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Francis Marion is Born
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Shipwreked
Around 15 Francis Marion was sent to be part of a crew on a sea voyage. The ship sank and some of the crew(including Francis) got on a lifeboat. They had no food or water. A dog from the ship swam to them and they drank the blood and ate the flesh raw. -
The battle of Echoee
The battle of Echoee was the last major battle between the whites and the Cherokees in the French and Indian War. Francis Marion earned distinction in this battle, fighting bravely in a forlon hope regiment that changed the tide of the battle. During the war he became familiar with Indian partisan tactics. -
The Battle of Sullivan's Island
The Battle of Sullivan's Island was a British assault made on Fort Moultrie. Francis Marion did not command any troops but fought bravely against the British fleet which consisted of 9 man o' wars(some of the largest ships at the time). -
Siege of Savanna
Marion was commissioned captain in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment under William Moultrie.The Siege of Savannah was a combined France-American attempt to retake the city of Savannah. -
Getting the soldiers back
After the loss in Charleston, the defeats of General Isaac Huger at Moncks Corner and Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Buford at the Waxhaw massacre, They had captured American soldiers.Marion organized a small unit, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men and was the only force then opposing the British Army in the state. At this point, Marion was still nearly crippled from the slowly healing ankle. -
New assignment
Francis Marion joined Horatio Gates just before the Battle of Camden but Gates had no confidence in him and sent him to take command of the Williamsburg Militia in the Pee Dee area.Gates asked him to undertake scouting missions and to impede the expected flight of the British after the battle. Marion thus missed the battle, which proved to be a decisive British victory.Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen and ruthless in his actions against Loyalists -
The Birth of Guerrilla Warfare
Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare, but repeatedly surprised larger bodies of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally quick withdrawal from the field. Many British soldiers were terrorfied by him. -
"Old swamp fox"
Colonel Banastre Tarleton was sent to kill Marion in November 1780 when he despaired of finding the “old swamp fox”, who eluded him by traveling along swamp paths. It was Tarleton who gave Marion his nickname when, after unsuccessfully Chasing Marion’s troops for over 26 miles through a swamp, he gave up and swore: “as for this damned old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him.” -
Ranking Up Pt. 2
Once Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, Govener John Rutledge commissioned him a brigadier general of state troops. -
The End of the Swamp Fox
After the war, Marion married his cousin, Mary Esther Videau. His nephew Theodore had hinted to his uncle that it was time to get married. His relatives and friends informed him that Mary always listened with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes when anyone began reading the exploits of the Swamp Fox.
