The demand was refused, but unbeknownst to Buford, Tarleton had continued his army’s advance while under the flag of truce. After covering 150 miles in just 54 hours they caught up with Colonel Buford and his Third Virginia Detachment in the Waxhaws just south of Charlotte on May 29.Ī messenger under a flag of truce was sent to demand Buford’s surrender. Confrontation in the WaxhawsĬolonel Tarleton pushed his men and their horses hard. He also commanded a 40 members of the 17th Light Dragoons and he brought a three-pound cannon along for good measure. Tarleton’s British Legion consisted of around 230 Loyalists recruited in New York who all wore distinctive green jackets. So on May 27, he sent Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion after them. Monument telling the story of Buford’s Massacre erected in 2005 to commemorate the 225th Anniversary of the Battle of the Waxhaws.īy the time Cornwallis learned of this enemy column moving north, Buford had a one week head start, and the main army was moving far too slow to catch up. Along the way they were joined by 40 Virginia Light Dragoons who had managed to escape Charleston, and they all marched north together. When he was 30 miles outside Charleston, Buford got word of the fall of Charleston and was ordered to return to Hillsborough, North Carolina to regroup. His command consisted of 380 troops many of whom raw recruits out of Virginia and two six-pound cannons. Charles Cornwallis in charge with strict orders to pacify the Carolina Backcountry and bring it under British control.Īs General Lincoln was handing over Charleston, the Third Virginia Detachment under the command of Colonel Abraham Buford was moving to reinforce Continental forces in the city. With that, 6,000 Continental troops, the majority of American troops in the South, were taken out of action. On May 12 1780, General Benjamin Lincoln was forced to surrender Charleston to General Sir Henry Clinton and his British forces. Buford Marching North After the Fall of Charleston The site of the Battle of the Waxhaws is memorialized with a roadside monument.
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