Francis marion when was he born

He also became familiar with the tactics of guerrilla warfare: employing small forces in hit and run attacks, dispersing troops in one place and reforming them in another, and employing the element of surprise. When the campaign ended, he returned to farming, at first on leased land and then, in , on a plantation of his own, Pond Bluff, near Eutaw Springs, S.

Two years later he was elected to the provincial legislature. He also accepted appointment as a captain in the second of two infantry regiments South Carolina raised at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. In the first few years of the war, Marion saw service in and around Charleston, S. In September , he led his company in capturing the forts in Charleston harbor from the British.

In the summer of the next year, he joined in repulsing the English attempt to retake Charleston. Meanwhile, he had been promoted to major in February and to lieutenant colonel in November of the same year. He spent the next two years skirmishing in the Charleston area and drilling militia troops. In November , he took command of the 2nd Regiment; in November , he led the regiment in an unsuccessful attack on Savannah. The following year was a disastrous one for the colonial cause. This ended organized resistance by the Americans in South Carolina.

Marion took to the swamps and to guerrilla warfare. With small, mobile forces of 20 to 70 men, he embarked upon harassing operations, hitting British supply lines and cutting communications between their posts. During this time he was notorious for destroying property and lynching both British sympathizers and enslaved African Americans who might be otherwise be forced to work for the enemy. Keeping his movements concealed, he roamed the area between Charleston and Camden and along the Santee and Peedee rivers.

Marion was responsible for a number of military successes during this period. In August , he rescued American prisoners being transported by the British. While not noble by today's standards, Marion's experience in the French and Indian War prepared him for more admirable service. The Cherokee used the landscape to their advantage, Marion found; they concealed themselves in the Carolina backwoods and mounted devastating ambushes.

Two decades later, Marion would apply these tactics against the British. In , after his militia had defeated the area Cherokees, Marion returned to farming. He was successful enough to purchase his own plantation, Pond Bluff, in In , Marion was elected to the first South Carolina Provincial Congress, an organization in support of colonial self-determination.

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, , the Provincial Congress voted to raise three regiments, commissioning Marion a captain in the second. His first assignments involved guarding artillery and building Fort Sullivan, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. But for much of the next three years, he remained at the fort, occupying the time by trying to discipline his troops, whom he found to be a disorderly, drunken bunch insistent on showing up to roll call barefoot.

In , they joined the Siege of Savannah, which the Americans lost. Marion's role in the war changed course after an odd accident in March of Attending a dinner party at the Charleston home of a fellow officer, Marion found that the host, in accordance with 18th-century custom, had locked all the doors while he toasted the American cause.

The toasts went on and on, and Marion, who was not a drinking man, felt trapped. He escaped by jumping out a second story window, but broke his ankle in the fall. Marion left town to recuperate in the country, with the fortunate result that he was not captured when the British took Charleston that May.

With the American army in retreat, things looked bad in South Carolina. Marion took command of a militia and had his first military success that August, when he led 50 men in a raid against the British.

Hiding in dense foliage, the unit attacked an enemy encampment from behind and rescued American prisoners. Though often outnumbered, Marion's militia would continue to use guerilla tactics to surprise enemy regiments, with great success. Following victory over the British, Marion returned to his plantation and pursued a career in politics.

Explore This Park. A portrait of Marion and a captive British officer Library of Congress. Place of Birth:. Date of Birth:. Place of Death:.