Sunday, June 18, 2006

Revolution period flags fetch over 17 million

Four Standards captured by the notorious Loyalist Banastre Tarleton fetched a tidy sum for the descendant. One of the flags was from Sheldon's Horse, the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons. (Image from the website)
Tarleton was fictionalised as 'Tavington' in the movie The Patriot. The war crimes depicted in that film did not happen being based on a Nazi atrocity in France, though Tarleton was no angel boasting that he had ravaged more women than any man in the army.
Historical inaccuracies abound in the film most notably about the Americans offering freedom to slaves who fought for them.
Apparently Harrison Ford turned down the lead role as he thought it made the Revolution into a one-man's revenge story. Watch it with the sound down and its a great movie with some of the best recreations of 18th c linear warfare on screen.
Gibson was coached in musketry by Mark Baker who also coached D Day-Lewis in Mohicans.

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