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Current Research on the Battle of the Waxhaws, commonly called “Buford’s Massacre”
______________________________________________________________________ On May 12, the British siege of Charleston ended when Patriot Southern Department commandant, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, surrendered his army and the City of Charleston to British Lt. Gen. Henry Clinton. When word of the surrender reached Col. Buford, he held his position and awaited new orders. Gen. Isaac Huger, who had been defeated by Lt. Col. Tarleton and Maj. Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Monck's Corner on April 14, ordered Buford to retreat to Hillsborough, North Carolina. On May 18, 1780, Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis commanding 2,500 British Regulars and Provincials marched from the Charleston area with orders from Gen. Clinton to subdue the South Carolina backcountry and establish defensive outposts and forward supply posts. Gen. Cornwallis moved to Lenud's Ferry where he crossed the Santee River and marched up the north bank of the Santee towards Camden, SC. Along the way, Cornwallis learned that South Carolina’s rebel Governor, John Rutledge, and two councilors had used the same route under the escort of Col. Buford. Gov. Rutledge managed to flee Charleston during the last stages of the siege. Col. Buford’s party was ten days ahead. In a bold move to capture Gov. Rutledge and crush the last Continentals in the South, Gen. Cornwallis detached Lt. Col. Tarleton in pursuit. On May 27, Tarleton’s corps rode from Nelson's Ferry over the Santee with 270 men. Tarleton’s command included forty British regulars of the 17th Dragoons, 130 of his British Legion provincial cavalry, 100 of the British Legion infantry, mounted on this occasion, and one three-pound artillery piece. Tarleton’s force covered 60 miles and was in Camden the next day. At 2:00 a.m. on May 29, Tarleton set out again and reached Tory Col. Henry Rugeley's home, Clermont, on the Great Waxhaw Road at Grannies Quarter Creek 13 miles north of Camden by mid-morning. There, he learned that Gov. Rutledge had been there the night before and Col. Buford’s Continentals were now only 20 miles ahead. Tarleton sent a fast rider ahead summonsing Col. Buford’s surrender. Buford declined and the ensuing brief decisive battle had far reaching effects on the war in the Southern Department. Just as Col. Travis’ men defending the Alamo would electrify the defenders of Texas in 1836, the cry “Tarleton’s Quarter” from the survivors of Buford’s Massacre became an important factor in polarizing backcountry settlers in Georgia and the Carolinas against the Crown. The Battle of the Waxhaws from a tactical prospective is an interesting use of cavalry as shock troops, but its strategic import in the propaganda of the times makes it a major action. This compilation of research materials grows out of my interest in Southern Campaigns of the American Revolutionary War. Hosting the 2002 symposium on the fascinating young British cavalry commander, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and his provincial corps, the British Legion, led me to modern Tarleton scholars: Dr. Tony Scotti, Dr. Jim Piecuch, Tracy Power, and Tom Rider; Revolutionary War historians John Maass and Patrick O’Kelley; and active amateur historians Todd W. Braisted, Marg Baskin and Janie Cheaney, upon whose works I have relied and to whom I am indebted. Also my interest in preservation of the Battle of Camden battlefield lead me to work with D. Lindsey Pettus, former chairman of the Lancaster County (SC) Council and President of the active Katawba Valley Land Trust who has a longstanding interest in Buford’s Battleground. Additionally, I am very indebted to amateur historians Calvin Keys and Merle “Mac” McGee who have shared their work with me and my energetic friends and fellow travelers, John A. Robertson and David P. Reuwer, Esq.
Charles B. Baxley
Charles B. Baxley received his B.A. in Political Science and J. D. from the University of South Carolina; he is a practicing attorney and resident of Lugoff, SC, amateur historian with a special interest in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. Charles is a former President of the Kershaw County (SC) Historical Society and co-organizer of the Banastre Tarleton Symposium (2002) and the Camden Campaign Symposium (2004). He likes to “put the actions on then ground.” cbbaxley@charter.net (803)438-1606 (h) or (803)438-4200(w) ______________________________________________________________________
J. Tracy Power often cited for his work on Buford’s Massacre, runs South Carolina’s historical marker program and is a key historian at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. He published an article on the Battle of the Waxhaws, “‘The Virtue of Humanity Was Totally Forgot’: Buford’s Massacre, May 29, 1780,” in the South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 93, No. 1, January 1992. Tracy’s latest award winning book, Lee's Miserables, Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox was published by UNC Press in 1998 which followed Stonewall Jackson: Hero of the Confederacy. (803) 896-6182 (w) power@scdah.state.sc.us
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