American-Revolution on The Gamecock Codex

Tarleton and the Gamecock

Mon, 20 Nov 1780 00:00:00 +0000

At the Battle of Blackstock’s Farm, Colonel Banastre Tarleton — having just failed to overrun the Patriot militia of Colonel Thomas Sumter — complains in his dispatch that the Carolinians ‘fought like a gamecock.’ The epithet sticks.

Tarleton on Sumter

Sat, 01 Jan 1780 00:00:00 +0000

date: 1780-01-01

The dispatch in which Tarleton — the British Legion’s most aggressive officer — recorded his failure to overrun the Patriot militia of Colonel Thomas Sumter at Blackstock’s Farm. The first half of the sentence became the origin of the Carolinian Gamecock tradition.