FRANCIS MARION 1732-1795 American Superhero
THE SWAMP FOX, colonial American soldier in the U.S. War of
Independence (1775-83), nicknamed by the British commander Colonel Banastre (“Bannister”) Tarleton for his elusive tactics.
Marion’s parents were French Huguenots who lived and farmed along the Santee River. He was the grandson of Benjamin Marion, a native of Poitou, who came to the province in 1690; and the fifth and youngest son of Gabriel Marion, who married Esther Cordes.
Marion gained his first military experience fighting against the Cherokee
Indians in 1759. In 1775 he was elected to the first provincial congress of South Carolina. That same year, with America on the brink of revolution, the congress commissioned him a captain of the newly-formed 2nd South Carolina Regiment. In September 1775 Marion commanded the capture of British forts in Charleston, South Carolina.
Promoted to major in February, 1776, he participated in the defense of Charleston on June 28. Later in 1776 was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assumed command of the regiment. In October, 1779, he led his command in an unsuccessful assault against Savannah.
In 1780, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston to the British, but Marion, with a broken ankle, eluded capture. He slipped away to the swamps, gathered together his band of guerrillas, and then began leading his bold raids. Marion and his irregulars often defeated larger bodies of British troops by the surprise and rapidity of their movement over swampy terrain.
In late 1780 he was appointed Brigadier General of the S.C. Militia. In cooperation with troops under the command of Henry Lee, he raided Georgetown and took Fort Watson and Fort Motte. He went on to support attacks on Augusta and Ninety-Six, S.C.
Near the end of the war, Marion and American General Nathanael Greene joined forces. In 1781 they successfully fought at the Battle of Eutaw Springs and forced the British retreat to North Carolina. For a daring rescue of Americans surrounded by the British at Parkers Ferry, S.C. (August 1781), Marion received the thanks of Congress. He was then appointed a brigadier general, and after the war he served in the senate of South Carolina (1782-90).
While still leader of his brigade, Marion was elected to the senate of South Carolina in 1781. He was reelected in 1782 and again in 1784, after the war had ended. In appreciation for his military service, the state legislature appointed Marion commander of Fort Johnson, in Charleston.
In 1786, he married Mary Esther Videau. The couple had no children and he died at his home “Pond Bluff,” on Feb. 27, 1795. He is buried at Belle Isle, near present day St. Stephens, S.C.