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He is best known as the lieutenant colonel leading the British Legion at the end of the American Revolutionary War. He later served in Portugal and held commands in Ireland and England. During most of his service in North America, he led the British Legion , a provincial unit organised in New York in After returning to Great Britain in at the age of 27, Tarleton was elected to Parliament as a member for Liverpool.

He served as a prominent Whig politician for 20 years. Banastre Tarleton was the third of seven children born to merchant John Tarleton — and his wife. His father had prospered in the West Indian sugar trade and also managed several slaving vessels. Tarleton was educated at Oxford , attending University College. He was further educated at Middle Temple , London , which, at that time, served as a college for the education of lawyers.

He squandered almost all of it in less than a year on gambling and women, mostly at the Cocoa Tree club in London. In he purchased a commission as a cavalry officer cornet in the 1st Dragoon Guards effective from 2 May Owing to his abilities, he worked his way up through the ranks to lieutenant colonel without having to purchase any further commissions.

In December , at the age of 21, the volunteer-soldier Banastre Tarleton sailed from Cork to North America, where the American War of Independence —83 had broken out. Tarleton sailed with Lord Cornwallis as part of an expedition to capture the southern city of Charleston, South Carolina.

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Under the command of Colonel William Harcourt , Tarleton, as a cornet , was part of a scouting party sent to gather intelligence on the movements of General Charles Lee , in New Jersey. On 13 December , Tarleton surrounded a house in Basking Ridge , and forced Lee, still in dressing gown , to surrender, as he threatened to burn down the house.

General Lee was taken to New York as a prisoner of war.