a combination of Continental troops and militia were harassing loyalists in the Pound Ridge region, just over thirty miles north of New York City, in what was termed ‘No Man’s Land’ of Westchester County, New York. The American troops Clinton knew of were specifically a detachment of the 2^nd Light Dragoons, a combination of cavalry and light infantry, under the command of Col. Elisha Sheldon, along with local militia under Major Ebenezer Lockwood. Major Lockwood was wanted by the British authorities for his active opposition to the Crown. He had been a member of New York’s Committee of Correspondence (regional organizations of protest) before leading a militia of patriots. Forty guineas was offered as a reward for his capture, a considerable sum in those days. Lockwood farmed five hundred areas in and around the tiny hamlet of Pound Ridge which consisted of two houses, a store, and church. Lockwood’s farmhouse was within the town’s limits. Clinton decided to send a strong raiding party to capture the patriot Lockwood and destroy the American dragoons in the village. The area was rich in food supplies which could easily be obtained once the American troops were dealt with. The twenty-four-year-old flamboyant Tarleton was a rising star, having performed well in previous engagements as a subordinate.  British Commander-in-Chief Henry Clinton decided that he deserved his first independent command.

British Force

Lt. Colonel Tarleton would be given an elite mounted force: A mounted detachment of the British Legion[3], a unit of cavalry and light infantry made up of Provincial Loyalists, in which Tarleton was second in command to Colonel William Lord Cathcart, seventy troopers of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons (Tarleton had been a dragoon in the 16^th Light Dragoons), a hussar detachment from the Legion, a detachment of Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers (loyalists originally organized by Robert Rogers of Roger’s Rangers fame), and some mounted Hessian Jaegers (German riflemen); a total of two hundred men according to Tarleton’s later report. Tarleton’s plan was to ride hard in a lightning strike from Mile Square, his headquarters near Yonkers and the Bronx River, through Bedford and then west onto Pound Ridge, eight miles further, an estimated round trip of around sixty some odd miles. He left at 11:00[4] on the night of July 1^st in a rain storm and planned to strike the foraging Americans at Pound Ridge at dawn the next day.

American Force

The Americans consisted of one hundred Continental Foot of the 6^th Connecticut Regiment under Major Eli Leavenworth, ninety of Colonel Elisha Sheldon’s 2^nd Regiment of Light Horse, and one hundred local militia under Major Ebenezer Lockwood. The detachment of Light Horse had been under the temporary command of Major Benjamin Tallmadge until the day before the attack, when Colonel Sheldon arrived to resume command on July 1st. Tallmadge, aide to General Washington, is well known as one of the organizers of the Culper Ring, a spy organization established in New York City during the British occupancy. To bolster the cavalry at Pound Ridge, Washington ordered Colonel Stephen Moylan’s Fourth Light Dragoons Regiment to hasten in support. Moylan was camped about a two day’s march nearer the Hudson and did not arrive in time to participate in the action against Tarleton.

Prior to the Attack

The rebels had been warned of an impending raid on the night of June 30 by the rebel spy Luther Kinnicutt. However, the spy was not able to discover the date of the attack. Kinnicutt, a Westchester County native, had been enlisted in the American secretive spy organization through the New York Committee of Safety[5]. He often made incursions into New York City to garnish information. After General Benedict Arnold’s later betrayal at West Point in September, 1780, Kinnicutt could no longer return to the city, as he was known as a spy to Arnold. In response to Kinnicutt’s warning, Sheldon, on July 1^st, posted mounted sentries or scouts called vedette on the roads north of the town. Maj. Leavenworth’s Connecticut infantry were posted on the road to the west between Bedford and Pound Ridge and Lockwood’s militia had been put on alert. At the southern end of town, Sheldon’s cavalry remained armed and kept their horses saddled in a picket line as they waited for word of an attack. Unaware that the enemy had been forewarned, Tarleton’s forces continued their thirty-mile hike north throughout the night. The rain and wind picked up hampering and slowing the British progress.

Four the next morning found Tarleton at North Castle with about another seventeen miles to travel by horse. There he received information from loyalists as to the posting of Sheldon’s horse and Continental troops. Tarleton, in his report, makes reference to no word yet of Moylan’s dragoons. Interesting that his intelligence was that good that he knew of the approaching dragoons who had just recently been ordered to the region by Washington.[6] The town of Pound Ridge at the time had two main approaches, from the west and northwest. To avoid Leavenworth’s Continental troops along the western approach, Tarleton decided to circumvent around the town and approach Pound Ridge from the northwest. He states that he got within three hundred yards of the village and no alarm had been sounded. In his report he also mentions at that point, his guide up front mistook the road, but another guide informed Tarleton of the error and Tarleton corrected it quickly.[7] He notes that his troops were spotted passing Sheldon’s front at that point by a vidette and that he saw Sheldon had his men mounted and behind the meeting house. He writes that he ordered an immediate charge.

As the morning wanned with no reports of the enemy, no doubt Sheldon had began to question Kinnicutt’s information. However, according to one of Sheldon’s officers, they kept their horses saddled and remained alert.[8] Shortly after, one of his vedette rode in reporting he’d seen cavalry approaching from the northwest. This would be the direction that Moylan’s expected dragoons would be arriving from the Hudson River. Sheldon ordered Major Tallmadge with a small escort to ride out and see for himself. Meanwhile Sheldon ordered his men to mount up and prepared his troopers in a picket line south of the town, behind the meeting house. It must have been one of those ‘Oh Shit!’ moments for Tallmadge as he rounded a bend and ran headlong into Tarleton’s vanguard of the 17^th Dragoons charging right at him.

The Attack

Tallmadge immediately swung his small band around and galloped back to Pound Ridge with Tarleton’s men hot on his heels. The lane was narrow so Tarleton had to charge into the village while still in column. Tallmadge would write years later in his memoir that “The onset was violent, and the conflict carried on principally with the broad sword.”  Tarleton would write that the enemy did not stand the charge.[9] After a short and heated clash of arms, Sheldon’s men, outnumbered better than two to one, quickly withdrew to the south, out over the countryside. Tarleton reported his men followed for four miles and that the rugged country hindered his pursuit stating, “the difficulties of the country and their possibility of obtaining their rear, enabled the greatest number of the regiment to escape.”[10] The youthful dragoon called off his men and returned to Pound Ridge. As for the Continental troops and militia, Tarleton wrote that they dispersed with the first sight of his men. He fails to mention that another reason he called off the pursuit, was that Lockwood’s militia (which Tarleton put at one hundred and twenty) was joined by Continental soldiers who rallied along with the dragoons and began to turn about and shoot back.

An officer in Sheldon’s dragoons describes the brief clash with Tarleton’s troopers, writing from Salem, New York the day after on July 3^rd. He differs from Tarleton claiming it was the enemy’s superior numbers that forced them to retreat. And that they were pursued not for four miles as reported by Tarleton, but for more than two miles before they turned about and followed Tarleton back to Pound Ridge. He wrote:

“The enemy having driven in our advanced parties, they began the charge on the detachment, which from the great superiority of the enemy, was obliged to move off. The enemy pushed hard on our rear for more than two miles, in the course of which, a scattering fire was kept up between their advance and our rear, and a constant charge with the sword, the country through which we passed being very mountainous and rocky, caused many of our horses to blunder and fall, which occasioned some to fall into the hands of the enemy. We immediately collected some of the militia, and began to pursue the enemy”[11]

While in town, Tarleton quickly set about foraging for food and supplies and rounding up livestock to be driven back to New York City. He soon discovered some dragoon helmets and Tallmadge’s baggage and personal belongings in the meetinghouse, one of only four structures in town. So too rolled up neatly in the meetinghouse was the 2^nd Dragoon Regimental Flag, as well as Tallmadge’s saddlebag of twenty guineas cash[12] and correspondence between Tallmadge and Washington.  However, by then, Leavenworth’s Continentals and Lockwood’s militia were making themselves known as they began to fire upon the town. Tarleton wrote that the fire was trivial and at such a long distance that they were barely seen. A few quick torches thrown into Lockwood’s house and meetinghouse, and Tarleton’s men rode off toward Bedford with their small herd of cattle. By then Sheldon’s troopers joined the militia and infantry in pursuit of Tarleton.

By now, the word was out and militia along the road began to fire upon the British as they rode towards Bedford. By the time Tarleton arrived at Bedford, according to his report, he threatened to burn down the whole town unless the militia stopped firing upon his men. To make his point, he torched a house belonging to a Mr. Benjamin Hay.[14] The militia let up some, however his pursuers continued to advance and made their presence known. Tarleton knew if he remained much longer, he risked the chance of being surrounded and wisely abandoned his foraged food and livestock to make a beeline back to the British line. The Americans pursued the dragoons as far as North Castle, seventeen miles south of Bedford, before turning back. Tarleton wrote that upon arrival at his headquarters in Mile Square, that all “were extremely fatigued by a march of sixty-four miles, in twenty-three hours.”[15]

Casualties

Generally, casualty numbers depended on which side reported them; exaggerate your enemy’s while diminishing your own.  Tarleton, in his report, stated that twenty-six or twenty-seven dragoons fell to his sword[16] as either killed, wounded, or captured in the initial charge and that later, another fifteen were killed or wounded while they fired upon his troops in the village of Pound Ridge. As for his own casualties, he wrote that “one hussar of the legion killed, one wounded, one horse of the 17^th Dragoons killed.”[17]  One of Sheldon’s officers reported the day after the affair that, “Our loss on this occasion, was ten wounded, eight missing and twelve horses missing. The enemy’s loss, one killed, wounded uncertain, our prisoners, four horses taken and one ditto killed.”[18]

It is accepted by most historians that American General Heath’s memoir gives the best and most valid number of casualties and losses on both sides. In question is his possible exaggeration of Tarleton’s force which he took at face value from Sheldon’s report to him. Heath wrote:

“About 360 of the enemy’s light horse and light infantry came out from Mile Square and attacked Col. Sheldon’s light horse, who were posted at Poundridge, about 90 in number. The superior force of the enemy obliged our horse, at first, to retreat, but, being reinforced by the militia, they in turn pursued the enemy. Our loss was one Corporal, one Trumpeter, and eight privates wounded; three Sergeants, one Corporal, and four privates missing; and 12 horses missing. The standard of the regiment being left in the house when the dragoons suddenly turned out, was lost. Of the enemy, one was killed, four taken prisoners, four horses taken, and one horse killed. The enemy set fire to and burnt the meeting-house and Maj. Lockwood’s house; they also burnt Mr. Hay’s house, at Bedford.”[19]

Tallmadge’s Memoir

Decades after the raid, Tallmadge gave his memoir to his sons who published it in 1858. He mistakenly places Lord Rawdon as leading all of the British Light Horse along with light infantry and that the attack occurred at night of July 1^st, rather than the morning of July 2^nd. He wrote:

“Not long after we took the field, about July 1, 1779, Lord Rawdon, with nearly all the British light horse, accompanied by a body of light infantry, made an attack upon our corps in the night. The onset was violent, and the conflict carried on principally with the broad sword, until the light infantry appeared upon our flanks, when Col. Sheldon found it necessary to retreat. This was done with so much celerity, that the enemy gained but little advantage. I lost in the affray a fine horse, most of my field baggage, and twenty guineas in cash, which were taken in my valise with my horse.”[20]

Report of Loyalist Crawford Pointing Tarleton in the Wrong Direction Is Suspect

An article on a major Revolutionary War site details a story that has been picked up and copied by other internet sites. There are some concerns that question its validity.

Article States: Accordingly, at dawn, a loyalist named John Crawford, who Tarleton had come upon standing outside his home a few miles north of Pound Ridge, had mistakenly sent Tarleton’s forces further north. Tarleton lost time before he realized his mistake and turned back, heading down Stone Ridge Road. Stated in the article, Tarleton’s troops would be spotted on Stone Ridge Road by one of Sheldon’s vedette who would warn Sheldon. In turn, Sheldon sent Major Tallmadge up the road, whereupon he ran into Tarleton’s troops. After the Americans and British clashed and Tarleton left Pound Ridge, the article states that as Tarleton rode by Crawfod’s house, he was so angered by the loyalist’s bad advice, that he later ordered his home to be burned as Tarleton continued north up Stone Ridge Road.

Problems with the Story that Questions its Validity:

1. The story has Crawford standing at dawn outside his home a few miles north of Pound Ridge giving directions to Tarleton. However, according to Tarleton’s report, at dawn Tarleton was still in North Castle, seventeen miles south of Pound Ridge.
2. The road, Stone Ridge Road, by which Tarleton was to have come upon Crawford standing outside his home, and the road the article states Tarleton traveled both north and south, thereby running into and chasing Tallmadge, did not exist until 1799.  Stone Hill is the name of the rocky ridge that ran north east of Pound Ridge.
3. Tarleton only mentions the Stamford and Salem Roads in his report. The Stamford Road ran west towards Bedford and the Salem Road ran north – possibly the road upon which he entered Pound Ridge.
4. The story has Crawford standing outside his house, remaining there as he points the direction Tarleton should travel. However, Tarleton’s report states that his guide who made the error in direction rode in front of his troops and another guide saw the mistake and he was quickly able to correct it. All within three hundred yards of the town.
5. The story has Tarleton riding by Crawford’s home upon his retreat. He is so angered by the loyalist sending him the wrong direction, that he had the man’s house torched. Crawford’s home is given as a few miles north of Pound Ridge, however Tarleton states he rode directly to Bedford. The quickest route would have been on the Stanford Road he mentioned in his report. This Road would be southwest of Pound Ridge, not northwest to where Mr. Crawford’s home would have been.
6. Nowhere in any first-hand reports does it mention Mr. Crawford by name as being a guide. And first-hand reports are specific as to which homes were destroyed in and around the town; Lockwood’s home and the meeting house in Pound Ridge, and the Hay home in Bedford. There is no first-hand accounts of a Crawford home being put to the torch.

Legacy

As the war moved south, Tarleton’s British Legion became known as “Tarleton’s Devils.” He terrorized civilians and participated in massacres of Continental Soldiers, putting all to the bayonet – both wounded and captured. Eventually, on January, 17, 1780, at Cowpens, S. Carolina, Tarleton met his match. When outsmarted and facing a devastating defeat, he and his staff turned tail and galloped as fast as their steeds could carry them, leaving many of his men still fighting on the field of battle. However, a legend is hard to tarnish, for when Tarleton was returned to England via parole in 1782 (having been captured at Yorktown), the dashing cavalryman was still proclaimed a hero. Many thought that had he, and not Clinton, been given the command of the British army, the war would have been won.

Then and Now – Flags Still Carry Strong Symbolic Sentiments

Flags, of course, have been employed for both civil and military purposes through all of recorded human history. They were particularly important during the struggle for American independence as symbols of colonial and, ultimately, national unity. Eighteenth-century military forces were especially dependent on flags, not because they were powerful badges of honor and sources of unit pride, but because they were a vital part of field communications and organization. Despite the example of Pound Ridge, in which the regimental flag was found rolled up among an officer’s baggage with little honor obtained by simply bending over and stuffing it under your arm, battle flags, for both of these reasons, were usually relinquished only under the most desperate circumstances.

Battle Flags Owned by Tarleton’s Relatives Auctioned

In 2006, Sotheby’s auctioned off the battle flag for $12.4 million! It adorned the walls of Tarleton’s relatives for over 200 years before the decision was made to sell it along with three other flags captured by their flamboyant relative. The total net for the four flags was 17.3 million. Independent experts said that the price set a record for flags as well as for any sale of a Revolutionary War artifact.

One family member was quoted that they decided to auction off the flags as they thought it best the flags were returned to America.  However, the buyer was anonymous, and Sotheby declined to say whether the individual was American or even whether the flags would be returned to America. Noble gesture? Or perhaps Banastre Tarleton’s talent for ‘spin doctoring’ carries on in the bloodline.

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RESOURCES

Bolton, Robert Jr. History of the County of Westchester. Its First Settlement to Present Time, Volume II. 1848: Alexander S. Gould, New York, NY.

Borkow, Richard.  “Westchester County New York’s Role in the Revolutionary War.” 2013: Westchester Magazine.  https://westchestermagazine.com/life-style/history/westchester-revolutionary-war/

Dawson, Henry B.  Westchester County New York During the American Revolution. 1886: Massachusetts Historical Society & Morrisania, New York, NY.

“Debunking Historical Myths” 2012: Postscripts On-Line Magazine. http://notorc.blogspot.com/2012/07/debunking-more-historical-myths.html

Heath, William General. Memoirs of Major General Heath Containing Anecdotes, Details of Skirmishes, Battles, and other Military Events, During the American War.  1798: Thomas and E. T. Andrews, Boston, MA.

Marchant, Richard.  Westchester: History of an Iconic Suburb.  2018: McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC.

Pound Ridge Historical Society. https://www.poundridgehistorical.org/history

Schellhammer, Michael. “Tarleton Before He Became Bloody Ban”. 2013: All Things Liberty https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/01/tarleton-in-new-york/

Tallmadge, Benjamin.  Memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge Continental Light Dragoons 1776-1783. Prepared by Himself at the Request of his Children.  1858: 1904: Edited by Henry Phelps Johnston, Gillis Press by The Society of Sons of the Revolution for the State of New York, Thomas Holman Books Printer, New York, NY.

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ENDNOTES

[1] Bolton, Tarleton Report, pg. 13. Also pg. 14 of the Bolton whereas one of Colonel Sheldon’s dragoons states the distance was two miles.

[2] Included in Tallmadge’s personal belongings was a letter from Washington reportedly with some sensitive information. Tallmadge had been instrumental in setting up Washington’s spy ring in New York City. Whatever information was included in the letter, there is no record of retroactive actions against any members of the American intelligence network in the city after the raid.

[3] The British Legion, of both cavalry and light infantry were recruited among colonial loyalists. Clad in short green jackets, they were known as “Tarleton’s Green Horse”, and later, “Tarleton’s Devils.”

[4] Bolton, Tarleton Report, pg. 13

[5] Committee of Safeties were organized during the early stages of patriot protests that eventually led to open hostilities. They began to arm the local populace and take command over local militias from British control. In this case, they also organized an intelligence ring that remained in New York City after the British occupation. Washington tapped into this in his Culpeper organization that Major Tallmadge helped organize and manage.

[6] Bolton, Tarleton Report, pg. 13.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Bolton, pg. 14.

[9] Bolton, Tarleton Report, pg. 13.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Bolton, Dragoon Report, pg. 14.

[12] Talmadge Memoirs, pg. 46.

[13] Bolton, Tarleton’s report, pg. 13.

[14] General Heath’s memoir, pg. 191

[15] Bolton, Tarleton’s report, pg. 14.

[16]Bolton, Tarleton’s report, pg. 13.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Bolton, Dragoon Report, pg. 14.

[19] General Heath’s memoir, pg. 191.

[20] Tallmadge Memoirs, pg. 46