<i>Re-visiting Francis Marion, the ‘Swamp Fox’:</i> Whatever It Took

“Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence.”

(Sean Busick, introduction to Wm. Gilmore Simms, The Life of Francis Marion.)

In April, 2014 I wrote a piece about the character of Benjamin Martin, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the stunning Revolutionary War movie ‘The Patriot’. At that time, if memory serves, I wasn’t able to find much information about Francis Marion, the real-life patriot on whom Gibson’s character was based.

Also at that time, I remember vague wisps of memory seeming to indicate a television series that I had watched as a child or teenager, a series about the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion…it seemed I rather had a crush on this swash-buckling renegade…but the memory was barely there. I figured I was imagining it. Or maybe it was an entirely different show…time can certainly fade memories!

Well, I wasn’t imagining it!

And I’ve recently learned considerably more about Francis Marion, the ‘Swamp Fox’ of Revolutionary American legend & lure.

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True to his fictional counterpart, Francis Marion was himself a South Carolina plantation owner before the war began. Having had previous combat experience fighting the Cherokee in 1761, as a lieutenant in a light-infantry company, Marion was already positioned to be made a cavalry captain by his former commanding officer when the war for independence began. A lieutenant colonel by 1779, “it was largely Marion who kept the pressure on the British with incessant hit-and-run guerilla tactics” after the defeat of American General Horatio Gates at Camden, SC in the late summer of 1780.

(Sidebar: Interestingly enough, General Gates may not have been defeated if he had adjusted his attitude towards the lieutenant colonel {my thought}.

 Allegedly Gates had a ‘low opinion’ of Marion & thus sent him on an intelligence-gathering mission, rather than retain his fighting skills & knowledge of strategy in the battle. Though the Americans greatly out-gunned & out-manned the British, their defeat was staggering. General Gates never held a field command again.) Yet that very same month, Marion’s men rescued 150 captured Continental soldiers; soon after, with just 50 men, Marion ambushed 250 Tory militia, overran a Tory outpost, and again waged a battle against more Tories the following month.

The man derided by the humiliated General Gates was promoted to general.

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General Horatio Gates was succeeded by an officer with an entirely different approach to Francis Marion: General Nathanael Greene.

General Greene has been labeled “Washington’s most trusted general” though oddly not for reasons of military successes. In March of 1777, Washington wrote to Congress that Greene “deserves the greatest respect, and much regard is due to his opinions.”

Being so highly esteemed then, General Greene’s endorsement of Marion perhaps more than made up for Gates’ disparaging of the man. Upon relieving Gates of command in December, 1780, General Greene immediately contacted Marion with conciliatory orders showing empathy, encouragement & validation.

My overviews of General Nathanael Greene & Francis Marion seem to show certain alignments of disposition & style; even physical characteristics! which perhaps gave rise to the rapport that seems to have developed between them.

Nathanael Greene was often ill, asthmatic & with a bad leg that caused him to limp; Francis Marion, rather short & thin, had badly-formed knees & ankles since his youth, with similar results: he limped. Neither gave an impressive, soldier-like appearance.

No one appears to have given either of them Best Personality awards. Greene has been described by some (not the enemy!) in very unflattering terms: “belittling & sneering…undignified & petulant”, unpopular with his army; while neither surly nor rude, Marion was described by the son of a Continental officer as having a visage “not pleasing” and manners “not captivating”, being “reserved and silent.” Neither officer was concerned with political correctness! Thank God!

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Both men experienced facing dire odds with but few men:

When Charleston, SC fell to the British, General Washington made Nathanael Green commander-in-chief of the Southern Department, sending him to the now British-controlled backcountry and its surrounding areas. When Greene arrived, he was met with a most disheartening situation. He wrote in a letter that he was in search of the Army he was supposed to have met there, “having found nothing but a few half-starved soldiers, who are remarkable for nothing but poverty & distress.” Eventually, though, General Knox offered high praise for Greene’s accomplishments in such circumstances: “Without an army, without means, without anything, he has performed wonders.”

After this and two other Continental army losses in that area, Marion organized a small band consisting of between 20-70 men, which at that time was the only force opposing the British Army in the state. “Marion & his followers played the role of David to the British Goliath.”(Busick) ‘Marion’s Men’ served without pay, supplying their own horses, arms & often food. (Gray, Jefferson {Autumn 2011} MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. 24 [1] 56-65.) “Though often out-numbered, Marion’s militia would continue to use guerilla tactics to surprise enemy regiments, with great success.” (Smithsonian Magazine)

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Marion & Greene each generated unease & frustration in their adversaries: of Marion, Lieutenant Banastre Tarleton declared that “the devil himself could not catch him.” Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis said that Marion “has 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 most all the area inhabitants were in arms against them; of Greene, Cornwallis declared him “as dangerous as Washington…with but little hope of gaining any advantage over him, I never feel secure when encamped in his neighborhood.”

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…I point out these similarities between the two leaders to show how a way seems to have been prepared for Francis Marion to step into favor. The Scriptures tell us of how God makes a way when there is no way, and I would like to suggest that He was doing this, in 1780, with Francis Marion.

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A couple of other incidents along these lines caught my attention, as well.

As previously noted, Marion had weakened knees & ankles. He limped. Yet Francis Marion so excelled in close combat guerrilla tactics that he is considered one of its fathers, and as having provided the prototype for future Army Ranger technique. “With God all things are possible.”

At this time in history, it was a colonial custom when hosting a dinner party, to lock the doors during the after-dinner toast to the Revolutionary cause. Attending one such event in March of 1780, in Charleston, SC, Marion found himself therefore trapped in the host’s home, which proved too frustrating for him to endure. He was not a drinking man! So he jumped out a second story window. The result was a broken ankle.

Marion’s damaged ankle, besides not ultimately hindering his physical skill in combat, served to save his freedom & possibly his life. Recuperation necessitated Marion’s removal to the country, with the result that he was not in the city of Charleston when it was taken by the British that May. What some intended for harm, God meant for good.

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One of my final observations: When General Greene first encountered Francis Marion & his men, he considered the lot of them “unimpressive.” He described “wretchedness of…attire…miserably equipped”, their number not exceeding twenty. I get the impression he had to try to restrain his own men from laughing. (Wm. Johnson, Sketches of the Life & Correspondence of Nathanael Greene). Quite the rag-tag bunch. Reading this, I was put in mind of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Small in number, traipsing around dusty roads & hauling stinking fish in boats…an itinerant preacher…a despised tax collector…you get my drift…to be sure, none of them were on anybody’s Best Dressed List, either…but they over-turned the known world at that time, and their impact – because of their Leader – has powerfully affected the world since.

And Marion’s runty band? “Marion’s cunning, resourcefulness & determination helped keep the cause of American independence alive in the South.” (Smithsonian Magazine)

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I had already known a little bit about Marion the plantation owner, Marion the guerilla fighter & Marion the patriot officer & General. But I did NOT know what is possibly the most astounding fact of all, and convinces me more than ever that God was with him, for the sake of the American cause in which we live, move & have our being today. After the war, Francis Marion returned to his plantation life, marrying at age 54 & serving in the South Carolina Assembly where he opposed punishing Americans who had remained loyal to the British during the war, championing amnesty ((Smithsonian Magazine). I hope I am not pushing the envelope here when I say that I see shades of the Savior-Father who paid a hard price to procure our freedom, made a Way to abolish enmity and is faithful to forgive.

Source material:

Besides the noted books & articles, much of my information was found in After Yorktown: the Final Struggle for American Independence, by Don Glickstein.