"———but ran away,
And lived to fight another day."
About nine miles north of the present Lancaster Court House, and between twenty and
* John M'Clure was one of the master spirits of South Carolina. He was a nephew of the venerable Judge "Gaston, and partook of that patriot's purity and zeal in the cause of Republicanism. Of him General Davie said, "Of the many brave men with whom it was my fortune to become acquainted in the army, he was one of the bravest; and when he fell, we looked upon his loss as incalculable." He fell at the first fire of Bryan's Loyalists, pierced by two bullets, and at the same time, four of his cousins, sons of Judge Gaston, lay bleeding near him. When his friends came to his aid, he urged them to leave him and pursue the enemy. After the battle, he was taken, with other wounded soldiers, to Waxhaw church, where his mother went to nurse him. From thence he was taken to Charlotte, and on the eighteenth, the very day when his commander was surprised at Fishing Creek (see page 635). he expired in Liberty Hall, where the celebrated Mecklenburg resolutions were drawn up. M'Clure was a native of Chester District, and his men were known as the Chester Rocky Creek Irish. The first wound which he received in the engagement was in the thigh. He stanched it with wadding, when another bullet passed through him at the breast. Two of the Gastons fell dead across each other; a third was mortally wounded; and a fourth had a cheek shot away. Doctor Richard E.. Wylie, of Lancaster, wrote a ballad of twenty stanzas commemorative of this event.
** Ramsay, Moultrie, Lee.
The British in South Carolina.—Retreat of Americans.—Massacre of Buford's Regiment near the Waxhaw.
twenty-three miles above Hanging Rock, upon the Waxhaw Creek, * the regiment of Colonel Abraham Buford was massacred by Tarleton on the twenty-ninth of May, 1780. Sir Henry Clinton took possession of Charleston on the twelfth, and immediately commenced measures for securing the homage of the whole state. He sent out three large detachments of his army. The first and largest, under Cornwallis, was ordered toward the frontiers of North Carolina; the second, under Lieutenant-colonel Cruger, was directed to pass the Saluda, to Ninety-Six; and the third, under Lieutenant-colonel Brown, was ordered up the Savannah, to Augusta. Soon after he had passed the Santee, Cornwallis was informed that parties of Americans who had come into South Carolina, and had hurried toward Charleston to assist Lincoln, were as hastily retreating. Among these was Colonel Buford. His force consisted of nearly four hundred Continental infantry, a small detachment of Washington's cavalry, and two field-pieces. He had evacuated Camden, and, in fancied security, was retreating leisurely toward Charlotte, in North Carolina. Cornwallis resolved to strike Buford, if possible, and, for that purpose, he dispatched Tarleton, with seven hundred men, consisting of his cavalry and mounted infantry. That officer marched one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, and came up with Buford upon the Waxhaw. Impatient of delay, he had left his mounted infantry behind, and with only his cavalry, he almost surrounded Buford before that officer was aware of danger. Tarleton demanded an immediate surrender upon the terms granted to the Americans at Charleston. Those terms were humiliating, and Buford refused compliance. ** While the flags for conference were passing and repassing, Tarleton, contrary to military rules, was making preparations for an assault, and the instant he received Buford's reply, his cavalry made a furious charge upon the American ranks. Having received no orders to defend themselves, and supposing the negotiations were yet pending, the Continentals were utterly dismayed by this charge. All was confusion, and while some fired upon their assailants, others threw down their arms and begged for quarter. None was given; and men without arms were hewn in pieces by Tarleton's cavalry. One hundred and thirteen were slain; one hundred and fifty were so maimed as to be unable to travel; and fifty-three were made prisoners, to grace the triumphal entry of the conqueror into Camden. Only five of the British were killed, and fifteen wounded. The whole of Buford's artillery, ammunition, and baggage, fell into the hands of the enemy. For this savage feat, Cornwallis eulogized Tarleton, and commended him to the ministry as worthy of special favor. It was nothing less than a cold-blooded massacre; and Tarleton's quarter became proverbial as a synonym to cruelty. *** The liberal press, and all right-minded men in England, cried shame!
After the battle, a large number of the wounded were taken to the log meeting-house of the Waxhaw Presbyterian congregation, where they were tenderly nursed by a few who had the boldness to remain. With the defeat of Buford, every semblance of a Continental army in South Carolina was effaced. This terrible blow spread consternation over that region, and women and children were seen flying from their homes to seek refuge from British cruelty in more distant settlements. Among the fugitives was the widowed mother of
* This name is derived from the Waxhaw Indians, a tribe now extinct, who inhabited this region.