Revolutionary - Francis Marion



                           Francis Marion
                  SWAMP FOX of the Revolution 

The greatest guerrilla fighter in the
American Revolution was Francis
Marion. Incredibly daring, he
terrorized the entire British Army
in South Carolina, striking with
fantastic swiftness, then vanishing
ghost-like into the swamps. To
chase him was a futile nightmare,
for the Swamp Fox was too clever
and too fearless. Born near Georgetown, South Carolina,
Marion was for years a peaceful farmer. When the
Cherokees began their massacres he began his fighting
career, learning the Indian techniques of surprise attack
and sudden disappearance, how to use swamps and
forests as cover. Thus when England sent a vast fleet to
capture Charleston, Marion was already a brilliant
strategist. From a tiny, unfinished island fort he defied
fifty warships of the greatest navy in the world. He and
his men crippled the entire British fleet and saved the
city, though they lacked adequate ammunition, achieving
the first important victory of the American Revolution.
When Charleston fell to the enemy, Marion escaped and
formed Marion's Brigade, one hundred fifty tattered,
penniless patriots. None received pay, food or even
ammunition from the Continental Army. The only reward
they sought was freedom from tyranny, freedom for
America. Although Marion received a Congressional
citation for wisdom and bravery he was never accorded
the honor his country owed him, and when the British
evacuated Charleston he was not asked to participate in
the celebration because he and his men were too ragged.
But that ragged brigade who followed Francis Marion on
the long, hard road to American independence earned its
rightful plate in history. 

From http://www-benning.army.mil/rtb/history2/marion.htm

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