The Battle of Waxhaws (also known as the Waxhaws Massacre, Buford's Massacre, and Battle of Waxhaw Creek) was a military engagement which took place near Lancaster, South Carolina on May 29, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. A provincial unit, the British Legion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, overtook a Patriot force led by Abraham Buford. Buford's men consisted of Continental Army soldiers, while Tarleton's force was mostly made up of Loyalist troops. After the two forces sighted each other, Buford rejected an offer of surrender terms, and Tarleton's cavalry charged. An unknown number of Buford's men then attempted to surrender at the same time as Tarleton's horse was shot, pinning him underneath. An unknown number of Loyalists, angered by this apparent perfidy, continued their attack, killing some Patriots until order was restored.
Of the 420 soldiers serving under Buford during the battle 104 escaped, 113 were killed, 150 were injured and 53 were captured. The British suffered 5 men killed and 12 wounded. Patriots called their lopsided defeat a "massacre". The battle became the subject of an intensive propaganda campaign by Patriots to bolster recruitment and incite resentment against the British. Patriots subsequently coined the term "Tarleton's quarter" to refer to the practice of giving no quarter during battles, though he had not ordered his men to attack the surrendering Patriots. In subsequent engagements in the Carolinas, it became rare for either side to take significant prisoners.
With the 1778 French intervention in the American Revolutionary War, followed by the Spanish and Dutch, the conflict became global. Facing stalemate in the north, the British embarked on a "southern strategy" to regain control over their North American colonies. The British believed they had more supporters in the South, based on close business and trading relationships, and that they might concentrate power in the South and later retake the North. They began the campaign in December 1778 with the capture of Savannah, Georgia. In 1780, General Sir Henry Clinton brought an army south and captured Charleston, South Carolina on May 12, 1780, after a siege.
Colonel Abraham Buford commanded a force of about 380 Virginian Continentals (the 3rd Virginia Detachment, composed of a mixture of new recruits and veteran soldiers) and an artillery detachment with two six-pounders). Most of his men had little battle experience, although Buford had experienced officers under his command. Because of delays in outfitting his command, Buford had been unable to reach Charleston and participate in its defense. Charleston's commander, General Benjamin Lincoln, had ordered him to take a defensive position near Lenud's Ferry on the Santee River outside the city, but Lincoln surrendered around the time Buford reached this position. Buford was eventually joined by about 40 Virginia 1st and 3rd Light Dragoons who had escaped the siege or during battles outside the city, and by Richard Caswell's North Carolina militia. Receiving news of the surrender, Buford was ordered by General Isaac Huger to return to Hillsborough, North Carolina. He turned his column around and headed north. At Camden, Buford and Caswell parted ways, with Buford marching north into the Waxhaws region. Buford was accompanied for a time by South Carolina Governor John Rutledge, who had been actively recruiting militia in the backcountry. When Buford stopped to rest his troops at Waxhaw Creek, Rutledge rode ahead toward Charlotte, North Carolina.
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) grew from colonial resistance to British taxation without parliamentary representation — a dispute that radicalized through the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Boston Massacre (1770). Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775; the Continental Congress declared independence on July 4, 1776. The Continental Army under George Washington faced severe shortages of supplies and troops, enduring the brutal winter at Valley Forge (1777–1778) before French alliance and French financing turned the military balance. Major engagements included Bunker Hill (1775), Trenton (1776), Saratoga (1777) — which secured French intervention — and Yorktown (1781), where British General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington. An estimated 25,000 American soldiers died in service, from combat, disease, and captivity. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and ceded British territory east of the Mississippi, though it left unresolved questions about Indigenous land rights and the status of Loyalists.
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