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Francis Marion
c. 1732 – February 26, 1795
Nickname	"The Swamp fox"
Place of birth	Winyah, South Carolina
Allegiance	Continental Army, South Carolina Militia
Years of service	1757–1782
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel, Brigadier General

Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 26, 1795) was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven out of the state in the Battle of Camden.

Due to his irregular methods of warfare, he is considered one of the fathers of modern guerrilla warfare, and is credited in the lineage of the United States Army Rangers.

Family and early life

His grandparents were Benjamin and Judith Baluet Marion of French Huguenot origin^[1], and Anthony and Esther Baluet Cordes. His parents Gabriel and Esther had six children: Esther, Isaac, Gabriel, Benjamin, Job and Francis. Francis was the last born and was a puny child. Peter Horry, who served under Marion in the American Revolution, joked, "I have it from good authority, that this great soldier, at his birth, was not larger than a New England crab, and might easily enough have been put into a quart pot."

The family settled at Winyah, near Georgetown, South Carolina. Marion was born on February 26, 1732, at Goatfield Plantation in St. James Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. When he was 5 or 6, his family moved to a plantation in St. George, a parish on Winyah Bay. Apparently, they wanted to be near the English school in Georgetown. In 1759 he moved to Pond Bluff plantation near Eutaw Springs, in St. John's Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. Francis Marion was fluent in French.

When Francis was 15 he decided to become a sailor. His imagination had been stirred by the ships in the Georgetown port. When he asked his parents' permission, they willingly agreed. They hoped a voyage to the Caribbean would strengthen his frail physique. He signed on as the sixth crewman of a schooner heading for the West Indies. As they were returning, a whale rammed the schooner and caused a plank to come loose. The captain and crew escaped in a boat, but the schooner sank so quickly that they were unable to take any food or water. After six days under the tropical sun, two crewmen died of thirst and exposure. The following day the surviving crew reached shore.

Despite his sea ordeal, Francis came back in better health. Peter Horry wrote, "His constitution seemed renewed, his frame commenced a second and rapid growth, while his cheeks, quitting their pale, suet-colored cast, assumed a bright and healthy olive." However, Francis was done with sailing after that one disastrous voyage.

French and Indian War

Marion began his military career shortly before his 25th birthday. On January 1, 1757, Francis and his brother Job were recruited by Cap. John Postell for the French and Indian War to drive the Cherokee away from the border. In 1761 Marion served as a lieutenant under Cap. William Moultrie in a campaign against the Cherokee. Peter Horry quoted a letter in which Marion spoke of this British-led campaign with sorrow:

"The next morning we proceeded by order of Colonel James Grant, to burn down the Indians' cabins. Some of our men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing very heartily at the curling flames, as they mounted loud crackling over the tops of the huts. But to me it appeared a shocking sight. Poor creatures! thought I, we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations. But, when we came, according to orders, to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears. For who could see the stalks that stood so stately with broad green leaves and gaily tasseled shocks, filled with sweet milky fluid and flour, the staff of life; who, I say, without grief, could see these sacred plants sinking under our swords with all their precious load, to wither and rot untasted in their mourning fields."^[2]

Service during the Revolution

In 1775 he was a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress. On June 21, 1775, Marion was commissioned captain in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment under William Moultrie, with whom he served in June 1776 in the defense of Fort Sullivan and Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor.

In September 1776 the Continental Congress commissioned Marion as a lieutenant colonel. In the autumn of 1779 he took part in the siege of Savannah, and early in 1780, under Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, was engaged in drilling militia.

Marion was not captured when Charleston fell on May 12, 1780, because he had broken an ankle in an accident and had left the city to recuperate.

After the loss in Charleston, the defeats of Gen. Isaac Huger at Moncks Corner and Lt. Col. Abraham Buford at the Waxhaw massacre (near the North Carolina border, in what is now Lancaster County), Marion organized a small troop, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men, the only force then opposing the British Army in the state. At this point, he was still nearly crippled from the slowly-healing ankle.

He joined Gen. Horatio Gates just before the Battle of Camden, but Gates had no confidence in him and sent him (mostly to get rid of him) to take command of the Williamsburg Militia in the Pee Dee area. The general asked him to undertake scouting missions and to impede the expected flight of the British after the battle. Marion thus missed the battle, but was able to intercept and recapture 150 Maryland prisoners, plus about 20 of their British guards, who had been en route from the battle to Charleston. The freed prisoners, thinking the war already lost, refused to join Marion and deserted.

Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen. Unlike the Continental troops, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food. All of Marion's supplies which were not obtained locally were captured from the British or Loyalist ("Tory") forces.

Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare, but repeatedly surprised larger bodies of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally quick withdrawal from the field. After the surrender of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Tories, except for Williamsburg (the present Pee Dee), which they were never able to hold. The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at Willtown, but were driven out by Marion at the Mingo Creek.

The British especially hated Marion and made repeated efforts to neutralize his force, but Marion's intelligence gathering was excellent and that of the British was poor, due to the overwhelming Patriot loyalty of the populace in the Williamsburg area.

Col. Banastre Tarleton was sent to capture or kill Marion in November 1780; he despaired of finding the "old swamp fox", who eluded him by travelling along swamp paths. Tarleton and Marion were sharply contrasted in the popular mind. Tarleton was hated because he burned and destroyed homes and supplies, whereas Marion's Men when they requisitioned supplies (or destroyed them to keep them out of British hands) gave the owners receipts for them. After the war, most of the receipts were redeemed by the new state government.

General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal by John Blake White; his slave Oscar Marion kneels at the left of the group.

Once Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, Gov. John Rutledge (in exile in North Carolina) commissioned him a brigadier general of state troops.

When Gen. Nathanael Greene took command in the South, Marion and Lt. Col. Henry Lee were ordered in January 1781 to attack Georgetown but were unsuccessful. In April they took Fort Watson and in May they captured Fort Motte, and succeeded in breaking communications between the British posts in the Carolinas. On August 31 Marion rescued a small American force trapped by 500 British, under the leadership of Maj. C. Fraser. For this, he received the thanks of the Continental Congress. Marion commanded the right wing under Gen. Greene at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

In 1782 during his absence as state senator at Jacksonborough, his brigade grew disheartened and there was reportedly a conspiracy to turn him over to the British. But in June of that year, he put down a Loyalist uprising on the banks of the Pee Dee River. In August he left his brigade and returned to his plantation.

After the war, Marion married his cousin, Mary Esther Videau.^[3] His nephew Theodore had hinted to his uncle that it was time to get married. His relatives and friends informed him that Mary always listened with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes when anyone began reciting the exploits of the Swamp Fox. Marion was in love earlier with Mary Esther Simons but she refused his proposal and married Jack Holmes.^[4]

Marion served several terms in the South Carolina State Senate. In 1784, in recognition of his services, he was made commander of Fort Johnson, practically a courtesy title with a salary of $500 per annum. He was originally supposed to receive 500 English pounds a year, but economy-frightened politicians reduced his payment to 500 Continental dollars. He died on his estate in 1795, at the age of 63.

Modern opinions about Marion's character

Francis Marion (known as the Swamp Fox) was one of the influences for the main character in the movie The Patriot. In the film, the fictional character Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) describes violence he committed in the French and Indian war.

Around the time of The Patriot's release, comments in the British press challenged the American notion of Francis Marion as a hero. In the Evening Standard, British author Neil Norman called Francis Marion,

a thoroughly unpleasant dude who was, basically, a terrorist.^[5]

British historian Christopher Hibbert described Marion as

... very active in the persecution of the Cherokee Indians and not at all the sort of chap who should be celebrated as a hero. The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the British. ^[6]

Hibbert also stated that Francis Marion had

a reputation as a racist who hunted Indians for sport and regularly raped his female slaves.^[7]

In a commentary published in the National Review, conservative talk radio host Michael Graham rejected criticisms like Hibbert's as an attempt to rewrite history:

Was Francis Marion a slave owner? Was he a determined and dangerous warrior? Did he commit acts in an 18th-century war that we would consider atrocious in the current world of peace and political correctness? As another great American film hero might say: "You damn right."

That's what made him a hero, 200 years ago and today.^[7]

Michael Graham also refers to what he describes as "the unchallenged work of South Carolina's premier historian Dr. Walter Edgar, who pointed out in his 1998 'South Carolina: A History' that Marion's partisans were "a ragged band of both black and white volunteers."

British historian Hugh Bicheno has compared Gen. Marion with British officers Tarleton and Maj. James Wemyss; referring to the British officers as well as Marion said: “…they all tortured prisoners, hanged fence-sitters, abused parole and flags of truce, and shot their own men when they failed to live up to the harsh standards they set.” ^[8]

Amy Crawford, in Smithsonian Magazine, wrote that modern historians such as William Gilmore Simms and Hugh Rankin have written accurate biographies of Marion, including Simms’ “The Life of Francis Marion.” ^[9] The introduction to the 2007 edition of Simms' book (originally published in 1844) was written by Sean Busick, a professor of American history at Athens State University in Alabama, who says that based on the facts, "Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence." ^[9]

“Francis Marion was a man of his times: he owned slaves, and he fought in a brutal campaign against the Cherokee Indians...Marion's experience in the French and Indian War prepared him for more admirable service." ^[9]

In the 1835 novel Horse-Shoe Robinson by John Pendleton Kennedy, a historical romance set against the background of the Southern campaigns in the American revolution, Marion appears and interacts with the fictional characters. In the book he is depicted as decisive, enterprising and valiant.

Landmarks

The Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina, is named after Marion, as is the historic Francis Marion Hotel in downtown Charleston. Numerous other locations across the country are named after Marion. The city of Marion, Iowa, is named after Francis, and the city holds an annual swampfox/ Swamp Fox Festival and parade every summer. Marion County, South Carolina, and its county seat, the City of Marion, are named for Marion. The City of Marion features a statue of Gen. Marion in its town square, has a museum that includes many artifacts related to Francis Marion, and the Marion High School mascot is the Swamp Fox. Francis Marion University is located nearby in Florence County, South Carolina. In Washington, D.C., Marion Park is one the four "major" or large parks in the Capitol Hill Parks constellation. The park is bounded by 4th & 6th Streets and at the intersection of E Street and South Carolina Avenue in southeast Washington, D.C.^[10] The town of Marion, IN, as well as Marion, North Carolina, Marion, MA, formerly Sippican, Marion, Virginia, Marion, Illinois and Marion, Alabama, are also named after Francis Marion. Marion County, Indiana, which the city of Indianapolis is a part of, is also named for the general, as are Marion County, Alabama, Marion County, Arkansas, Marion County, Kentucky, Marion County, Ohio, Marion County, West Virginia, Point Marion, Pennsylvania, Marion County, Florida and Marion County, Illinois. The Junior Military College Marion Military Institute, located in Marion, Alabama, has an organization called Swamp Fox which is attributed to Francis Marion. Marion County, Oregon, is also named after Francis Marion and the marionberry is named after the county. In 1850, the painter William Tylee Ranny (1813-1857) produced Marion Crossing the Pee Dee, based on events following the battle of Camden in the American Revolution. The picture, displayed at the Amon Carter Museum, depicts Marion standing and talking with a subordinate on the back row of a small boat, Marion being second from the left.^[11]

In 2006 the United States House of Representatives approved a monument to Francis Marion, to be built in Washington, D.C. sometime in 2007–08. The bill died in the Senate and was reintroduced in January 2007. The Brigadier General Francis Marion Memorial Act of 2007 passed the House of Representatives in March 2007, and the Senate in April 2008. The bill was packaged into the omnibus Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, which passed both houses and was enacted in May 2008.

Gravestone

Marion's grave stone reads:

He is buried at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery, Berkeley County, South Carolina.

See also

• List of places named for Francis Marion
• Early history of Williamsburg, South Carolina
• Oscar Marion, slave of Francis Marion and Revolutionary War soldier
• The Swamp Fox (TV series), a 1950s television series produced by Walt Disney and starring Leslie Nielsen, this TV series inspired the 1960 Parker Brothers board game by the same name.
• The Patriot, whose lead character was partly based on Marion

External links

• The Swamp Fox, Smithsonian.com
• The Online Books Page: Texts about Francis Marion

References

•  "Marion, Francis". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 
• Bass, Robert D. Swamp Fox. 1959.
• Boddie, William Willis. History of Williamsburg. Columbia, SC: State Co., 1923.
• Boddie, William Willis. Marion's Men: A List of Twenty-Five Hundred. Charleston, SC: Heisser Print Co., 1938.
• Boddie, William Willis. Traditions of the Swamp Fox: William W. Boddie's Francis Marion. Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Co. 2000.
• Busick, Sean R. A Sober Desire for History: William Gilmore Simms as Historian. 2005. ISBN 1-57003-565-2.
• Simms, W.G. The Life of Francis Marion. New York, 1833.
• Myers, Jonathan. Swamp Fox: Birth of a Legend. Ambition Studios, 2004.

Notes

From LoveToKnow 1911