05/29/2026
Sad day https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1422510239901063
As the American Revolution raged through the South, one of its most brutal and galvanizing clashes unfolded near the border of North and South Carolina. On 29 May 1780 the Battle of Waxhaws, remembered by many Patriots as Buford’s Massacre, occurred and ignited a firestorm.
Only weeks after Charleston fell to the British, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton was ordered by General Charles Lord Cornwallis to deal with a column of Continental reinforcements bound for Charleston under Colonel Abraham Buford. Buford had 350-400 troops, including artillery, and had already gotten word of the fall of Charleston. Realizing he was too late to help at Charleston, Buford turned around and started the march back to the Old Dominion.
On May 27th, Buford’s men were days ahead and around 150 miles from Tarleton’s mounted troops. With astonishing speed and a relentless drive, Tarleton closed the distance, covering around 150 miles at breakneck speed. He caught the Patriots near the Waxhaws settlement by the afternoon of May 29th.
Colonel Buford refused a British demand for surrender and formed a defensive line in an open wood. He sent his wagons and artillery away to escape the battlefield. It proved to be a fatal decision. Caught in the open with no cover, Buford then made another questionable command decision when he ordered his troops to hold their fire until the British charge was 10 yards from his battleline. When Tarleton’s three-pronged assault struck, the Patriots managed a single volley before being overrun. Colonel Buford fled and abandoned his troops on the battlefield.
What happened next became one of the most controversial moments of the Southern Campaign. Many American survivors claimed they were attacked even as they tried to surrender. Tarleton wrote,
“…and to a report amongst the cavalry, that they had lost their commanding officer, which stimulated the soldiers to a vindictive asperity not easily restrained…”
Buford lost 113 men killed, 150 wounded, and over 50 men captured. British losses were 5 men killed and less than 20 men wounded out of the about 170 men engaged. The battle’s aftermath ignited outrage throughout the colonies, fueling support for the Patriot cause and helping shape the fierce resistance that would follow across the South.
Though a devastating loss, the story of Waxhaws became a rallying cry and proof of the resilience and resolve that defined the American fight for independence.
NPS Staff image of the Waxhaws Monument at sunset.
