Bruce Baky
Military Collector & Historian, vol. 58, no. 2 (Summer 2006), 118-119.
Early in 1780 with almost the entire Virginia Continental Army besieged in Charleston, South Carolina, Virginia sent about 350 soldiers as reinforcements commanded by Colonel Abraham Buford. After arriving within 40 miles of Charleston, Buford learned that Charleston had surrendered. While returning to Virginia on May 29, 1780 his detachment was overtaken at Waxhaws by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion of 270 dragoons and infantrymen. After rejecting Tarleton’s demand that he surrender, Buford bungled the defense , and his troops were cut to pieces. Most American historians have characterized the battle as a massacre, and even the historian Charles Stedman, who served with Tarleton, stated that “the virtue of humanity was totally forgot.” 1 Recently the characterization of the battle as a massacre has been questioned. This paper is an attempt to resolve the controversy by objectively comparing the types and frequency of wounds at Waxhaws with those at other Revolutionary War battles.
The Tarleton Flags