Francis Marion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname | The Swamp Fox |
| Born | c. 1732 Berkeley County, South Carolina, British America[1] |
| Died | February 27, 1795 (agedc. 63) Berkeley County, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | Great Britain United States |
| Branch | South Carolina Militia Continental Army |
| Service years | 1757–1782 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel Continental Army Brigadier General South Carolina Militia |
| Conflicts | |
Brigadier General Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the "Swamp Fox", was an American military officer,planter, and politician who served during theFrench and Indian War and theRevolutionary War. During theAmerican Revolution, Marion supported thePatriot cause and enlisted in theContinental Army, fighting againstBritish forces in thesouthern theater of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781.
Though he never commanded afield army or served as a commander in a major engagement, Marion's use ofirregular warfare against the British has led him to be considered one of the fathers ofguerrilla andmaneuver warfare, and his tactics form a part of the modern-day military doctrine of theU.S. Army's75th Ranger Regiment.[1][2]
Francis Marion was born inBerkeley County, Province of South Carolina, around 1732. His father Gabriel Marion was aHuguenot who emigrated to theThirteen Colonies fromFrance at some point prior to 1700 due to theEdict of Fontainebleau and became aplanter.[3] Marion was born on his family'splantation, and at approximately the age of 15, he was hired on amerchant ship bound for theWest Indies which sank on his first voyage; he and five other crew members escaped on a lifeboat but had to spend one week at sea before reaching land.[1] In the following years, Marion managed the family's plantation, including overseeing the activities of the family'sslaves.[1]
Marion began his military career shortly before his 25th birthday. On January 1, 1757, Francis and his brother, Job, were recruited byCaptain John Postell to serve in theSouth Carolina Militia during theFrench and Indian War. Marion also saw service during theAnglo-Cherokee War.[4]
During theAmerican Revolution, Marion supported thePatriot cause and on June 21, 1775, he was commissioned as an officer in theContinental Army's2nd South Carolina Regiment (commanded byWilliam Moultrie) at the rank of captain. Marion served with Moultrie inthe defense ofFort Sullivan from aRoyal Navy attack on June 28, 1776.[5] In September 1776, theContinental Congress commissioned Marion as alieutenant colonel. In the autumn of 1779, he took part in thesiege of Savannah, a failedFranco-American attempt to capture the capital ofGeorgia which had been previously occupied byBritish forces.[5][6]
A British force led by SirHenry Clinton entered South Carolina in the early spring of 1780 andlaid siege toCharleston. Marion was not captured with the rest of the city's garrison when Charleston capitulated on May 12, 1780, as he had broken anankle in an accident and had left the city to recuperate. Clinton led part of the force that had captured Charleston back toNew York, but a significant number stayed foroperations under LordCharles Cornwallis in theCarolinas. After the loss of Charleston and the defeats suffered byIsaac Huger's men at theBattle of Monck's Corner andAbraham Buford's troops at theBattle of Waxhaws (near theNorth Carolina border, in what is nowLancaster County), Marion organized a small military unit, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men and was the only force then opposing the British in the region. At this point, Marion was still hobbling on his slowly healing ankle.[5]
Marion joined Major GeneralHoratio Gates on July 27 just before theBattle of Camden, but Gates had formed a low opinion of Marion. Gates sent Marion towards the interior togather intelligence on the British forces opposing them. He thus missed the battle, which resulted in a British victory.[7] Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader ofirregular militiamen and ruthless in his terrorizing ofLoyalists. Unlike the Continental Army, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food. Marion's Men operated from a base camp onSnow's Island in Florence County.[8][9]
Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare but repeatedly attacked larger bodies of Loyalists orBritish regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally sudden withdrawal from the field. After their capture of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Loyalists, except forWilliamsburg, which they were never able to hold. The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at the colonial village of Hilltown but were driven out by Marion at theBattle of Black Mingo.
A state-erected information sign at Marion's gravesite on the former Belle Isle Plantation shows that he was engaged in twelve major battles and skirmishes in a two-year period: Black Mingo Creek on September 28, 1780;Tearcoat Swamp on October 25, 1780; Georgetown (four attacks) between October 1780 and May 1781; Fort Watson on April 23, 1781; Fort Motte on May 12, 1781; Quinby Bridge on July 17, 1781; Parker's Ferry on August 13, 1781; Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781; and Wadboo Plantation on August 29, 1782. Cornwallis observed, "Colonel Marion had so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and partly by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an inhabitant between theSantee and thePee Dee that was not in arms against us."[10]
The British made repeated efforts to neutralize Marion's force, but Marion's intelligence gathering was excellent and that of the British was poor, due to the overwhelming Patriot presence in the Williamsburg area. ColonelBanastre Tarleton was sent to capture or kill Marion in November 1780. After pursuing Marion's troops for over 26 miles through a swamp, Tarleton supposedly said "as for this old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him."[6][dubious –discuss] Based on this tale, Marion's supporters began to call him "the Swamp Fox".[1]
Once Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, GovernorJohn Rutledge commissioned him as a brigadier general of militia.[11] Marion fought againstfreed slaves working or fighting alongside the British. He received an order from Rutledge to execute all Black people suspected of carrying provisions or gathering intelligence for the British "agreeable to the laws of this State".[12]
When Major GeneralNathanael Greene took command in the South, Marion and Lieutenant ColonelHenry Lee III were ordered in January 1781 to attack Georgetown, but were unsuccessful. In April, theytook Fort Watson. In May, theycaptured Fort Motte, breaking communications between British outposts in the Carolinas. On August 31, Marion rescued a small American force trapped by 500 British soldiers, under the leadership of Major C. Fraser. For this action he received the thanks of the Continental Congress. Marion commanded the right wing under General Greene at theBattle of Eutaw Springs.[5][13]
In January 1782, he was elected to theSouth Carolina General Assembly atJacksonborough and left his troops to take up his seat.[14] During his absence, Marion's men grew disheartened, particularly after a Britishsortie from Charleston, and there was reportedly a conspiracy to turn him over to the British. But in June of that year, he put down a Loyalist rebellion on the banks of the Pee Dee River. In August, Marion left his unit and returned to hisslave plantation, Pond Bluff.[5] In 1782, the British Parliament suspended offensive operations in America, and in December 1782, the British withdrew their garrison from Charleston.[15] TheTreaty of Paris brought the war to an end.[16]
When Marion returned to Pond Bluff, he discovered it had been destroyed during the war. Of the roughly 200 slaves there before the war, most had fled the plantation, with some joining the British when Clinton had issued thePhilipsburg Proclamation offering freedom for people enslaved by Patriots. Those who had joined the British were evacuated from Charleston at the end of the war and at least one settled inNova Scotia. Meanwhile, 10 people were moved to Belle Isle, a plantation owned by Marion's brother Gabriel, during the war. Fourhouse slaves were also moved to Gabriel's plantation, all of whom had been singled out for favorable treatment in Marion's prewar will: overseer June and his wife, Chloe; their daughter Phoebe (sister of Buddy, Marion's enslaved manservant); and her daughter Peggy.[citation needed]
These enslaved people, together with the 10 field hands, went back with him to Pond Bluff. After the war, Marion borrowed money to purchase more slaves for his plantation.[17] At the age of 54, Marion married his 49-year-old cousin, Mary Esther Videau.[18] Marion served several terms in theSouth Carolina State Senate. In 1784, in recognition of his services, he was made commander ofFort Johnson, asinecure with an annual salary of $500[19] (at the time, privates in theFirst American Regiment were paid $6.67 a month[20]). He died on his plantation in 1795, at the age of 63, and was buried at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery in Berkeley County, South Carolina.[5][21]
The public memory of Marion has been shaped in large part by the first biography about him,The Life of General Francis Marion, written byMason Locke Weems and based on the memoirs of South Carolinian soldierPeter Horry.[1][22]The New York Times has described Weems as one of the "earlyhagiographers" of American literature "who elevated the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, into the American pantheon."[23] Weems is known for having invented the apocryphal"cherry tree" anecdote aboutGeorge Washington, and "Marion's life received similar embellishment", as Amy Crawford wrote inSmithsonian magazine in 2007.[1] In the 1835 novelHorse-Shoe Robinson byJohn P. Kennedy, a historical romance set against the background of the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War, Marion appears and interacts with the fictional characters. In the book, he is depicted as decisive, enterprising, and valiant.
Hans Conried portrayed Marion in an episode of theCavalcade of America television series, "The Swamp Fox", which was broadcast on October 25, 1955. Walt Disney Productions producedThe Swamp Fox, an eight-episode mini-series about Marion that aired from 1959 to 1961. It starredLeslie Nielsen as Marion, and Nielsen was also one of the singers of the theme song.
Marion was one of the influences for the main character of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) in the 2000 movieThe Patriot, which, according to Crawford, "exaggerated the Swamp Fox legend for a whole new generation."[1] The contrast between the film's depiction of Marion "as a family man and hero who single-handedly defeats countless hostile Brits" and the real-life Marion was one of the "egregious oversights" thatTime magazine cited when listingThe Patriot as number one of its "Top 10 historically misleading films" in 2011.[24] In the film, Martin describes violence that he committed in the French and Indian War. Around the time of the film's release, comments in the British press challenged the American notion of Marion as a hero. In theEvening Standard, the British authorNeil Norman called him "a thoroughly unpleasant dude who was, basically, a terrorist."[25]
Concurrently, the British historianChristopher 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." According toThe Guardian, "it seems that Marion was slaughtering Indians for fun and regularly raping his female slaves".[26] The English historianHugh Bicheno compared Marion's behavior with British officers who also served in the Southern Colonies during the war, including Tarleton andJames Wemyss. Referring to Marion, Tarleton, and Wemyss, Bicheno wrote that "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."[27] According to Crawford, the biographies by historiansWilliam Gilmore Simms (The Life of Francis Marion) and Hugh Rankin can be regarded as generally accurate.[1] The introduction to the 2007 edition of Simms's book (originally published in 1844) was written by Sean Busick, a professor ofAmerican history atAthens State University inAlabama, who says that based on the facts, "Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence."[1] Crawford commented:
Francis Marion was a man of his times: he owned slaves, and he fought in a brutal campaign against the Cherokee Indians. While not noble by today's standards, Marion's experience in the French and Indian War prepared him for more admirable service.[1]
Numerous locations in the U.S. are named after Francis Marion, including theFrancis Marion National Forest nearCharleston, South Carolina. The city ofMarion, Iowa. holds an annual Swamp Fox Festival.[28]Marion County, South Carolina, and its county seat, theCity of Marion, are named for Marion. The city features a statue of General Marion in the town square, and has a museum which includes many artifacts related to Francis Marion; the Marion High School mascot is the Swamp Fox.Francis Marion University is located nearby inFlorence County, South Carolina. TheSwamp Fox is a wooden roller coaster located inMyrtle Beach, South Carolina. In Washington, D.C.,Marion Park is one of the four large parks in theCapitol 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.[29]
TheFrancis Marion Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Within the hotel is a restaurant called the Swamp Fox. The municipalities of Marion inAlabama,Illinois,Indiana,Iowa,Kansas,Kentucky,Louisiana,Massachusetts,Mississippi,New York,North Carolina,Ohio,Pennsylvania,South Carolina,Virginia, andMarion Center, Pennsylvania, are named for Francis Marion.Marion County, Indiana (of which the city ofIndianapolis is a part), is named for the general, as are Marion Counties inAlabama,Arkansas,Florida,Georgia,Iowa,Illinois,Kansas,Kentucky,Missouri,Mississippi,Ohio,Oregon,South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas, andWest Virginia, and more than 30townships in nine states. TheMilitary Junior CollegeMarion Military Institute inMarion, Alabama, has an organization called Swamp Fox which is attributed to Francis Marion. Themarionberry is named after the county in Oregon and so derives its name from him.[30]
The169th Fighter Wing of theSouth Carolina Air National Guard, located about 12 miles east of Columbia in Eastover, South Carolina, boasts the title "Home of the Swamp Fox" and has an image of the face of a fox painted on the body of their F-16 Fighter Jets. TheSouth Carolina State Guard, the successor to the South Carolina Militia, charters the Swamp Fox Explorer Post 1670 through the national division ofExploring (Learning for Life) for youth 14 to 20 years of age. In 1994, Marion was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.[31]
In 2006, theUnited States House of Representatives approved a monument to Francis Marion, to be built inWashington, D.C., sometime in 2007–2008. The bill died in theSenate 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 omnibusConsolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, which passed both houses and was enacted in May 2008.[32] Although a site atMarion Park was selected,[33] it was not built before authorization expired in 2018.[34] Some local residents opposed a monument to a slaveowner.[35] The U.S. Navy was home to theUSSFrancis Marion, aPaul Revere-class attack transport. The ship served as the flag for COMPHIBGRU 2 (Commander Amphibious Group 2). For many years, Submarine Squadron Four at the Charleston Naval Base called itself the Swamp Fox Squadron.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marion, Francis".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 722.
