



Produced by Alan Light





THE LIFE OF FRANCIS MARION

By W. Gilmore Simms

Author of "Yemassee", "History of South Carolina", etc.




 "The British soldier trembles
  When Marion's name is told."
  --Bryant.




     [Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are capitalized.
     Some obvious errors have been corrected.]

     [William Gilmore Simms, American (South Carolinian) Writer.
     1806-1870.]



Contents.



     Chapter 1.  Introduction--The Huguenots in South Carolina.

     Chapter 2.  The Marion Family--Birth of Francis Marion--His
     Youth--Shipwreck.

     Chapter 3.  Marion a Farmer--Volunteers in the Cherokee
     Campaign.

     Chapter 4.  Cherokee War continues--Marion leads the Forlorn
     Hope at the Battle of Etchoee.

     Chapter 5.  Marion is returned for the Provincial Congress
     from St. John's, Berkeley--Made Captain in the Second
     Regiment--Fort Johnson taken--Battle of Fort Moultrie.

     Chapter 6.  From the Battle of Fort Moultrie to that of
     Savannah--Anecdote of Jasper--His Death.

     Chapter 7.  From the Battle of Savannah to the Defeat of
     Gates at Camden.

     Chapter 8.  Organization of "Marion's Brigade"--Surprise of
     Tories under Gainey--Defeat of Barfield--Capture of British
     Guard with Prisoners at Nelson's Ferry.

     Chapter 9.  Marion retreats before a superior Force--Defeats
     the Tories at Black Mingo--Surprises and disperses the Force
     of Colonel Tynes at Tarcote--Is pursued by Tarleton.

     Chapter 10.  Marion attempts Georgetown--Horry defeats
     Merritt--Melton defeated by Barfield--Gabriel Marion taken
     by the Tories and murdered--Marion retires to Snow's Island.

     Chapter 11.  Marion's Camp at Snow's Island--The Character
     of his Warfare--Of his Men--Anecdotes of Conyers and Horry--
     He feasts a British Officer on Potatoes--Quells a Mutiny.

     Chapter 12.  General Greene assumes Command of the Southern
     Army--His Correspondence with Marion--Condition of the
     Country--Marion and Lee surprise Georgetown--Col. Horry
     defeats Gainey--Marion pursues McIlraith--Proposed Pitched
     Battle between Picked Men.

     Chapter 13.  Watson and Doyle pursue Marion--He baffles and
     harasses them--Pursues Doyle--His Despondency and final
     Resolution.

     Chapter 14.  Marion renews his Pursuit of Doyle--Confronts
     Watson--Is joined by Col. Lee--Invests and takes Fort
     Watson--Fort Motte taken--Anecdote of Horry and Marion.

     Chapter 15.  Correspondence of Marion and Greene--Anecdote
     of Colonel Snipes--Marion takes Georgetown--Attempt of
     Sumter and Marion on Col. Coates--Battle of Quinby Bridge.

     Chapter 16.  Marion moves secretly to Pon-Pon--Rescues Col.
     Harden--Defeats Major Frazier at Parker's Ferry--Joins the
     main Army under Greene--Battle of Eutaw.

     Chapter 17.  Retreat of the British from Eutaw--Pursuit of
     them by Marion and Lee--Close of the Year.

     Chapter 18.  Marion summoned to the Camp of Greene--Defeats
     the British Horse at St. Thomas--Leaves his Command to
     Horry, and takes his Seat in the Assembly at Jacksonborough,
     as Senator from St. John's, Berkeley--Proceedings of the
     Assembly--Confiscation Act--Dispute between Cols. Mayham and
     Horry--The Brigade of Marion surprised, during his absence,
     by a Detachment from Charleston--Marion's Encounter with the
     British Horse--Conspiracy in the Camp of Greene.

     Chapter 19.  Marion summoned with his Force to that of
     Greene--Insurrection of the Loyalists on the Pedee--Marches
     against them--Subdues them--Treats with Gainey--Fanning--
     Protects the Tory, Butler, from his Men--Returns to the
     Country between the Santee and the Cooper--Moves to protect
     Georgetown from the British Fleet--Takes post at Watboo, on
     Cooper River--Defeats the British Cavalry under Major
     Frasier.

     Chapter 20.  The British propose Terms of Pacification--
     Rejected by the Civil Authorities--They penetrate the
     Combahee with their Fleet--Death of Col. Laurens--Anecdote
     of Marion--Death of Wilmot--The British evacuate Charleston--
     Marion separates from his Brigade at Watboo--His Military
     Genius.

     Chapter 21.  Marion retires to his Farm, which he finds in
     Ruins--Is returned to the Senate from St. John--His Course
     on the Confiscation Act--Anecdotes--Is made Commandant at
     Fort Johnson--His Marriage--A Member of the State Convention
     in 1794--Withdraws from Public Life--His Death.

     Appendix A. Notes on the Electronic Text.

     Appendix B. Song of Marion's Men. By William Cullen Bryant
     [1794-1878].


Note.

In preparing this biography, the following works have been consulted:

     1.  A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion, and a
     History of his Brigade, &c.  By Wm. Dobein James, A.M.
     Charleston, S.C.  1821.

     2.  The Life of Gen. Francis Marion, &c.  By Brig. Gen. P.
     Horry, and M. L. Weems.  Philadelphia.  1833.

     3.  A MS. Memoir of the Life of Brig. Gen. P. Horry.  By
     Himself.

     4.  Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael
     Greene, &c. By William Johnson.  Charleston.  1822.

     5.  Memoirs of the American Revolution, &c.  By William
     Moultrie. New York.  1802.

     6.  Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War in America (1st and
     2d series). By Alex. Garden.  1822 and 1828.

     7.  Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the
     United States. By Henry Lee, &c.  Philadelphia.  1812.

     8.  Memoirs of the American Revolution, &c., as relating to
     the State of South Carolina, &c.  By John Drayton, LL.D.
     Charleston.  1821.

     9.  The History of South Carolina, &c.  By David Ramsay.
     Charleston.  1809.

     10. The History of Georgia, &c. By Capt. Hugh M'Call.
     Savannah. 1811.

     11. A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the
     Southern Provinces of North America.  By Lieut. Col.
     Tarleton, Commandant of the late British Legion.  London.
     1797.

     12. Strictures on Lieut. Col. Tarleton's History, &c. By
     Roderick Mackenzie, late Lieutenant in the 71st Regiment,
     &c.  London.  1787.

     13. History of the Revolution of South Carolina from a
     British Province to an Independent State.  By David Ramsay,
     M.D.  Trenton.  1785.

     14. An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the
     Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia.  (Hewatt.)  London.
     1779.

     15. A New Voyage to Carolina, &c. By John Lawson, Gent.,
     Surveyor-General of North Carolina.  London.  1709.

     16. The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of
     the Independence of the United States of America, &c. By
     William Gordon, D.D. New York.  1789.

     17. Five volumes of MS. Letters from distinguished officers
     of the Revolution in the South.  From the Collection of Gen.
     Peter Horry.




Preface.


The facts, in the life of Francis Marion, are far less generally
extended in our country than his fame. The present is an attempt to
supply this deficiency, and to justify, by the array of authentic
particulars, the high position which has been assigned him among
the master-workers in our revolutionary history. The task has been a
difficult, but I trust not entirely an unsuccessful one. Our southern
chronicles are meagre and unsatisfactory. South Carolina was too long in
the occupation of the British--too long subject to the ravages of civil
and foreign war, to have preserved many of those minor records which
concern only the renown of individuals, and are unnecessary to the
comprehension of great events; and the vague tributes of unquestioning
tradition are not adequate authorities for the biographer, whose laws
are perhaps even more strict than those which govern the historian.
Numerous volumes, some private manuscripts, and much unpublished
correspondence, to which reference has been more particularly made in
the appendix, have been consulted in the preparation of this narrative.
The various histories of Carolina and Georgia have also been made use
of. Minor facts have been gathered from the lips of living witnesses.
Of the two works devoted especially to our subject, that by the Rev.
Mr. Weems is most generally known--a delightful book for the young. The
author seems not to have contemplated any less credulous readers, and
its general character is such as naturally to inspire us with frequent
doubts of its statements. Mr. Weems had rather loose notions of the
privileges of the biographer; though, in reality, he has transgressed
much less in his Life of Marion than is generally supposed. But the
untamed, and sometimes extravagant exuberance of his style might well
subject his narrative to suspicion. Of the "Sketch" by the Hon. Judge
James, we are more secure, though, as a literary performance, it is
quite as devoid of merit as pretension. Besides, the narrative is not
thorough. It dwells somewhat too minutely upon one class of facts, to
the neglect or the exclusion of others. I have made both of these works
tributary to my own whenever this was possible.

Woodland, S.C., May 25, 1844.





THE LIFE OF FRANCIS MARION




Chapter 1.

     Introduction--The Huguenots in South Carolina.


The name of FRANCIS MARION is identified, in the history of South
Carolina, his parent state, with all that is pleasing and exciting in
romance. He is, par excellence, the famous partisan of that region.
While Sumter stands conspicuous for bold daring, fearless intrepidity
and always resolute behavior; while Lee takes eminent rank as a gallant
Captain of Cavalry, the eye and the wing of the southern liberating army
under Greene; Marion is proverbially the great master of strategy--the
wily fox of the swamps--never to be caught, never to be followed,--yet
always at hand, with unconjectured promptness, at the moment when he
is least feared and is least to be expected. His pre-eminence in this
peculiar and most difficult of all kinds of warfare, is not to be
disputed. In his native region he has no competitor, and it is scarcely
possible to compute the vast influence which he possessed and exercised
over the minds and feelings of the people of Carolina, simply through
his own resources, at a period most adverse to their fortunes, and
when the cause of their liberties, everywhere endangered, was almost
everywhere considered hopeless. His name was the great rallying cry
of the yeoman in battle--the word that promised hope--that cheered the
desponding patriot--that startled, and made to pause in his career of
recklessness and blood, the cruel and sanguinary tory. Unprovided with
the means of warfare, no less than of comfort--wanting equally in food
and weapons--we find him supplying the one deficiency with a cheerful
courage that never failed; the other with the resources of a genius
that seemed to wish for nothing from without. With a force
constantly fluctuating and feeble in consequence of the most ordinary
n