During Tarleton's Southside Virginia Raid from July 9 to July 24, 1781, British dragoons came to Benjamin Ward's Tavern at West Creek while Peter Francisco, then serving as a militia scout, was there. Legend says that as many as nine dragoons accompanied by several escaped slaves arrived to plunder the tavern, and that after one dragoon demanded Francisco's silver shoe or knee buckles, Francisco seized the man's sword and struck him, then fought off others, killing or wounding at least three before tricking them into fleeing and leaving eight horses behind. The story was later disputed by the Ward family, who objected to accounts implying that Benjamin Ward aided the British. Other testimonies, including that of Amelia County resident George Scott, held that no more than three British dragoons with three or four escaped slaves were present, that one man searched the house, took Ward's gun, and resumed plundering Ward and Francisco before Francisco drew the sword from under his arm and cut him down, and that Tarleton's cavalry passed along the public road without being visible from Ward's house.