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Francis Marion -- Francis Marion
By Deidre G.
Francis Marion was an American revolutionary war hero, nicknamed the "Swamp Fox" by the British because of his elusive tactics. Marion was probably born in St. John's Parish, Berkeley County, near Georgetown, South Carolina, about 1732. As a descendant of French Huguenots who settled on the Santee River, he received a country school education. Marion established himself as a planter in St. John's Parish after coming into a small inheritance.
Marion served in two campaigns against the Indians. In 1761 he distinguished himself as a lieutenant of militia by defeating some ambushed Cherokees. Marion returned to St. John's and entered politics, championing the American colonies in their quarrel with England. In 1775, Marion was elected to the South Carolina Provincial Congress as a representative. This Congress authorized the formation of two regiments, Marion was captain of the Second Regiment. In 1780 as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental service, Marion led an attack on Savannah. In May of 1780 Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston to the British.
In August 1780, Marion commanded guerrilla warfare against the Loyalists along the Peedee and Santee rivers. Marion chased away three Loyalist groups. Turning upon the British, Marion cut their supply lines, outran Sir Banister Tarleton's dragoons, raided Georgetown, retired to Snow's Island, and then again raided Georgetown.
After the Continentals returned to South Carolina, Marion served as brigadier general of the militia under Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Aided by Continental troops, Marion finally seized Georgetown. At the battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781, he commanded the militias of North and South Carolina and drove the British back to Charleston.
Marion was quiet and moody, yet humane and forgiving. He rose from private to brigadier general because of his intuitive grasp of strategy and tactics. Daring and elusive, he usually struck at night and then vanished into the swamps and morasses of the South.
Marion received thanks from South Carolina for leading the partisans. He represented his parish in the state senate and the Constitutional Convention. He voted for federal union. After marrying Mary Esther Videau in 1786, he lived at Pond Bluff, which he owned. He later died there on February 26, 1795.
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