Francis Marion

Brigadier General Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 27, 1795), better known as the "Swamp Fox," was an American soldier, plantation owner, and politician. He fought in the French and Indian War and later in the Revolutionary War, where he sided with the Patriots and joined the Continental Army. From 1780 to 1781, he fought the British in the southern colonies. Marion never led a large army or commanded in a major battle, but his hit-and-run tactics against the British have earned him a reputation as a pioneer of guerrilla and maneuver warfare. His methods are still studied and used today by the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

Marion was born around 1732 on his family's plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina. His father, Gabriel Marion, was a French Huguenot who had fled to the Thirteen Colonies before 1700 because of the Edict of Fontainebleau, and he worked as a planter. When Francis was about 15, he signed on to a merchant ship headed for the West Indies. That first voyage ended when the ship sank; he and five others escaped in a lifeboat and spent a week at sea before reaching land. In the years that followed, Marion ran the family plantation, which included overseeing the enslaved people who worked there.

Marion's military career began just before his 25th birthday. On January 1, 1757, he and his brother Job were recruited by Captain John Postell to serve in the South Carolina Militia during the French and Indian War. He also saw action in the Anglo-Cherokee War.

When the American Revolution started, Marion backed the Patriot cause. On June 21, 1775, he was made a captain in the Continental Army's 2nd South Carolina Regiment, under Colonel William Moultrie. He fought with Moultrie at the defense of Fort Sullivan against a Royal Navy attack on June 28, 1776. In September 1776, the Continental Congress promoted him to lieutenant colonel. In the fall of 1779, he took part in the failed Franco-American siege of Savannah, which aimed to retake the Georgia capital from the British.

In early spring 1780, British General Sir Henry Clinton invaded South Carolina and besieged Charleston. Marion escaped capture when the city fell on May 12, 1780, because he had broken his ankle in an accident and had left town to recover. Clinton took part of his force back to New York, but Lord Charles Cornwallis stayed behind with a significant number of troops to operate in the Carolinas. After Charleston's loss and Patriot defeats at Monck's Corner and Waxhaws, Marion gathered a small unit—initially between 20 and 70 men—that became the only force opposing the British in the area. At this point, he was still limping on his slowly healing ankle.

Marion joined Major General Horatio Gates on July 27, just before the Battle of Camden. But Gates thought little of Marion and sent him inland to gather intelligence on the British, so Marion missed the battle, which ended in a British victory. Marion proved to be a highly effective leader of irregular militia, and he was ruthless in terrorizing Loyalists. Unlike the Continental Army, Marion's Men served without pay, supplying their own horses, weapons, and often their own food. They operated from a base camp on Snow's Island in Florence County.

Marion rarely fought head-on. Instead, he repeatedly attacked larger groups of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise strikes and then withdrew just as fast. After capturing Charleston, the British held most of South Carolina with help from local Loyalists—except for the Williamsburg area, which they could never control. One attempt to garrison Williamsburg at the village of Hilltown failed when Marion drove them out at the Battle of Black Mingo.

A state sign at Marion's grave on the former Belle Isle Plantation lists twelve major battles and skirmishes he fought in over two years: Black Mingo Creek (September 28, 1780); Tearcoat Swamp (October 25, 1780); four attacks on Georgetown (October 1780 to May 1781); Fort Watson (April 23, 1781); Fort Motte (May 12, 1781); Quinby Bridge (July 17, 1781); Parker's Ferry (August 13, 1781); Eutaw Springs (September 8, 1781); and Wadboo Plantation (August 29, 1782). Cornwallis noted that Marion had turned the local population against the British through a mix of fear, harsh punishments, and promises of plunder, so that nearly everyone between the Santee and Pee Dee rivers was in arms.

The British tried repeatedly to stop Marion, but his intelligence was excellent while theirs was poor, thanks to strong Patriot support in the Williamsburg area. In November 1780, Colonel Banastre Tarleton was sent to capture or kill Marion. After chasing Marion's men for more than 26 miles through a swamp, Tarleton supposedly said, "as for this old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him."