Hi Laura I couldn't help but jump in on this one. Tarleton per Carolinian history is one of the demons of the British expeditionary forces during the war....but the truth is abit more interesting than the political myth. There is a bio on him on Wikipedia see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banastre_Tarleton his father was a Liverpool Merchant of considerable fortune, engaged in the West Indies and Guinea Trade. Tarleton did blow his inheritance like many of the time and then took the usual option of purchasing a commission and redeeming himself on his own merits. He rose through the ranks rapidly and developed a reputation as a dynamic and some say brilliant Light Cavalry commander. One reason for his notoriety was a disastrous affair regarding the killing of a number of American troops AFTER they had sued for surrender. The particulars are on the Wikipedia site. I always remember him as this dapper Bstard who constantly chased the Swamp Fox around the Charleston Low Country (probably Goose Creek!) Providing many hours of TV entertainment at about the same time the Davy Crockett show was looking abit primitive ... It is perhaps important for the search on the Tarleton topic to recall that many merchants acquired their estates and properties in the islands as a direct consequence of their running accounts in trade (essentially lines of credit) with various planters in the islands....planters failed, estates became encumbered with annuities and family bequests settled in cash by redistribution of the properties so encumbered.... . And quite often, slave purchases accrued without payment until a planter's Liverpool, London, or Bristol merchant/factor ended up partner in his estate.....Both situations were very common to the sugar islands. Hope all listers are well Cod.