The summer of 1780 was a harrowing one for American forces in the South. On May 12, Major General Benjamin Lincoln of the Continental Army surrendered Charleston, South Carolina, after two weeks of nearly constant bombardment by the British; the assault employed several tons of hotshot – superheated cannonballs – that left large swathes of the city in ashes. Then, on May 29, a force of 350 Continental Army soldiers under Abraham Buford met 150 Loyalists and British regulars led by the legendary British cavalryman, Banastre Tarleton, near Lancaster, South Carolina. In what later became known in British reports as the Battle of Waxhaws and in American history as the “Waxhaws Massacre,” the Americans suffered 113 killed, 53 imprisoned, and 150 so badly wounded they had to be left behind. By August the American forces were on their heels, and many observers believed the American cause in the South would not survive the winter. On August 16, the acclaimed British commanders Charles Cornwallis and Tarleton routed Horatio Gates and Thomas Sumter at Camden, South Carolina. Just two days later Tarleton caught up with Sumter’s retreating division and inflicted heavy losses at Fishing Creek, South Carolina: over 150 men killed and 300 captured. The British lost fewer than 16 men.