The Waxhaws

 

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Yesterday I spoke by telephone with President General Roland Downing – who, incidentally was here last year.  The President General asked me to convey greetings from him to those present at this observance.  I also spoke with Vice President General C. D. Williams who requested I do the same for him.   I, the North Carolina Society President, bring the same greeting of welcome.

226 years ago an ugly, gruesome battle occurred here in the Waxhaws.  Behind me in this mass gravesite lie the remains of 84 men – killed in action on May 29th, 1780.  Another 25 men died of their wounds the next day and are buried near this mass grave.  Many of the wounded were eventually carried to the Waxhaw Church used as a hospital – today this church is known as the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church.  Many recovered while others did not and they are buried in the church’s graveyard.  After this horrific loss of life, patriots in the south would never forget the butchery of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s cavalry.  History now refers to him as “Bloody Tarleton” or Bloody Ban.”

Whether justified or not, the ruthless slaughter of Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Buford’s Patriot force sealed the fate of the British invasion across South Carolina for it would only be six months until the Battle of Kings Mountain – where the outcome would be almost entirely reversed.

        Two days following Buford’s Massacre “Bloody Ban” ordered a patrol of the Waxhaws to root out remaining resistance.  A young Quaker was unjustly accused of supporting the Patriot cause, and was brutally murdered.  His dismembered body was staked up on pikes by the roadside as a warning to others.

        Buford’s Massacre and other senseless murders would fuel the wrath, and anger of Patriot citizens and soldiers who now wanted vengeance.  The Patriots were resolved even more to avenge their murdered comrades, and in the end, this and other murders by Loyalists forces would ultimately lead to the British defeat at Yorktown , Virginia .

 

JH/May 27, 2006