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General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB (21 August 1754 – 16 January 1833) was a British soldier and politician.
He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental Army troops at the Battle of Waxhaws. In a publication “THE GREEN DRAGOON: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson” by Robert D. Bass (published in 1952) he was given the nickname “Bloody Ban”, which has carried over into popular culture as being his nickname of the day.
He was hailed by the Loyalists and British as an outstanding leader of light cavalry. His green uniform was the standard of the British Legion, a provincial unit organised in New York in 1778.