Battle of Waxhaws 1780
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 29 May 1780 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1780 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 34.7420, -80.6258 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Waxhaws (also known as the Waxhaws Massacre, Buford's Massacre, and Battle of Waxhaw Creek) was a military engagement which took place near Lancaster, South Carolina on May 29, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. A provincial unit, the British Legion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, overtook a Patriot force led by Abraham Buford. Buford's men consisted of Continental Army soldiers, while Tarleton's force was mostly made up of Loyalist troops. After the two forces sighted each other, Buford rejected an offer of surrender terms, and Tarleton's cavalry charged. An unknown number of Buford's men then attempted to surrender at the same time as Tarleton's horse was shot, pinning him underneath. An unknown number of Loyalists, angered by this apparent perfidy, continued their attack, killing some Patriots until order was restored.
Of the 420 soldiers serving under Buford during the battle 104 escaped, 113 were killed, 150 were injured and 53 were captured. The British suffered 5 men killed and 12 wounded. Patriots called their lopsided defeat a "massacre". The battle became the subject of an intensive propaganda campaign by Patriots to bolster recruitment and incite resentment against the British.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Waxhaws (revision 1379508777), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
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- Capture of Grenada (1779) 1779
- Great Siege of Gibraltar 1779
- Siege of Fort Vincennes 1779
- Siege of Savannah (1779) 1779
- Action of 8 January 1780 1780
- Action of 9 August 1780 1780
- Battle of Black Mingo 1780
- Battle of Blackstock's Farm 1780
- Battle of Bull's Ferry 1780
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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