Waxhaws - Buford Battleground

SC - Charleston, South Carolina, USA

262 Rocky River Rd, Lancaster, SC 29720, USA

PARK

VISITOR INFORMATION

Free, unstaffed outdoor battlefield and grave site, with no ticket or staffed visitor hours. View from authorized public areas.

http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/lancaster/S10817729019/index.htm

This is an unstaffed roadside battlefield and gravesite with no staffed visitor facility. Access is free and unrestricted at any time.

SITE FEATURES

Exhibits & Artifacts

Spring travel, holiday weekends and commemorations may add demand (South Carolina regional inference). Site-specific peak unconfirmed.

March-April or October-November for the outdoor memorial and battlefield setting beyond summer heat. Confirm current local access and any advertised commemoration.

HISTORIC SITES NEARBY

Nearby Historic Sites

miles

Landmark

WHO WAS HERE

1

Banastre Tarleton

About Waxhaws - Buford Battleground

At this site on May 29, 1780, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion overtook Colonel Abraham Buford’s retreating Virginia Continentals. After Buford rejected a surrender demand, Tarleton’s cavalry shattered the American line. Many Patriots were killed or wounded amid disputed claims that men attempting to surrender received no quarter. The action became known as the Waxhaws Massacre and fueled Patriot anger throughout the southern campaign.

A Lancaster County park and adjoining conserved acreage protect portions of the Waxhaws battlefield. The largely wooded and open landscape contains monuments, graves, interpretive markers, trails, and memorial grounds, while conservation partners have secured additional surrounding land associated with the 1780 engagement.

History happened here at Waxhaws - Buford Battleground

Of the 420 soldiers serving under Buford during the battle, 113 were killed, 150 were injured and 53 were captured. The British suffered 5 men killed and 12 wounded. Patriots subsequently coined the term "Tarleton's quarter" to refer to the practise of giving no quarter during battles, though he had not ordered his men to attack the surrendering Patriots. In subsequent engagement in the Carolinas, it became rare for either side to take significant prisoners. The battle became the subject of an intensive propaganda campaign by Patriots to bolster recruitment and incite resentment against the British.