Exploring the Waxhaws
The Waxhaws is the informal name given to a region in both North and South Carolina just south of Charlotte. The Waxhaws generally follows the Catawba River and is named after the native peoples who once lived in the region. Later in the 1740’s, the Waxhaws became the hub of Scots-Irish migration in the Carolinas. Perhaps the most notable Scots-Irish resident was future president Andrew Jackson who’s family settled in the Waxhaws after immigrating from Ireland in 1765.
As one of the earliest settled areas of the Carolina Backcountry, the Waxhaws is home to some of the most historic sites in the border region. Sites that predate colonial expansion sit side by side with Revolutionary War sites, and examples of examples of humans trying to control nature in the Waxhaws. Two U.S. presidents even called the Waxhaws their birthplace. All of these sites still exist and you can visit them today. So lets take a look at some of the sites throughout the Waxhaws as we explore one of the most historically significant area in the Carolinas.
Catawba Reservation
Once one of the most powerful indigenous nations in the Waxhaws, the Catawba reigned supreme along the river for hundreds of years before first the Spanish and then the English explored their region. Although based in the Waxhaws, their influenced stretched far to the north as they engaged in conflict with tribes as far away as president day Maryland and Virginia.
That conflict may have contributed to the Catawba’s decline. As they were faced with the dual challenges of new diseases such as small pox brought by the Europeans, the Catawba continued to face pressure from their historic enemies to the north. The Catawba population soon collapsed. Even though they absorbed a number of smaller tribes like the Waxhaws their numbers continued to decline. During the American Revolution they allied themselves with the Colonials, but weren’t able to field a fighting force. Instead the helped the Patriots by offering their services as scouts.
By the turn of the 20th Century, the Catawba were almost extinct, but over the past 100 years have seen a resurgence. After regaining their reservation, their numbers have continued to rise and their future looks bright. For the most part, the Catawba Reservation in South Carolina looks like a your typical rural community. But not far from the river sits the cultural center that works to keep the history and traditions of the Catawba People alive. Most of the programs are reserved for members of the Catawba tribe, but often they have programs others can attend and have people who can answer questions about the history of the Catawba people.
Located behind the Cultural Center, the Yehasuri Trail is an interpretive trail along an old Catawba wagon road leading down to the river. Along the way there are a number of exhibits including a reproduction of a typical Catawba home from the 19th Century, a heritage garden where traditional plants are tended by the tribe’s youth, canoe, and totems of the Yehasuri. Interpretive signage gives more information about the exhibits as well as the native flora and fauna.
Starting at the end of the Yehasuri Trail, the Catawba Indian Nation Greenway runs upstream along the Catawba river for about 1.2 miles. Along the trail you’ll be treated to some of the best views of the river around. You may spot turtles sunning themselves on boulders or fallen trees in the river.
Buford’s Massacre Site
Buford’s Massacre also known as the Battle of the Waxhaws took place on May 29, 1780, very early in what’s some to be known as the Southern Campaign. The Third Virginia Detachment under the command of Colonel Abraham Buford was making it’s way to reinforce Charleston when word arrived that the British had retaken the city.
Turning around, Buford and his men were overtaken by the British Legion under command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton near Lancaster, SC. The battle only lasted for a few minutes, but what happened next would echo far past the Waxhaws and drive Patriot recruitment throughout the Carolinas. Patriot survivors claimed that British forces ignored white flags of surrender and in a fit of blood lust slaughtered the Colonial troops.
In the end 113 of Buford’s men were killed and 203 wounded. Locals were brought to the battlefield and forced to dig a mass grave where 84 men where buried. Later a second mass grave was dug nearby where an additional 25 were buried.
Many of the survivors were taken to the local Presbyterian Meeting House (Now the site of the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church) where they were cared for by locals and told the story of the massacre. “Give ’em Tarleton’s Quarter!” and “Give them Buford’s play!” became battle cries heard throughout that year especially at at Kings Mountain.
As you drive through the Waxhaws, just near a little crossroads of a town called Buford in Lancaster County, you’ll find the mass grave where 84 Patriots were buried in 1780. The site has been preserved and documented and interpretive signs give the story of the battle. There currently aren’t any trails or other infrastructure, but I’ve been told that there is a hope that some could be added in the future.
Andrew Jackson State Park
Although we don’t know exactly where Andrew Jackson was born, we do know that he was born in the Waxhaw region in either North or South Carolina on March 15, 1767. Three months earlier in February 1767, Jackson’s father was killed in a logging accident on the Jackson farm in North Carolina. He was buried in the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, SC and people on the south side of the state line, say she stayed in South Carolina with her sister and brother in law.
We do know that Andrew was raised at his uncles Plantation in Lancaster and lived there until leaving South Carolina as a young man. In youth, the Jacksons were seen as the poor relatives and treated like servants with his mother expected to care for the Crawford family and eventually contracting cholera and succumbing to the disease in 1781 while caring for her nephews who were held as British prisoners of war.
The Revolutionary War not only claimed the life of his mother but both of his brothers as well. Jackson was personally held for a time as a prisoner of war by the British in Camden and saw first hand the barbarity of of the British while caring for the wounded from Buford’s Massacre.
Soon after the war, he left his uncle’s plantation to eventually make a name for himself in Tennessee. Andrew Jackson State Park is built on the site of the Crawford Plantation where Jackson spent his youth. No original buildings remain, however replicas of both the Presbyterian Meeting house and a single room school house have been built. The park office is home to a museum with artifacts from the region, but unfortunately it’s not open all the time. Best to check with the park website before making a visit.
Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Cemetery
The lives of the Scots-Irish population in the Waxhaws centered around the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County, SC, not to be confused with the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church located in Waxhaw, NC. We’ve already mentioned that this is the church that Andrew Jackson attended and where the wounded from Buford’s Massacre were cared for by the community.
While the original meeting house (church) is long gone, the cemetery adjacent to the current church dates back to at least 1750 and remains one of the most historically significant cemeteries in South Carolina. It’s not only the site where Andrew Jackson’s father was buried, but his two brothers who died in the Revolution are also buried here. In fact many soldiers who died in the American Revolution are buried here including 38 who died after “Buford’s Massacre”.
Notable markers include that of William Richardson Davie a Patriot officer during the Revolution who organized a company of Calvery and harassed Cornwallis at every opportunity. Later he was persuaded to give up his field command to serve as Nathanael Greene’s commissary general. It became his responsibility to find supplies for Patriot forces during the closing months of the war. He later represented North Carolina at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and in 1798 was elected the 10th governor of North Carolina. Due to his support while in the NC General Assembly, he’s considered to be the founder of the University of North Carolina.
Also at the cemetery there is a statue dedicated to Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, mother to Andrew Jackson, who died of cholera in 1791 while caring for American POW’s aboard a British prison ship. Her monument is flanked by smaller markers to Hugh and Robert Jackson who both died during the American Revolution. They sit behind a row of markers dedicated to others from the region who fought during the Revolution as well as the parents of General Andrew Pickens.
One of the more interesting monuments is the Leckie Enclosure. While Robert Leckie was supervising the construction of Landsford Canal tragedy struck his family. Within a 20 month period his youngest son died, followed by his aunt, his wife, and then his oldest son. Leckie took time away from his duties at Landsford to build an enclosure at the Old Waxhaw Cemetery for his family. The enclosure is seven feet high at its tallest without an entrance, instead stones protrude through the wall on one side forming steps to the top.
If you decide to visit the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Cemetery please remember that you are not only on historically significant ground but hold ground as well. The adjacent modern Presbyterian Church still operated as such and it’s members are charged with not only protecting their church but preserving the dignity of the cemetery as well. Don’t be surprised if, you find yourself being watched as you view the graves.
Landsford Canal State Park
Spurred on by the growth of the Port of New Orleans, the South Carolina legislature authorized a massive push to improve the state’s infrastructure in the early 19th Century to hopefully ensure Charleston’s place as the premiere port city in the South. The projects included the State Road running all the way from from Charleston to the North Carolina state line that gave us the Poinsett Bridge and an attempt to make the Catawba River navigable.
Navigating the river was no easy feat. Traveling from Camden to Charlotte required traversing areas of shallow water, rocky shoals, and rapids. It was detriment that it would take four canals to make this part of the river navigable. The only one still in part accessible is Landsford Canal. Construction on Landsford Canal began in 1819 under the supervision of Robert Leckie. Finally opening in 1923, the canal only operated until 1840 when all four canals on the Catawba were abandoned.
Although most of the canal has succumb to the ravages of time, large sections still exist although they are unusable. At Landsford Canal State Park, you can walk along the and through what’s left of the canal. If you visit during the spring, you can see one of the last colonies of Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies blooming in the middle of the river. And if you’re lucky, you may catch a glimpse of the resident pair of Bald Eagles nesting by the Catawba.
James Polk Birthplace
While Andrew Jackson was trying unsuccessfully to win the White House in 1824, one of his strongest supporters as a young Congressman from Tennessee named James Polk. Polk’s support for Jackson was so strong, that he became known as “Young Hickory” compared to Jackson who was known as “Old Hickory”. They were not only political allies, both elected to office from Tennessee, shared a mentor/protégé relationship, but they were both from the Waxhaws.
James Polk was born in log cabin on November 2, 1795 in Pineville NC, just a few miles from where Jackson was born almost thirty years earlier. Polk’s early life in the Carolinas was much less eventful, and his family moved to Tennessee when Polk was 11. He only returned briefly to attend Chapel Hill in 1824.
After Polk supported Jackson in his presidential bids against John Quincy Adams in 1824 and 1828, Jackson supported Polk in his bid to be selected as Van Buren’s running mate. After a falling out with Van Buren over the annexation of Texas, Jackson switched his support to James Polk for president helping him get elected in 1845.
As president, James Polk not only oversaw the annexation of Texas, settled a dispute with the UK over the Oregon territory, but instigated and fought the Mexican-American War.
Polk’s birthplace has been recreated in Pineville, NC using historic homes from around the area and moving the Polk family cemetery to the site. The visitor center has a film on the life of James Polk and on certain days, the homes are opened up to tours.
Final Thoughts about The Waxhaws
Strolling through the cemetery at the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church reading the names on the graves is like a who’s who of early American history, but the history of this region goes back far further. But you don’t need to be a history buff to enjoy a drive through the Waxhaws. If you’re in Charlotte, it offers you a chancre to get out of the city and explore nature and isn’t as crowded as other close by places. And history buffs will love all there is to learn throughout the Waxhaws. All in all, it’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.