losses (9 October 1779), and Lincoln withdrew to re-
inforce Charleston, leaving Marion in temporary com-
mand of the defeated Revolutionary force. Marion was
then appointed to take charge of a training camp at Ba-
con’s Bridge on the Ashley river. It is believed that during
this time (April 1780), he was dining with friends in
Charleston when the host, determined that his guests
should enjoy themselves, locked the door of the dining
room, declaring it would not be opened until the wine
ran out. Marion was abstemious in his habits but did not
wish to cause embarrassment, so he decided to escape
though a window. He did so but fell and broke his ankle
in the process, and since the British were about to be-
siege the city, he was evacuated to his home in Eutaw. It
was a fortunate escape since Charleston fell to the British
on 12 May 1780.
As soon as he was fit to mount a horse, probably in
June or July 1780, Marion rode north to meet General
Horatio gates to offer his services. For some reason,
Gates refused his cooperation, and Marion returned from
North Carolina and began to form a small force, later to
be known as “Marion’s brigade.” On 16 August 1780,
Gates was defeated at Camden, and Colonel Thomas
Sumter was defeated at Fishing Creek two days later.
Marion was now leading the only Revolutionary force
in South Carolina. Promoted to the rank of brigadier
general by Governor John Rutledge, he began the cam-
paign of harassment and raiding that was to make his
name. With a small, highly mobile force of horsemen, he
lived off the country, launching attacks on British camps
and outposts, cutting their supply lines, and intercepting
their messengers. Such raids were followed by rapid with-
drawal into the forests and swamps of the area, a tactic
that earned Marion the nickname “the Swamp Fox.”
On 20 August 1780, at Nelson’s Ferry, Marion
routed a force of British regulars and released 150 Amer-
ican prisoners taken at Camden. On 4 September 1780,
he defeated a Loyalist force at Tarcote and put another to
flight at Black Mingo river on 27 September. In October
1780, before the battle of Kings Mountain, his horsemen
prevented reinforcements reaching the British, a factor
that led to the American victory. In December 1780,
Marion made an unsuccessful attempt to take George-
town and repeated the attempt with Colonel Henry Lee
on 12 January 1781. This also failed, though Marion
had the consolation of capturing the British comman-
dant and several of his officers.
In April 1781, on the orders of General Nathanael
greene, Marion and Lee attacked Fort Watson, which
fell to them on 23 April, forcing Lord Rawdon to with-
draw from Camden to Monk’s Corner. Marion then
besieged Fort Motte, which fell on 12 May 1781, and
launched his third, and this time successful, attempt to
take Georgetown. On 17 July 1781, Marion and Sum-
ter, another successful Revolutionary partisan leader
known as “the Gamecock,” fought an indecisive engage-
ment with Lord Rawdon at Quimby Bridge, and a few
weeks later, Marion took part in the major battle of the
Eutaw campaign. His remarkable contribution to this
campaign had begun on 31 August, when he had led his
cavalry on a journey of 200 miles across country, right
around the British force, and then destroyed their cav-
alry wing in a skillfully planned battle at Parker’s Ferry.
At the Battle of Eutaw Springs (8 September 1781),
which ended the campaign, Marion commanded the
right wing of the American forces and joined Henry Lee
in taking many prisoners after their victory. It was his
last major engagement.
In June 1782, Marion put down a small Loyalist
insurrection but, elected state senator that year, he spent
much of it in the South Carolina state senate at Jack-
sonborough. In 1784, he married Mary Videau, and as
a reward for his services during the war, he was made
commandant of Fort Johnson. He was reelected to the
state senate until 1790, in which year he helped draw up
the state constitution and then retired. He died on 26 or
27 February 1795.
Marion’s remarkable success as a partisan leader has
been attributed to the loyalty he inspired in his soldiers
and the tight control he exercised over them. While
guerrilla warfare all too often led to indiscipline and
outright theft of supplies of food from farms and vil-
lages, Marion’s insistence on paying for everything his
men needed, or issuing promissory notes to be redeemed
later, brought him much popularity and support across
South Carolina. Making full use of his knowledge of
the terrain, his ability to move his troops rapidly and
to elude pursuit from the British troops meant his small
force exercised an influence far out of proportion to its
size. The British general Banastre Tarleton summed up
Marion’s skill in his exasperated comment on Sumter
and Marion: “Come, boys, let us go back and find the
game-cock; as for this damn swamp-fox, the devil him-
self could not catch him.” mARion, FRAnciS