Battle of Waxhaws The Battle of Waxhaws ( also known as the Waxhaws or Waxhaw Massacre , and Buford ' s Massacre ) took place during the American Revolutionary War on May 29 , 1780 , near Lancaster , South Carolina , between a Continental Army force led by Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton . The American commander refused an initial demand to surrender , but when his men were attacked by Tarleton ' s cavalry , many of them threw down their arms to surrender . Accounts differ on significant details , Buford apparently then attempted to surrender , but his surrender was either rejected or not received ( Tarleton possibly having been incapacitated at that time ) . Tarleton ' s men continued killing the Patriot soldiers , including men who were not resisting . Little quarter was given to the Patriots . Of the 400 or so Continentals , 113 were killed with sabres , 150 so badly injured they could not be moved , and only 53 prisoners taken by the British and Loyalists . " Tarleton ' s quarter " thereafter became a common expression for refusing to take prisoners , and in some subsequent battles in the Carolinas few of the defeated were taken alive by either side . Background . Following the British defeat at Saratoga in 1777 and French entry into the American Revolutionary War in early 1778 , the British military decided to embark on a " southern strategy " to win back their rebellious North American colonies . The campaign began in December 1778 with the capture of Savannah , Georgia , and gained further ground in 1780 , when General Sir Henry Clinton brought an army south and captured Charleston , South Carolina on May 12 , 1780 . Prelude . Colonel Abraham Buford commanded a force of about 380 Virginian Continentals ( the 3rd Virginia Detachment ( composed of the 7th Virginia Regiment , two companies of the 2nd Virginia Regiment and an artillery detachment with two six - pounders ) . Most of his men were raw recruits with little battle experience , although Buford did have experienced officers under his command . Due to delays in outfitting his command , Buford had been unable to reach Charleston to 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 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 heading 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 . General Clinton learned of Huger ' s force and Rutledge ' s presence , and on May 15 ordered Lord Cornwallis to bring the South Carolina and Georgia backcountry under British control . His army moving too slowly to keep up with Buford , Cornwallis on May 27 sent Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton in pursuit with a force of about 270 men . Tarleton commanded the British Legion , a primarily Loyalist provincial regiment . The force he took in pursuit of Buford consisted of 170 Legion and British Army dragoon s , 100 mounted British Legion infantry , and a three - pounder cannon . Tarleton reached Camden late on May 28 , and set off in pursuit of Buford around midnight the next morning . By that afternoon , his advance force of 60 dragoons from the 17th Light Dragoons and the British Legion cavalry , 60 mounted infantry from the British Legion , and an additional flanking force of 30 British Legion dragoons and some infantry , had reached Buford ' s resting place . Buford had , however , been warned of Tarleton ' s pursuit , and had begun moving north , and was up the road . Battle . Tarleton sent Captain David Kinlock forward to the rebel column , carrying a white flag , to demand Buford ' s surrender . Upon his arrival , Buford halted his march and formed a battle line while the parley took place . Tarleton hugely exaggerated the size of his force in his message — claiming he had 700 men — hoping to sway Buford ' s decision . The note also stated firmly to Buford , " Resistance being vain , to prevent the effusion of human blood , I make offers which can never be repeated " , indicating that Tarleton would ask only once for Buford to surrender . Buford refused to surrender with the message : " I reject your proposals , and shall defend myself to the last extremity . " Buford then reformed his troops into a column , and continued the northward march , with his baggage train near the front of the column . Tarleton , arguably in violation of accepted rules of war , had continued his march while the parley took place . Around 3 : 00 pm the leading edge of Tarleton ' s force caught up with Buford ' s rear guard . According to a Patriot eyewitness , a field surgeon named Robert Brownfield , the five dragoons of the rear guard were captured , and their leader , Captain Pearson , was " inhumanely mangled " by saber cuts , some inflicted after he had fallen . Buford stopped the column ( except for the artillery and the baggage , which he ordered to continue on ) , and formed a single battle line near some open woods . Tarleton , some of whose horses were so tired out from the pursuit that he was unable to bring his field artillery into range , established a command post on a nearby hill , and organized his forces for the attack . According to his account of the battle , he arrayed 60 British Legion dragoons and a like number of infantry on the right , the dragoons of the 17th along with some additional British Legion dragoons in the center , and he personally took command of the left , commanding " thirty chosen horse and some infantry " . Stragglers were to form a reserve corps atop the hill . What happened next is the subject of much debate , due to the controversial nature of the events and significant inconsistencies in the primary accounts . Tarleton ' s line charged , and Buford waited until the enemy was within before giving the order to fire . This was a tactical mistake on Buford ' s part , for it enabled Tarleton ' s formations to hold , while only giving Buford ' s men time to fire a single volley before the British riders were attacking the line . As Tarleton ' s cavalry tore Buford ' s inexperienced line to pieces , many of the Americans began laying down their arms and offering to surrender . According to Patriot accounts , Buford , realizing the cause was lost , dispatched a white flag toward Tarleton in an attempt to surrender . However , Tarleton had been unhorsed ( exactly when differs among the accounts ) , and may never have received it . Although it is clear from Patriot accounts that a flag was sent , they differ both on who carried it , and how its messenger was treated . What is also apparent is that fighting continued on both sides even though the flag was visible , and the conflicting Patriot accounts ( none of the British accounts of the battle mention the flag ) agree that flag was effectively refused . Buford and some of his cavalry then escaped the battlefield . By conventional historical accounts , Tarleton ' s unhorsing gave some of the Loyalist cavalry the impression that the rebels had shot at their commander while asking for mercy , and they began what became a slaughter . According to the Patriot surgeon Brownfield , whose account was written many years after the war , the Loyalists attacked , carrying out " indiscriminate carnage never surpassed by the most ruthless atrocities of the most barbarous savages " . Tarleton ' s men stabbed the wounded where they lay , regardless of implied surrender , for fifteen minutes after the battle had ended . According to Tarleton ' s report of the battle , the American rebel casualties were 113 men killed , 147 wounded and released on parole , and the 2 six pounders and 26 wagons captured . The British losses were 5 killed , 12 wounded , with 11 horses killed and 19 horses wounded . Tarleton ' s men were also able to recover the American baggage train . Historians in the 19th century blamed Tarleton for the massacre , even though most contemporary references to it did not describe it as such . Tarleton in his report to Cornwallis described the battle as a " slaughter " , but claimed that his men , thinking their commander dead , engaged in " a vindictive asperity not easily restrained " after he was unhorsed . William Moultrie noted that the lopsided casualty count was not unusual for similar battles in which one side gained a decided advantage early in a battle . Historian Jim Piecuch argues that the battle was as much a massacre as similar events led by Patriot commanders . David Wilson , on the other hand , holds Tarleton responsible for the slaughter , noting that it represented a loss of discipline , something Tarleton would have been responsible for maintaining . ( Tarleton had been reprimanded for transgressions by his men at the Battle of Moncks Corner in April , and a Cornwallis aide , Charles Stedman , wrote of British actions at Waxhaws that " the virtue of humanity was totally forgot . " ) Aftermath . After the battle , the wounded were treated at nearby churches by the congregants , one of whom was a young Andrew Jackson . Tarleton claimed that after the battle ended , the wounded of both sides were treated " with equal humanity " and that the British provided " every possible convenience " . Due to the large number of wounded , people from all over the countryside came to assist in their care . They learned of what had happened , and news of the apparent violation of quarter on Tarleton ' s part spread rapidly through the region . The battle , at least temporarily , consolidated British control over South Carolina , and Patriot sentiment was at a low ebb . General Clinton , among other acts before he left Charleston for New York , revoked the parole of surrendered Patriots . This affront ( technically violating accepted " rules of war " ) , and reports of this battle , may have changed the direction of the war in the South . Many who might have stayed neutral flocked to the Patriots , and " Tarleton ' s Quarter ! " and " Remember Buford " became rallying cries for the Whigs . News of the massacre was also directly responsible for the creation of volunteer militia forces among the " over - mountain men " ( from the Wataugan settlements at and near Sycamore Shoals ) . These militia participated in actions against British Loyalists at both the Battle of Musgrove Mill on August 18 , 1780 ( near present - day Clinton , South Carolina ) and in the decisive defeat of British Major Patrick Ferguson ' s command on October 7 , 1780 at Kings Mountain ( near present - day Blacksburg , South Carolina ) . Legacy . The community in which the battlefield is located is now called Buford . The battlefield is owned by Lancaster County , and is preserved as a local park . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Buford ' s Massacre Site in 1990 . In the 2000 movie " The Patriot " , Heath Ledger ' s character Gabriel Martin is wounded in a battle that takes place not long after the fall of Charleston . Gabriel states afterward that " Gates ordered us to march straight at the Red Coats " . Horatio Gates was not present at Waxhaws , and the American column was marching away from the British at Waxhaws , not toward them . This is likely a reference instead to the August 16 , 1780 Battle of Camden , in which Gates was defeated in another lopsided victory by Cornwallis .