On May 29, 1780, Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion charged into battle against a regiment of Virginian infantry under Colonel Abraham Buford on the border between the two Carolinas. Though Buford had almost four hundred men, they were quickly overrun by the British, and he decided to surrender. They raised the white flag, but the man holding it was quickly shot. On seeing they weren’t going to be allowed to surrender, Buford’s men took up their arms again, but they were all killed.” “Not a man was spared,” wrote surgeon Robert Brownfield. “[Tarleton’s men] went over the ground plunging their bayonets into everyone that exhibited any signs of life.”
Shortly following this massacre, some patriots decided to take some revenge, as is revealed in the following account by one young militiaman:
I was invited by some of my comrades to go and see some of the Tory prisoners. We went to where six were standing together. Some discussion taking place, I heard some of our men cry out, “Remember Buford,” and the prisoners were immediately hewed to pieces with broadswords. At first I bore the scene without any emotion, but upon a moment’s reflection, I felt such horror as I never did before nor have since, and, returning to my quarters and throwing myself upon my blanket, I contemplated the cruelties of war until overcome and unmanned by a distressing gloom from which I was not relieved until commencing our march next morning before day by moonlight. I came to Tarleton’s camp, which he had just abandoned leaving lively rail fires. Being on the left of the road as we marched along, I discovered lying upon the ground something with the appearance of a man. Upon approaching him, he proved to be a youth about sixteen who, having come out to view the British through curiosity, for fear he might give information to our troops, they had run him through with a bayonet and left him for dead. Though able to speak, he was mortally wounded. The sight of this unoffending butchered boy… relieved me of my distressful feelings for the slaughter of the Tories, and I desired nothing so much as the opportunity of participating in their destruction.
Source:
Stephens, John Richard. “Alternative Views.” Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. 66-67. Print.
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