“W” is for Waxhaws, the Battle of (May 29, 1780)

“W” is for Waxhaws, the Battle of (May 29, 1780). The Battle of the Waxhaws, also known as Buford’s Massacre, was one of the several incidents in the backcountry that helped turn the Revolutionary War in the South into a bloody civil war. After the fall of Charleston in May 1780, Colonel Abraham Buford’s Virginia regulars retreated toward North Carolina. Colonel Banastre Tarleton pursued and overtook Buford on May 29^th, just south of the North Carolina-South Carolina border (in present-day Lancaster County) and Tarleton demanded Buford’s surrender. Buford refused and Tarleton charged the Americans routing them. Though some Americans tried to surrender, others kept fighting. The British shot or bayoneted many, killing or wounding more than 250. The brutality of the British at the Battle of the Waxhaws became a rallying point for patriot forces.