In 1778 , British forces fighting in theRevolutionary Warfeared that command of the 13 colony was steal from their grip . The Continental Army had deliver the goods a decisive triumph at the Battle of Saratoga near Albany , New York , and the starter regime had signed a peace treaty with the French . on the spur of the moment , the Continental Army had a Modern friend , and the British military decided it was clip for a alteration in strategy .
The " shot heard round the world " that started the Revolutionary War ring out in Concord , Mass. , in April 1775 . Two months later , the Second Continental Congress voted to form a internal military , and in July , George Washington became the commander of the Continental Army . Many such famous consequence circumvent that warfare , including the Battle of Bunker Hill and theBoston Tea Party , fall out in New England . Yet , after 1777 , the British typeset their vision to the south for the new initiative .
Rather than tackle the Continental Army as a whole , the British planned to energize stalwart to the crown who could undermine the revolutionary force . After concluding that the high compactness of loyalists lived in the South , the British army captured Savannah , Ga. , in late 1778 , followed by Charleston , S.C. , in 1780 [ source : Library of Congress ] . Those expiration stalled the Continental Army ’s onward motion briefly , but the result counterattacks would serve as the first nail in the British armed services ’s casket .
When the commonwealth - control South Carolina reserves begin to circulate against British forces prior to the gaining control of Charleston , some of the fighters had already whetted theirswordsduring the Seven Years ' War ( also known as theFrench and Indian War ) . That state of war pit the French and British forces against each other in a duel over North American ownership . In South Carolina , colonists fight and killed Cherokee Indians who had ab initio unite with the British .
One such settler was a untested Fannie Merritt Farmer advert Francis Marion , who joined the South Carolina reserves to crusade at the age of 25 [ source : Crawford ] . Like George Washington , the military experience Marion gained in the Seven Years ' War would pave the way for his battlefield leading during the Revolutionary War . In fact , Marion ’s early biographer referred to him as the " Washington of the South " [ source : Weems ] .
From Farmer to Militia Captain: Francis Marion
South Carolina is divided into three major regions : up res publica , Midland and low country . The humble country runs along the coastline and gives mode to vast swamps along the Pee Dee River in the northeastern air hole of the state . As an grownup , Marion purchase a plantation in the low country , and his cozy knowledge of the region ’s cypress tree - lined waterways and marshy paths would eventually lead him to victory over the British forces in theRevolutionary War .
Francis Marion was born on a South Carolina grove into a kin of French Huguenots . He join a ship crew at around 15 years old and sailed to the West Indies , but the ill - doom journey ended inshipwreck . That catastrophe sent Marion back to his childhood home base , where he took up agriculture . After becoming a landowner and participating in the Seven Years ' War , Marion ’s neighbors elected him to the South Carolina Provincial Congress , which then appointed him to a captain post in the state militia [ germ : Crawford ] .
Marion did n’t come out as an special military leader until the capture of Charleston in 1780 . Prior to the British invasion , Marion left town to recover from a broken articulatio talocruralis . harmonize to caption , he jump out out of a two - tale windowpane during a raucous dinner political party he wished to flee from [ root : Crawford ] . By bunk possible imprisonment by the British , Marion was destitute to lead a reserves unit against the advancing enemy in the swampy low country of South Carolina .
Marion ’s brigade possessed two distinguishable advantages over the British soldiers . First , the men could easily navigate the thick terrain . Second , their fighting way was completely foreign to the opposition . When fighting against the Cherokee Indians during the Seven Years ' War , Marion observed the tribal warriors ' unique style of warfare . Rather than open - atmosphere conflict , the Cherokee hide in the foliage , allowing them to launch mouse tone-beginning .
In only a few month after the Charleston derangement , Marion and his reserves brigade go for that guerilla hit - and - turn tail fight method to catch the British off guard . In August 1780 , Marion ’s adult male attacked a British scout group and free 150 American prisoners they were transporting [ root : Swager ] . A month later on , the militia ambushed a dance band of British loyalists in Blue Savannah , S.C. Military exploits like these , set against the swampy backdrop of the South Carolina lowlands , would soon earn Marion hisnom de guerre .
Swamp Fox Lore
Under the leadership of Francis " Swamp Fox " Marion , the ragtag brigade incorporate mostly farmers who made a pregnant impact on the war . Losing crucial ground in the South further forced the British to foreswear their control over the colonies . Contemporary biographies of Marion , cobbled from scant written records and oral paper , painted him as a hero cut from star - spangled cloth . Mason Locke Weems , who write Marion ’s first life story in 1852 , described the Swamp Fox as " lovely in mercy " [ source : Weems ] . Eight days later , biographer William Gilmore Simms concede that Marion ’s idolisation sprang from word - of - mouth testaments of his part rather than discernible fact . Yet , no otherRevolutionary Warfigure has had more places bring up in honor of him aside from George Washington [ root : Simms ] .
one C later , in 2000 , Mel Gibson played a Marion - similar fiber named Benjamin Martin in the movie " The Patriot . " Like the real Marion , Gibson ’s character was a plantation owner from South Carolina who used hinterland guerilla techniques to oust the British from the colony . But the Hollywood version sanitise sure aspects of the Swamp Fox ’s life-time deemed reproachable by today ’s criterion . As a plantation owner in South Carolina , Marion owned an estimated 200slaves[source : Montes ] . One of his striver , Oscar , reportedly move with Marion throughout the Revolutionary War . The most famous picture of the Swamp Fox by creative person John Blake White even show Oscar cook sweet Solanum tuberosum as Marion chats with a British military officer . In 2006 , President George W. Bush officially recognize Oscar ’s service in the Revolutionary War .
Because of his slave ownership and hunting expedition against Cherokee tribes , Francis Marion ’s record is n’t spotless from today ’s linear perspective . Yet , his contribution to the Revolutionary War campaign ca n’t be ignored . Without the Swamp Fox and his crafty brigade , the British game to win the war by enchant the South might have win .
