2. Banastre Tarleton- The Patriot
How He Was Screwed: Banastre Tarleton is the historical figure whom Jason Isaacs ruthless character Colonel Tavington is partly based on. Tavington is portrayed as being a character more than willing to conduct violence upon civilians in the name of the war effort. In one memorable scene Tavington has his men lock the inhabitants of a small village in a church before unceremoniously setting it alight.
In Reality: Whilst some of the correlations between Tarleton and Tavington are accurate, both were indeed highly skilled military tacticians with a penchant for ensuring the job gets done at any cost. However there is no evidence to suggest that Tarleton ever supported or enacted the slaughtering of civilians like his counterpart in The Patriot. It is true that he forced General Charles Lee to exit his house by threatening to burn it, but no burning of civilian buildings has been recorded. There is also no solid evidence to suggest that Tarleton was uninterested in civilized warfare, as is the case with Tavington. There are claims that Tarleton ordered the slaughter of surrendered American soldiers at the Battle of Waxhaw, however on closer investigation it is more likely that his men carried out the slaughter when they believed that Tarleton had been shot down by the Americans during their cries for mercy. This seems to fit more with Thomas Jeffersons account of Tarleton I did not suffer by him. On the contrary he behaved very genteely with me.