After years of tension over taxation and trade, the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776, and four years later, with a stalemate in the north, British General Henry Clinton moved south to capture Charleston. In February 1780, he landed 8,500 men near Savannah and in April besieged Charleston. American General Benjamin Lincoln gathered all available Continental troops and militia in the city and urgently sought reinforcements, prompting North Carolina and Virginia to send veterans and drafted citizens. Colonel Abraham Buford led a Virginian unit called the Third Provisional Regiment, and his 350 men marched south, reaching Camden on April 25 before receiving orders to continue to Charleston and join Colonel Anthony White's cavalry. On May 6, Buford's men arrived at Lenud's Ferry on the Santee River in time to see White's destruction by Banastre Tarleton's Legion. Six days later, Lincoln surrendered Charleston, along with over 6,000 men and 154 cannon, to Clinton, a severe blow to the American cause. Buford's regiment, the only remaining Continental unit in South Carolina, then retreated toward North Carolina with Governor John Rutledge, a few cavalry and militia, and valuable supply wagons. After General Cornwallis learned of the retreat, he sent Tarleton in pursuit, and Tarleton caught up with Buford in the Waxhaws, where the next events became a crucial turning point in American history.