Our South Carolina Connections

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 General Francis Marion

As Col.,  Marion fought against the British at Fort Johnson in 1775 and at Charleston in 1776, but it was following the defeat of General Gates at Camden in 1780 that he began the activities that have made he and his men a legend. Driven into the swamps after the fall of Savannah, he formed "Marion's Brigade" launched an ultimately successful guerilla war against the British. They would make a surprise attack, retreat into the swamps with captured supplies, and reappear far away for another attack. Marion himself constantly flirted with capture, and his strategy was singular for forbidding attacks on Tory homesteads and farms. His gallantry made him a popular figure in many early American novels and in "William Cullen Bryant's poem "Song of Marion's Men" 1831. A popular television show of the late 50s early 60s was aired under the name "The Swamp Fox", which provided the viewer with a Hollywood glimpse of what life may have been like for those men who actually were the forerunners of "Special Forces" troops. 

General Francis Marion, also known as the "Swamp Fox", and less well known as the "Father of Indigo."
Francis was born near Georgetown, SC in 1732 at Goatfield Plantation in the Cordesville area of Berkeley County. and  died in Berkeley, Co., S.C. Feb. 27, 1795. He was of French Huguenot descent, the son of Gabriel and Esther Marion. In the summer of 1780 General Gates was at the head of the army of the South and was marching towards Camden, SC in hopes of defeating Cornwallis.  Gates army had crossed the Peedee River and was joined by a rag, tag army of about twenty South Carolinians. They were a mosaic of white and black men and boys, their clothes in tatters, and their equipments hand fashioned from farms tools and whatever they could find. At the head of this motley crew of men was a small-sized, thin-faced man. The Peedee volunteers were a source of ridicule to the well-clad Continentals. The leader of this small group offered advise about the military condition of the South, but the general in command was too conceited to accept advise from a leader of such a raggedy bunch of men. So instead he decided to send him on a scouting expedition in advance of the army to watch the enemy and report his movements. 

Francis Marion, who had appeared with the title of colonel left the army with the rank of general. Governor Rutledge knew him and his worth and gave him a brigadier's commission and authorized him to enlist a brigade for guerilla work in the swamps and forests of the State.

Thus raised in rank, Marion marched away with his motley crew of followers while the army laughed at them after the group had departed. They laughed at the wrong man, for after their proud array was broken and they scattered to the winds, and the region they had marched to relieve had become the prey of the enemy, that modest partisan alone was to keep alive the fire of liberty in South Carolina, and so annoy the victors that in the end they hardly dared show their faces out of the forts.  The Swamp Fox was to pave the way for the reconquest of the South by the brave General Greene.

Marion increased the number of his men who made Snow's Island, at the point where Lynches Creek joins the Peedee River. This is a region of high river swamp, and thickly forested land. The camp was on dry land, but around it spread broad areas of wet thicket and canebrake, whose paths were known only to the partisans, and their secrets were sedulously preserved.

A young British officer was sent from Georgetown to treat with Marion for an exchange of prisoners. The Swamp Fox fully approved the exchange and the officer was blindfolded and led into the hidden camp. On removal of the bandage from his eyes he looked about him with admiration and surprise when he found himself in a scene worthy of Robin Hood's woodland band. Above him spread the boughs of magnificent trees, laden with drooping moss, and hardly letting a ray of sunlight through their crowding foliage. On grassy or moss clad ground say or lay groups of hardy looking men, no two of them dressed alike, and with none of the neat appearance of uniformed soldiers. More remote were their horses, cropping the short herbage in equine contentment. It looked like a camp of forest outlaws, jovial tenants of the merry woods. When Gen. Marion invited the officer to dine with the troops he was not prepared for what happened next as he was handed a roasted sweet potato which had been removed from a blazing fire in the distance. From the mossy log where he sat he asked of Marion, "Surely, General," "this cannot be your ordinary fare?" Marion replied, "Indeed it is, and we are fortunate, on this occasion, having company to entertain, to have more than our usual allowance." The officer on returning to Georgetown gave his report and then tendered his commission to his superior officer, saying that a people who could fight on roots for fare could not be, and ought not to be, subdued, and that he, for one, would not serve against them.

Marion and his men struck blows to the British forces which were sharp, in quick succession, and at such remote points, that the British were puzzled, and could hardly believe that a single band of only sixty men was giving them all this trouble. They send their best cavalry leaders, Col. Wemyss, to surprise and crush the Swamp Fox but all attempts failed to locate and surprise Marion's men.  Francis became known as the  "Swamp Fox", due to his leading his men in sneak attacks against British forces and then retreating into the local swamps where the British could not and would not follow. The men who fought under his command became known as "Marion's Men." 

Brig. Gen. Francis Marion's Brigade consisted of:  Lieut. Co. McDonald's Regiment
Col. Richardson's Regiment
Col. Irwin's Regiment
Col. Benbow's Regiment
Col. Maybank's Regiment

General Sumters Brigade, SC

These men were woodsmen of the frontier up country living mostly in the north eastern part of the state. Many were Scotsmen. When money ran out to pay for uniforms and weapons these men furnished their own and fashioned weapons by having local blacksmiths work farm tools into weapons. Bullets were made by melting pewter which was furnished by the women of the area. When they won in battle they removed the weapons from the dead British soldiers.  General Sumter was called "Gamecock" because he was a fearless and daring foe.  His own home had been burned leaving his family homeless; the British had also burned the local Ministers home and library which contained precious scotch translated bibles. The Scotsmen felt they had to not only defend their homes and their freedom but their religion from the British.

Men Who Moved To Georgia/Widows And Children Moved To Georgia

THOMAS SUMTER was born near Charlottesville, VA., August 14, 1734 and died at Statesburg, SC., June 1, 1832. Thomas was a military officer and politician. After the French/Indian War he settled in South Carolina and at the outbreak of the Revolution he organized the 6th South Carolina Regiment and bravely led the  partisan troops, earning the title "Gamecock of the Revolution." He was a U.S. Representative 1789 to 93 and 1797 to 1801 and Senator from 1801 to 1810. He was appointed ambassador to Brazil in 1810.

Soldiers and Patriots Who Moved From South Carolina To Georgia

South Carolina Connections

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Descendants Of These Men  Moved To Georgia

"Historical Tales, American Vol I", Charles Morris, J. B Lippincott Co., Philadelphia: 1908
"Luke Families of South Georgia Descendants of Daniel, John and William Luke", compiled by Phillip Joe Luke, JR. McDowell Publications: Utica:2002
"South Carolinians in the Revolution", Sara Sullivan Ervin, University Lithoprinters, Ypsilanti: 1949
Salley's Stub Indents, South Carolina - Complete Collection
"The Encyclopedia of The South", Edited by Robert O'Brien, with Harold Martin, Smithmark Publishers, NY:1985
"Burch, Harrell and Allied Families", Mary Lou Burch Smallwood, St. Augustine: 1968
Vols, I, II
"Burch, Harrell and Allied Families," Vol III, Mary Lou Burch Smallwood's manuscript, Edited, Indexed and Published by Tad Evans, Savannah: 1992
References:
"The Continental Army", by Robert K. Wright Jr. published by The Center of Military History U.S. Army, Washington DC 1989.
 

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