Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and the Revolutionary War. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, Marion supported the Patriot cause and enlisted in the Continental Army, fighting against

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

forces in the

Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War The Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. ...

from 1780 to 1781. Though he never commanded a field army or served as a commander in a major engagement, Marion's use of irregular warfare against the British has led him to be considered one of the fathers of guerrilla and

maneuver warfare Maneuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare, is a military strategy which seeks to shatter the enemy's overall cohesion and will to fight. Background Maneuver warfare, the use of initiative, originality and the unexpected, combined with a rut ...

, and his tactics form a part of the modern-day military doctrine of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

's 75th Ranger Regiment.

Early life

Francis Marion was born in

Berkeley County, South Carolina Berkeley County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 229,861. Its county seat is Moncks Corner. After two previous incarnations of Berkeley County, the current county was created in 1882. B ...

. His father Gabriel Marion was a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

who emigrated to the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at some point prior to 1700 due to the

Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

and became a slaveowning planter. Marion was born on his family's

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, and at approximately the age of 15, he was hired on a

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

bound for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

which sank on his first voyage; the crew escaped on a lifeboat but had to spend one week at sea before reaching land. In the years that followed, Marion managed the family's plantation, including overseeing the activities of the family's slaves.

French and Indian War

Marion began his military career shortly before his 25th birthday. On January 1, 1757, Francis and his brother, Job, were recruited by Captain John Postell to serve in the South Carolina Militia during the

. Marion also saw service during the

Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...

American Revolutionary War

Early service

During the

, Marion supported the Patriot cause and on June 21, 1775 he enlisted in the Continental Army's

2nd South Carolina Regiment The 2nd South Carolina Regiment was raised on June 6, 1775, at Charleston, South Carolina, for service with the Continental Army. History At organization the regiment consisted of 10 companies from eastern South Carolina and was part of the So ...

(commanded by

William Moultrie William Moultrie (; November 23, 1730 – September 27, 1805) was an American planter and politician who became a general in the American Revolutionary War. As colonel leading a state militia, in 1776 he prevented the British from taking Charle ...

) at the rank of captain. Marion served with Moultrie in

the defense ''The Defense'' is the third novel written by Vladimir Nabokov after he had emigrated to Berlin. It was published in 1930. Publication The novel appeared first under Nabokov's pen name V. Sirin in the Russian emigre quarterly '' Sovremennye zapi ...

of Fort Sullivan from a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

attack on June 28, 1776. In September 1776, the Continental Congress commissioned Marion as a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. In the autumn of 1779, he took part in the

siege of Savannah The siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutena ...

, a failed Franco-American attempt to capture the capital of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

which had been previously occupied by

forces.

Siege of Charleston

A British force led by Sir Henry Clinton entered South Carolina in the early spring of 1780 and laid siege to Charleston. Marion was not captured with the rest of the city's garrison when Charleston capitulated on May 12, 1780, as he had broken an

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

in an accident and had left the city to recuperate. Clinton led part of the force that had captured Charleston back to New York, but a significant number stayed for operations under

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

in the Carolinas. After the loss of Charleston, the defeats suffered by Isaac Huger's men at the

Battle of Monck's Corner The Battle of Monck's Corner was fought on April 14, 1780, outside the city of Charleston, South Carolina, which was under siege by British forces under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton in the American Revolutionary War. The Loyalist B ...

and

Abraham Buford Abraham Buford (July 21, 1747 – June 30, 1833) was an American soldier. He was a Continental Army officer during the American Revolutionary War, best known as the commanding officer of the American forces at the Battle of Waxhaws. After the ...

's troops at the

Battle of Waxhaws The Waxhaw massacre, (also known as the Waxhaws, Battle of Waxhaw, and Buford's massacre) took place during the American Revolutionary War on May 29, 1780, near Lancaster, South Carolina, between a Continental Army force led by Abraham Buford an ...

(near the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

border, in what is now Lancaster County), Marion organized a small military unit, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men and was the only force then opposing the British in the region. At this point, Marion was still hobbling on his slowly healing ankle.

Guerrilla campaigns

Marion joined Major-General

Horatio Gates Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battl ...

on July 27 just before the Battle of Camden, but Gates had formed a low opinion of Marion. Gates sent Marion towards the interior to gather intelligence on the British forces opposing them. He thus missed the battle, which resulted in a British victory. Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen and ruthless in his terrorizing of

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

. Unlike the Continental Army, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food. Marion's Men operated from a base camp on Snow's Island in Florence County. Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare but repeatedly bewildered larger bodies of Loyalists or

British regulars {{no footnotes, date=August 2015 Commonly used to describe the Napoleonic era British foot soldiers, the British Regulars were known for their distinct red uniform and well-disciplined combat performance. Known famously in British folklore as the ' ...

with quick surprise attacks and equally sudden withdrawal from the field. After their capture of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Loyalists, except for Williamsburg, which they were never able to hold. The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at the colonial village of Hilltown but were driven out by Marion at the

Battle of Black Mingo The Battle of Black Mingo was a skirmish during the American Revolution. It took place in September 1780 in the vicinity of Dollard's Tavern at Willtown near Rhems, South Carolina. General Francis Marion attacked and scattered a contingent of ...

. A state-erected information sign at Marion's gravesite on the former Belle Isle Plantation shows that he was engaged in twelve major battles and skirmishes in a two-year period: Black Mingo Creek on September 28, 1780; Tearcoat Swamp on October 25, 1780; Georgetown (four attacks) between October 1780 and May 1781; Fort Watson on April 23, 1781; Fort Motte on May 12, 1781; Quinby Bridge on July 17, 1781; Parker's Ferry on August 13, 1781; Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781; and Wadboo Plantation on August 29, 1782. Cornwallis observed, "Colonel Marion had so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and partly by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an inhabitant between the Santee and the

Pee Dee The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the region. Hi ...

that was not in arms against us."

Engagements with Tarleton

The British made repeated efforts to neutralize Marion's force, but Marion's intelligence gathering was excellent and that of the British was poor, due to the overwhelming Patriot presence in the Williamsburg area. Colonel

Banastre Tarleton Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB (21 August 175415 January 1833) was a British general and politician. He is best known as the lieutenant colonel leading the British Legion at the end of the American Revolution. He later served in Portu ...

was sent to capture or kill Marion in November 1780. After pursuing Marion's troops for over 26 miles through a swamp, Tarleton supposedly said "as for this old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him." Based on this tale, Marion's supporters began to call him "the Swamp Fox". Once Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, Governor John Rutledge commissioned him as a brigadier-general of state troops. Marion fought against

freed slaves A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

working or fighting alongside the British. He received an order from Rutledge to execute all Black people suspected of carrying provisions or gathering intelligence for the British "agreeable to the laws of this State".

End of the war

When Major-General

Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene (June 19, 1786, sometimes misspelled Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most talented and dependab ...

took command in the South, Marion and Lieutenant-Colonel

Henry Lee III Henry Lee III (January 29, 1756 – March 25, 1818) was an early American Patriot and U.S. politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. Lee's service during the Amer ...

were ordered in January 1781, to attack Georgetown but were unsuccessful. In April they took Fort Watson and in May they captured Fort Motte. Thereby they succeeded in breaking communications between British outposts in the Carolinas. On August 31, Marion rescued a small American force trapped by 500 British soldiers, under the leadership of Major C. Fraser. For this action he received the thanks of the Continental Congress. Marion commanded the right wing under General Greene at the

Battle of Eutaw Springs The Battle of Eutaw Springs was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, and was the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas. Both sides claimed victory. Background In early 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the ...

. In January 1782, he was elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at Jacksonborough and left his troops to take up his seat. During his absence, Marion's men grew disheartened, particularly after a British sortie from Charleston, and there was reportedly a conspiracy to turn him over to the British. But in June of that year, he put down a Loyalist rebellion on the banks of the Pee Dee River. In August, Marion left his unit and returned to his

slave plantation A slave plantation was an agricultural farm that used enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

, Pond Bluff. In 1782, the British Parliament suspended offensive operations in America, and in December 1782, the British withdrew their garrison from Charleston. The

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

brought the war to an end.

Later life and death

After Marion returned to Pond Bluff, he discovered it had been destroyed during the war. Of the roughly 200 slaves who had been enslaved on it before the war, most of them fled the plantation, with some joining the British as Clinton had issued the Philipsburg Proclamation offering Patriot slaves freedom. Marion's slaves who had joined the British were evacuated from Charleston at the end of the war and at least one settled in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Meanwhile, ten of his

field slave Field hands were slaves who labored in the plantation fields. They commonly were used to plant, tend, and harvest cotton, sugar, rice, and tobacco. Chores Field slaves usually worked in the fields from sunrise to sundown while being monito ...

s had moved to Belle Isle, a plantation owned Marion's brother Gabriel, during the war. Four

house slave A house slave was a slave who worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner, performing domestic labor. House slaves performed largely the same duties as all domestic workers throughout history, such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals, ...

s had also moved Gabriel's plantation, all of whom had been singled out for favorable treatment in Marion's prewar will: overseer June and his wife, Chloe; their daughter Phoebe (sister of Buddy, Marion's enslaved manservant); and her daughter Peggy. These slaves, together with the ten field hands, went back with him to Pond Bluff. After the war, Marion borrowed money to purchase more slaves for his plantation. At the age of 54, Marion married his 49-year old cousin, Mary Esther Videau. Marion served several terms in the

South Carolina State Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the sam ...

. In 1784, in recognition of his services, he was made commander of

Fort Johnson Fort Johnson was a U.S. Army post built on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in modern-day Warsaw, Illinois, during the War of 1812. The fort was established in September 1814 by Major Zachary Taylor, future 12th President of the United Sta ...

, a sinecure with an annual salary of $500. He died on his plantation in 1795, at the age of 63, and was buried at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

Legacy

The public memory of Marion has been shaped in large part by the first biography about him, ''The Life of General Francis Marion'', written by Mason Locke Weems and based on the memoirs of South Carolinian soldier

Peter Horry Peter Horry (1743 – 28 February 1815) was a planter of Huguenot descent and a South Carolina militia leader. On June 12, 1775, the Provincial Congress of South Carolina elected twenty captains to serve in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Regimen ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' has described Weems as one of the "early

hagiographers A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

" of American literature "who elevated the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, into the American pantheon." Weems is known for having invented the apocryphal "cherry tree" anecdote about

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, and "Marion's life received similar embellishment", as Amy Crawford wrote in '' Smithsonian'' magazine in 2007. In the 1835 novel '' Horse-Shoe Robinson'' by

John P. Kennedy John Pendleton Kennedy (October 25, 1795 – August 18, 1870) was an American novelist, lawyer and Whig politician who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from July 26, 1852, to March 4, 1853, during the administration of President Mi ...

, a historical romance set against the background of the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War, Marion appears and interacts with the fictional characters. In the book, he is depicted as decisive, enterprising, and valiant.

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

portrayed Marion in an episode of the ''

Cavalcade of America ''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially ...

'' television series, "The Swamp Fox", which was broadcast on October 25, 1955. Walt Disney Productions produced '' The Swamp Fox'', an eight-episode mini-series about Marion that aired from 1959 to 1961. It starred

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. Nielsen was bo ...

as Marion, and Nielsen was also one of the singers of the theme song. The series depicted Mary Videau (who in the series has no familial relationship with Marion) secretly acting as an informant for Marion on British movements and Marion's nephew Gabriel Marion being killed by Loyalists, causing Marion to seek revenge on those responsible. Marion was one of the influences for the main character of Benjamin Martin (

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

) in the 2000 movie '' The Patriot'', which, according to Crawford, "exaggerated the Swamp Fox legend for a whole new generation." The contrast between the film's depiction of Marion "as a family man and hero who single-handedly defeats countless hostile Brits" and the real-life Marion was one of the "egregious oversights" that ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine cited when listing ''The Patriot'' as number one of its "Top 10 historically misleading films" in 2011. In the film, Martin describes violence that he committed in the French and Indian War. Around the time of the film's release, comments in the British press challenged the American notion of Marion as a hero. In the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', the British author

Neil Norman Neil Norman is a British playwright and critic. A journalist on the '' New Musical Express'' in the early 1970s, Norman became a film critic for '' The Face'' and in the ensuing years a reviewer of film and theatre for various cinema magazines ...

called him "a thoroughly unpleasant dude who was, basically, a terrorist." Concurrently, the British historian Christopher Hibbert described Marion as "very active in the persecution of the Cherokee Indians and not at all the sort of chap who should be celebrated as a hero. The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the British." According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', "it seems that Marion was slaughtering Indians for fun and regularly raping his female slaves". According to John Oller's 2016 biography, ''The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution'', the allegation about Marion raping slaves is untrue. Marion enjoyed generally good relations with his slaves, including Peggy, the mixed-raced daughter of a Native American man and an African American woman. In an early will created when he was single, Marion freed Peggy and endowed her education, contrary to South Carolina law at the time, which made it a crime to teach slaves to write. Oller writes that there is no proof, either, that Marion personally committed any atrocities during the Anglo-Cherokee War, at least as a matter of choice, although he participated in some by order of his commander James Grant. In a commentary published in the ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...

'', the conservative talk radio host Michael Graham rejected criticisms like Hibbert's as an attempt to rewrite history: Graham also referred to what he describes as "the unchallenged work of South Carolina's premier historian Dr. Walter Edgar, who pointed out in his 1998 'South Carolina: A History' that Marion's partisans were "a ragged band of both ''black'' and white ''volunteers''." English historian Hugh Bicheno compared Marion's behavior with British officers during the war, including Tarleton and Major James Wemyss. Referring to Marion, Tarleton and Wemyss, Bicheno wrote that "they all tortured prisoners, hanged fence-sitters, abused parole and flags of truce, and shot their own men when they failed to live up to the harsh standards they set." According to Crawford, the biographies by historians

William Gilmore Simms William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was an American writer and politician from the American South who was a "staunch defender" of slavery. A poet, novelist, and historian, his ''History of South Carolina'' served as the defin ...

(''The Life of Francis Marion'') and Hugh Rankin can be regarded as generally accurate. The introduction to the 2007 edition of Simms's book (originally published in 1844) was written by Sean Busick, a professor of

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

Athens State University Athens State University is a public upper-division university in Athens, Alabama. Its academics are housed in three colleges: Education, Arts and Sciences, and Business. History Athens State University is Alabama's oldest educational institutio ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, who says that based on the facts, "Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence." Crawford commented:

Landmarks

Numerous locations in the US are named after Francis Marion, including the

Francis Marion National Forest The Francis Marion National Forest is located north of Charleston, South Carolina. It is named for revolutionary war hero Francis Marion, who was known to the British as the Swamp Fox. It lies entirely within the Middle Atlantic coastal forests ec ...

near Charleston, South Carolina. The city of

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

holds an annual Swamp Fox Festival.

Marion County, South Carolina Marion County is a county located in the coastal plain of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 29,183. Its county seat is Marion. It is a majority-minority county. Early European traders in the Carolin ...

, and its county seat, the City of Marion, are named for Marion. The city features a statue of General Marion in the town square, and has a museum which includes many artifacts related to Francis Marion; the Marion High School mascot is the Swamp Fox.

Francis Marion University Francis Marion University is a public university near Florence, South Carolina. It is named in honor of American Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Marion. History The university dates back to 1957, when the University of South Caro ...

is located nearby in

Florence County, South Carolina Florence County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 137,059. Its county seat is Florence. Florence County is included in the Florence, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county ...

. The Swamp Fox is a wooden roller coaster located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In Washington, D.C., Marion Park is one of the four large parks in the Capitol Hill Parks constellation. The park is bounded by 4th & 6th Streets and at the intersection of E Street and South Carolina Avenue in southeast Washington, D.C. The Francis Marion Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Within the hotel is a restaurant called the Swamp Fox. The municipalities of Marion in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, New York,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and Marion Center, Pennsylvania are named for Francis Marion. Marion County, Indiana (of which the city of Indianapolis is a part), is named for the general, as are Marion Counties in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, and more than 30

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in nine states. The

Military Junior College A military junior college (MJC) is a military-style junior college in the United States and one of the three major categories of the Army ROTC schools that allows cadets to become commissioned officers in the U.S. Army reserve components in two y ...

Marion Military Institute Marion Military Institute, the Military College of Alabama, (MMI, sometimes Marion Institute, Marion Military, or simply Marion) is a public military junior college in Marion, Alabama. Founded in 1842, it is the official state military college o ...

Marion, Alabama Marion is a city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 3,686, up 4.8% over 2000. First known as Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed for a hero of the American Revolu ...

has an organization called Swamp Fox which is attributed to Francis Marion. The

marionberry The marionberry (''Rubus L.'' subgenus ''Rubus'') is a cultivar of blackberry developed by the USDA ARS breeding program in cooperation with Oregon State University. A cross between the ' Chehalem' and ' Olallie' varieties,

is named after the county in Oregon and so derives its name from him. The

169th Fighter Wing The 169th Fighter Wing (169 FW) is a unit of the South Carolina Air National Guard, stationed at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, Columbia, South Carolina. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air ...

of the South Carolina Air National Guard, located about 12 miles east of Columbia in Eastover, South Carolina, boasts the title "Home of the Swamp Fox" and has an image of the face of a fox painted on the body of their F-16 Fighter Jets. The

South Carolina State Guard The South Carolina State Guard (SCSG) is the designated state defense force for the state of South Carolina. The State Guard maintains its headquarters in Columbia. Battalions are located in the cities of Columbia (1st Midlands Battalion), Charl ...

, the successor to the South Carolina Militia, charters the Swamp Fox Explorer Post 1670 through the national division of

Exploring (Learning for Life) Exploring is an interactive, worksite-based career education program of Learning for Life, an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America. Participants in the program are called ''Explorers''. The program serves youth in 6th-8th grades (Exploring clu ...

for youth 14 to 20 years of age. In 1850, the painter

William Ranney William Tylee Ranney (May 9, 1813 – November 18, 1857) was a 19th-century American painter, known for his depictions of Western life, sporting scenery, historical subjects and portraiture. In his 20-year career, he made 150 paintings and 80 draw ...

(1813–1857) produced ''Marion Crossing the Pee Dee'', based on events following the battle of Camden in the American Revolution. The picture, displayed at the

Amon Carter Museum Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Momonym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah Given name * Amon G. Carter (1879–1955), American ...

, depicts Marion sitting on a horse and talking with a subordinate on the back row of a small boat, Marion being second from the left. In 1994, Marion was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. In 2006, the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

approved a monument to Francis Marion, to be built in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, sometime in 2007–08. The bill died in the Senate and was reintroduced in January 2007. The Brigadier General Francis Marion Memorial Act of 2007 passed the House of Representatives in March 2007, and the Senate in April 2008. The bill was packaged into the omnibus

Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (; CNRA) was an act passed in the 110th United States Congress and enacted on May 8, 2008. Legislative history The bill was introduced by Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, a Democrat and the ch ...

, which passed both houses and was enacted in May 2008. Although a site at Marion Park was selected, it was not built before authorization expired in 2018. Some local residents opposed a monument to a slaveowner. The U.S. Navy was home to the USS ''Francis Marion'', a ''Paul Revere''-class attack transport. The ship served as the flag for COMPHIBGRU 2 (Commander Amphibious Group 2). For many years, Submarine Squadron Four at the Charleston Naval Base called itself the Swamp Fox Squadron.

Gallery

File:Francis Marion Historic Marker.jpg, Historic marker at the burial site of Marion File:Francis Marion Historic Marker 2.jpg, Historic marker at the burial site of Marion File:Francis Marion Informative Sign.jpg, Informative sign at the burial site of Marion File:Francis Marion Informative Sign 2.jpg, Informative sign at the burial site of Marion File:Burial Site fenced in.jpg, Final resting place of Marion File:Burial Site Plaque.jpg, Final resting place of Marion

Citations

Bibliography

* Bass, Robert D. ''Swamp Fox''. 1959. * Boddie, William Willis. ''History of Williamsburg''. Columbia, SC: State Co., 1923. * Boddie, William Willis. ''Marion's Men: A List of Twenty-Five Hundred''. Charleston, SC: Heisser Print Co., 1938. * Boddie, William Willis. ''Traditions of the Swamp Fox: William W. Boddie's Francis Marion''. Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Co. 2000. * Busick, Sean R. ''A Sober Desire for History: William Gilmore Simms as Historian''. 2005. . * Cate, Alan C. ''Founding Fighter: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence''. Praeger, 2006. * Oller, John. ''The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution''. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2016. . * Risjord, Norman K. ''Representative Americans: The Revolutionary Generation''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. * Simms, W.G. ''The Life of Francis Marion''. New York, 1833. * Myers, Jonathan. ''Swamp Fox: Birth of a Legend''. Ambition Studios, 2004. * Young, Jeffrey Robert. ''Domesticating Slavery: The Master Class in Georgia and South Carolina, 1670–1837''. University of North Carolina Press, 1999. * Wickwire, Franklin and Mary. ''Cornwallis and the War of Independence''. John Dickens & Co, 1970.

External links

The Swamp Fox, Smithsonian.com

The Online Books Page: Texts about Francis Marion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marion, Francis 1732 births 1795 deaths Continental Army officers from South Carolina Militia generals in the American Revolution American people of French descent Huguenot participants in the American Revolution People of pre-statehood South Carolina People of South Carolina in the American Revolution South Carolina colonial people South Carolina militiamen in the American Revolution South Carolina state senators Members of the United States Army Special Forces American folklore American guerrillas British America army officers People from Berkeley County, South Carolina 18th-century American politicians American slave owners