The outcome of the battle was accurate with the Americans destroying the British forces after a string of losses against them, halting their progress into the south. A main climatic element is when Mel Gibson finally meets and fights the sadistic British general Tarleton. But this did not happen as General Tarleton was the leader of the British for this battle, not Cornwallis as shown in the movie. Further diving into the accuracy of the characters, many want to know who the brave Tomahawk slinging leader is. But many are sad to find that Mel Gibson character Benjamin Martin is not a historical figure. Benjamin Martin is the leader of the militia in the movie. He lost his son to General Tarleton and now fights against the British for a chance at revenge. He gathers a militia together and camps in the swamp, taking out British supply lines in small skirmishes. He is actually based on many influential historical characters from the revolution to create the fictional character Benjamin Martin. The main character is inspired by Francis Martin (the swamp fox). He was in the original script but it was then changed to the fictional Benjamin Martin to give the movie a more dramatic