The Swamp Fox

by John Oller

  For many years Marion kept up command of a militia brigade, training and parading his men as in days gone by. He resigned in 1794 after a reorganization of the militia; both Marion and Sumter were nominated to be promoted to major general, but when the vote in the legislature deadlocked, their supporters agreed to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as a compromise candidate. By that time Marion was in poor health and unable to serve anyway. Writing in November 1794 to his grandnephew Francis Dwight, away at college in Connecticut, Marion complained of a cramp in his fingers, “constant pain in my head for some time,” and a “cold but ardent fever.”

  His decline was swift, and on February 27, 1795, “in his sixty-third year,” according to his gravestone, he died at Pond Bluff. He was buried at Belle Isle, his brother Gabriel’s plantation. Marion’s estate, apart from his land, was appraised at 6,453 pounds sterling, roughly half a million dollars in today’s money. More than half of that value was in the seventy-four slaves he owned. He willed to his wife all of the personal property she originally brought to the marriage, including her slaves and fine mahogany furniture. (By law it had all become his upon marriage.) He also left her all of his real and personal property for her use until she died or remarried. After her death or widowhood his entire estate was to go to his grandnephew Francis Dwight at age twenty-one, provided he took the name Francis Marion, which he did.

  As it turned out, the will was invalid because it was not witnessed, and Mary Videau was limited to her one-half intestate share. The other half went by law to Marion’s nieces and nephews, whom Mary promptly bought out. Marion’s grandnephew Francis Dwight took no real estate, although written wills, even if void, were deemed valid to pass personal property, so he did end up inheriting Marion’s slaves “and their increase” upon Mary Videau’s death. She died in 1815 and Francis (Dwight) Marion died in 1833, leaving an estate with more than 150 slaves.

  One unanswered question is why Francis Marion the general did not free any slaves in his final will—not even his lifelong faithful servant, Buddy, or the “mustee” girl Peggy, then in her late teens, who was to have been emancipated under his original will. He revised his will a year after his marriage and probably at that point felt he owed his greatest duty and loyalty to his new wife and adopted son. Then, too, manumission was not an unalloyed blessing in South Carolina—by law, an emancipated slave had to leave the colony within six months or face re-enslavement and sale at public auction, with consequent separation from family. Perhaps Marion also assumed that if Mary outlived him, she would free some favored slaves in her own will, but with the exception of one “Scipio,” she did not. By the time of her death South Carolina had further discouraged manumissions, and five years later a new law would provide that enslaved African Americans could be freed only by an act of the legislature.

  Also unknown are any details about how Francis Marion treated his slaves during his lifetime. By all evidence, his core family group—June, Chloe, Buddy, Phoebe, and Peggy—were well cared for, but what of his many field hands? Because he was a fair and humane man, as he demonstrated time and again during the war, it is safe to assume he was not a cruel master. Had he been so, moreover, it is doubtful any free persons of color would have joined his brigade, and some did. He also sympathized with the slave’s condition, as evidenced by his recommendation as a member of a legislative committee that a slave named Antigua, who at the risk of his life had supplied valuable information about the enemy during the war, be freed as he had been promised. By act of the General Assembly, the man, his wife, and children were “forever delivered and discharged from the yoke of slavery” (an implicit rejection of the notion that even well-treated slaves would have preferred bondage to freedom).

  Being a compassionate man, Marion likely treated his slaves better than most plantation owners did. But he was also a stern disciplinarian who from time to time ordered corporal punishment of his soldiers—at least when he was a Continental officer with authority to do so. As a militia commander he largely refrained from imposing harsh discipline, but that was because he was enough of a realist to know that his volunteers would not stand for it. It would not be surprising, then, if in dealing with slaves—over whom he had total control—he occasionally authorized physical punishment for what he considered bad behavior. Like other men of his planter class, he regarded his slaves as his property. Although African Americans fought under him, he, like so many of his contemporaries, could not see that the promise of the Declaration for which they fought could not be realized without a second American revolution and new birth of freedom some four-score-plus years later.

  FRANCIS MARION WAS a man of his time and place, and there have been few more trying times and places in American history than from 1780 to 1782 in South Carolina. Marion emerged from that difficult period with a sterling reputation that took on added luster once Parson Weems created the romantic legend of the Swamp Fox.

  But those who knew Marion best had long recognized that he deserved a place in the pantheon of American heroes. “History affords no instance wherein an officer has kept possession of a country under so many disadvantages as you have,” Greene had written to Marion in 1781. He went on,

  Surrounded on every side with a superior force, hunted from every quarter with veteran troops, you have found means to elude all their attempts, and to keep alive the expiring hopes of an oppressed militia, when all succor seemed to be cut off. To fight the enemy with prospect of victory is nothing; but to fight with intrepidity under the constant impression of defeat, and inspire irregular troops to do it, is a talent peculiar to yourself.

  In November 1794, a few months before his death, a delegation of Georgetown dignitaries was chosen to draw up an address to present to the aging Marion. It was written by William Dobein James, by then an esteemed judge, who, as the fifteen-year-old son of Major John James, had been an original member of the brigade formed at Witherspoon’s Ferry in August 1780. The first signer on the list was Peter Horry.

  “Your achievements may not have sufficiently swelled the historic page,” the address read, its subscribers hardly anticipating that one day that assessment would be proved wrong. It went on,

  But this is of little moment. They remain recorded in such indelible characters upon our minds, that neither change of circumstances nor length of time can efface them. . . . Continue general in peace to till those acres which you once wrested from the hands of an enemy. Continue to enjoy dignity, accompanied with ease, and to lengthen out your days blessed with the consciousness of conduct unaccused of rapine or oppression, and of actions ever directed by the purest patriotism.

  Unlike so many heroes with feet of clay, Francis Marion holds up to scrutiny. The more one learns about him, the more he inspires admiration. He has been called the “Washington of the South.” Indeed, as even a casual drive across South Carolina reveals, he remains first in the hearts of those countrymen. And for reason. As the sign at his gravesite says, the legend may obscure the Swamp Fox, but the reality of what he did has never dimmed.

  a In addition more places have been named for Marion than any other revolutionary figure, excepting Washington. According to a current memorial project in the nation’s capital, Marion has lent his name to twenty-nine cities and towns and seventeen counties across America, not to mention a four-year university, a national forest, and a small park on Capitol Hill that cries out for a monument in his honor.

  b Marion represented St. John’s Berkeley County in the Senate from 1782 to 1786 and from December 1791 to May 1794. The reasons for his hiatus from 1786 to December 1791 are unknown, although the period coincides with the first few years of his marriage.

  Acknowledgments

  THIS BOOK WOULD not have been possible without the support and encouragement of the people who gather each year for the Francis Marion/Swamp Fox Symposium in Manning, South Carolina (www.francismarionsymposium.com). For the past thirteen years George and Carole Summers have provided a forum for historians, researchers, and other
enthusiasts to share information and ideas on the southern campaign of the American Revolution in general and Marion in particular. Much of the learning that has emerged from the presentations and exchanges at those annual gatherings has found its way into these pages.

  The Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution online magazine (www.southerncampaign.org/mag.php), published by Charles Baxley, has been another invaluable resource. Both Charles and David Neilan, his co-editor of the forthcoming Francis Marion Papers, provided me with ongoing guidance in my research, steering me in the right direction with their insights and wealth of knowledge and correcting common misconceptions. Dave also generously allowed me to review a draft of the Marion papers.

  Karen MacNutt, a regular at the Swamp Fox symposia, was particularly helpful on the subjects of Marion’s family, his Georgetown connections, and his participation in the Cherokee War of 1759–1761. Karen is also the leading expert on Marion images and offered many valuable thoughts about the actual look of the partisan hero.

  I owe special thanks to two people for their careful reading of the entire manuscript: Christine Swager and Steve Smith. Chris is a self-described storyteller but has as firm a historical grasp on the Revolution in the South as anyone. Steve is the leading archaeologist of Marion battle sites as well as a prolific author of scholarly writings about Marion. Their comments on my draft were most helpful.

  I also received helpful comments on portions of the manuscript from author Jack Buchanan and southern campaign experts Jack Parker and J. D. Lewis. As has become his custom, my former law partner, Larry Kamin, provided valuable editorial comments on the entire draft, as did David Aretha. Any errors in the book, of course, remain mine.

  In addition, I benefited from conversations with the following individuals at the Marion symposia: Ben Rubin, Buddy and Bobbie McCutcheon, the late Joe Stukes, Peggy Pickett, and Tom Powers.

  I am grateful to the following libraries, archives, and other institutions for their resources and assistance:

  South Carolina: Harvin Clarendon County Library (Manning); Thomas Cooper Library (Brent Appling) and South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina (Columbia); Francis Marion University, Cauthen Educational Media Center (Bradley Wofford/Angie Bessenger) and Arundel Room, Special Collections (Florence); South Carolina Department of Archives and History (Columbia); South Carolina Historical Society (Charleston) (Lauren Nivens/Virginia Ellison); Horry County Historical Society; Orangeburg County Historical Society (Eric Powell); Swamp Fox Murals Trail Society (www.clarendonmurals.com) (George and Carole Summers); Fort Moultrie National Parks Museum (Charleston); Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Santee Indian Mound and Fort Watson Site (Summerton); Eutaw Springs Battlefield Park (Eutawville).

  New York: New York Public Library (Stephen A. Schwartzman Building, Manuscripts and Archives Division, Mid-Manhattan Library, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture).

  Washington, DC: Library of Congress.

  Massachusetts: Houghton Library, Harvard University (Leah Lefkowitz); Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston).

  Canada: Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick (Fredericton, New Brunswick) (Christine Jack).

  I wish to thank Laura Galvin of Nomad Design House for her illustration work, Jim Legg and Chris Erichsen for their maps, and the following additional individuals for helping in various ways (alphabetically): Bob Barinowski (sculptor, Baron’s Studio), Scott Butler (Brockington Cultural Resources Consulting), Gary Conlogue (Photos by Gary), Clay Tucker Mitchell (Francis Marion University), Brian O’Connor, Rob Oller, Alex Palkovich (sculptor), Terry Smith (artist, Terry Smith Studio), and Sue Sutton.

  My agent, Jim Donovan, gave me the idea for this book and was helpful throughout, as usual.

  I am, finally, indebted to Robert Pigeon and the rest of the team at Da Capo for their continued support.

  Abbreviations

  PEOPLE

  FMFrancis Marion

  NGNathanael Greene

  PHPeter Horry

  MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

  Bancroft Collection, NYPLGeorge Bancroft Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library.

  PCCPapers of the Continental Congress, National Archives.

  Saunders Papers, UNBSaunders Papers, Loyalist Collection, Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada.

  Sparks Collection, HarvardJared Sparks Collection of American Manuscripts, 1560–1843 (MS Sparks 22), Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  BOOKS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  AikenScott D. Aiken, The Swamp Fox: Lessons in Leadership from the Partisan Campaigns of Francis Marion (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012).

  Bass, GamecockRobert D. Bass, Gamecock: The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961).

  Bass, Swamp FoxRobert D. Bass, Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion (1959; repr., Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper, 1974).

  Boddie, TraditionsWilliam Willis Boddie, Traditions of the Swamp Fox: William W. Boddie’s Francis Marion, with an Introduction by Steven D. Smith (1938; repr., Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, 2000).

  BuchananJohn Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997).

  CPThe Cornwallis Papers: The Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Theatre of the American Revolutionary War, ed. Ian Saberton, 6 vols. (Uckfield, East Sussex, UK: Naval & Military Press, 2010).

  CSRColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vols. 14–17, in Documenting the American South (Chapel Hill: University Library, University of North Carolina, 2010), docsouth.unc.edu/csr.

  GibbesRobert W. Gibbes, ed., Documentary History of the American Revolution, Consisting of Letters and Papers Relating to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina, in 1781 and 1782 (Columbia, SC, 1853).

  Gibbes2Robert W. Gibbes, ed., Documentary History of the American Revolution, Consisting of Letters and Papers Relating to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina . . . 1776–1782 (New York, 1857).

  Huguenot SocietyTransactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina (Charleston, SC: Walker, Evans, and Cogswell).

  JamesWilliam Dobein James, A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and a History of His Brigade from Its Rise in June 1780 until Disbanded in December, 1782 (1821; repr., Feather Trail Press, 2010).

  LumpkinHenry Lumpkin, From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South (1981; repr., New York: Paragon House, 1981).

  McCradyEdward McCrady, The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780–1783 (New York: Macmillan, 1902).

  NGP6The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, ed. Richard K. Showman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991).

  NGP7The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, ed. Richard K. Showman and Dennis M. Conrad (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994).

  NGP8–12The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, ed. Dennis M. Conrad (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995–2002).

  ParkerJohn C. Parker Jr., Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, 2nd ed. (West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity, 2013).

  PensionWilliam T. Graves and C. Leon Harris, Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements, Original Applications, 2015, revwarapps.org (transcribed by William T. Graves unless otherwise indicated).

  RankinHugh F. Rankin, Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1973).

  SCARSouthern Campaigns of the American Revolution (Charles B. Baxley, publisher), www.southerncampaign.org.

  SCHGMSouth Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine.

  SCHMSouth Carolina Historical Magazine.

  SimmsWilliam Gilmore Simms, The Life of Francis Marion: The True Story of South Carolina’s Swamp Fox, with a New Introduction by Sean Busick (1844; repr., Charleston, SC: History Press, 2007).

  WeemsPeter Horry an
d M. L. Weems, The Life of Gen. Francis Marion, a Celebrated Partisan Officer in the Revolutionary War, Against the British and Tories in South Carolina and Georgia (1809; repr., Philadelphia, 1845).

  YeadonRichard Yeadon, “The Marion Family,” Southern and Western Monthly Magazine and Review, ed. W. Gilmore Simms, 2 vols., nos. 1–9 (March 1845–November 1845).

  Notes

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  x“Parson” Weems: Although Weems’s Life of Marion ostensibly was based on a manuscript by Peter Horry, Marion’s longtime friend and subordinate commander, Horry disavowed it upon publication, telling Weems it was “most certainly not my history . . . but your romance.” Horry to Weems, February 4, 1811, Bancroft Collection, NYPL. Still, not everything Weems writes can be dismissed as fiction. Although much of the dialogue is invented, Weems did have access to Horry’s original manuscript biography of Marion, from which he drew much factual and eyewitness material. In many cases Weems’s history accords generally with the known record. In addition, Horry created an annotated copy of Weems’s book in which he noted corrections in the margin. “Horry’s Notes to Weems’s ‘Life of Marion,’” ed. Alexander S. Salley, SCHM 60, no. 3 (July 1959), 119–122.

  PROLOGUE: THE DARKEST HOUR

  3July 25 . . . Gates’s camp: “The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the Delaware Regiment of the Continental Line, Part I: A Journal of the Southern Campaign, 1780–1782,” ed. Joseph Brown Turner, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware 56 (1910): 10; Horatio Gates to Richard Caswell, July 25, 1780, in “The Southern Campaign 1780: Letters of Major General Gates from 21st June to 31st August,” ed. Thomas Addis Emmet, Magazine of American History 5, no. 4 (October 1880): 291; George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It (1957; repr., Da Capo Press, 1987), 404.