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 on May 29, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War between a Patriot force led by Abraham Buford and a British force led by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton near Lancaster, South Carolina. 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 several Patriots until order was restored. Colonel Abraham Buford led a force of between 350 and 380 Virginian Continentals—the 3rd Virginia Detachment (composed of the 7th Virginia Regiment, two companies of the 2nd Virginia Regiment and an artillery detachment with two 6-pounders)—to assist the Patriot forces in the Siege of Charleston. Before arriving, they learned that the city had already been captured by the British, and they turned back to Virginia.

However, Tarleton heard that South Carolina's Patriot Governor John Rutledge was traveling with Buford. Anxious to capture Rutledge, Tarleton pursued with a force of roughly 230 men, consisting of 130 Legion dragoons, 100 Mounted British Legion infantry, and a 3-lb. cannon. In the event, only an advance force of 60 dragoons from the 17th Light Dragoons and the British Legion cavalry, 60 mounted infantry from the British Legion, and an additional flanking force of 30 British Legion dragoons and some infantry actually engaged in the main attack. Tarleton sent Captain David Kinlock forward to the rebel column, carrying a white flag, to demand Buford's surrender. Upon his arrival, Buford halted his march and formed a battle line while the parley took place. So, if sent, a flag was not received. None of the British accounts of the battle mention a flag. Fighting continued on both sides. Buford and some of his cavalry were able to escape the battlefield. David Wilson, on the other hand, holds Tarleton responsible for the slaughter. He notes that it represented a loss of discipline, something for which Tarleton was accountable. After the battle, the wounded were treated at nearby churches by the congregants, one of whom was a young Andrew Jackson.