Backspace in nano after ssh from Mac OS X

When I used ssh from a mac to connect to a remote linux machine, the nano editor did strange things to the backspace key.

It would work for three of four deletes, but then it would jump to the end of the line and start deleting there. It was very strange.

The TERM variable on the local machine is sent to the remote computer. Both machines were using xterm-256color.

I disconnected from the remote and set the TERM variable in the Mac terminal:

export TERM=xterm-color

I reconnected to the remote machine and the backspace worked properly.