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FMU students have the
opportunity to view some of the
historical documents written by
Francis Marion in the Rogers
Library.
Who was the man, Francis Marion?
Francis Marion (c. 1732-1795), for whom the university is
named, was a partisan leader in the American Revolution, nicknamed
by the British as “the Swamp Fox.” He is one of South
Carolina’s best remembered Patriots. “Bloody” Banastre Tarelton
tagged Francis Marion that “wily ole’ fox of the swamps”
in about 1781, giving rise to Marion’s legend as the master of
strategy -- never caught, rarely followed, yet seemingly always at
hand, just when needed by the partisans.
Born sometime in 1732 in St. John’s Parish in Berkeley
County, S.C., his 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.
In 1761, he distinguished himself as a lieutenant of militia in
an expedition against the Cherokee Indians. He rose to prominence
in his community, and was a delegate in 1775 to the South
Carolina Provincial Congress. He was named a captain in the 2nd
South Carolina Regiment.
Promoted to major in February 1776, he participated in the
defense of Charleston on June 28. Later in 1776, he was promoted
to Lt. Colonel and assumed command of the regiment. In
October 1779, he led his command in an unsuccessful assault
against Savannah. Due to a broken ankle incident, which makes
for interesting reading, he was spared capture in Charleston in
1780 when that city fell to the British.
At that point, organized resistance to the British in South
6 - F R A N C I S M A R I O N VIEW
Carolina became non-existent. Marion began his campaign as a
guerrilla leader. His work in disrupting British communications
and preventing the organization of the Loyalists from participating
fully in the battle of King’s Mountain, along with other
assaults and skirmishes, helped to turn the tide of the war in the
South.
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.
He was elected in 1781 to the state senate and attended the general
assembly of 1782.
After the war, he was appointed commander of troops at Ft.
Johnson. He was re-elected to the senate in 1782 and 1784 and
sat in the state constitutional convention. 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. Stephen, S.C.
He was known as a thin, slight fellow with a long, “hawk-like”
nose. Marion and his troops regularly roamed the “Pee Dee” area
swamps (Pee Dee being the name of a local Indian tribe and two
great rivers that run through eastern/coastal South Carolina).
Snow’s Island, at Johnsonville, S.C., near where the Great Pee
Dee and Lynches rivers converge, is home of the hero’s hide-out.
Marion wrote the first American military book on the development
and use of partisan troops and guerilla warfare in the
swamps and woods of South Carolina.