Francis Marion
BIRTH
1732
Berkeley County, South Carolina
DEATH
February 27, 1795
Berkeley County, South Carolina
FAMILY
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Marion, Francis
(1732-1795)
Brigadier General Francis Marion, also known as the "Swamp Fox", was an American military officer, slaveowning planter, and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the American Revolution, Marion supported the Patriot cause and enlisted in the Continental Army, fighting against British forces in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781.
GRAVE:
MARKER
Grave of Francis Marion
General Frances Marion Avenue, Berkeley County, South Carolina, 29479, USA
6
Places | Image | Address | GPS | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Francis Marion's Last Headquarters Marker | 1432 SC-402, Moncks Corner, SC 29461 | MARKER | ||
Tearcoat Swamp Marker | 11933 Brewington Road, Wilson Crossroads, South Carolina, 29051, USA | MARKER | ||
Ox Swamp Marker | US 301 / US 521, Clarendon County, South Carolina, 29102, USA | MARKER | ||
Fairlawn Plantation Marker | 950 Stoney Landing Rd, Moncks Corner, SC 29461 | MARKER | ||
Grave of Francis Marion | General Frances Marion Avenue, Berkeley County, South Carolina, 29479, USA | MARKER | ||
Fort Watson Marker | 2125 Fort Watson Rd, Summerton, SC 29148 | MARKER |
DIED:
Berkeley County, South Carolina
Feb 27, 1795
Francis Marion was born in Berkeley County, South Carolinac. 1732. His father Gabriel Marion was a Huguenot who emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies from France at some point prior to 1700 due to the Edict of Fontainebleau and became a slaveowning planter. Marion was born on his family's plantation, and at approximately the age of 15, he was hired on a merchant ship bound for the West Indies which sank on his first voyage; the crew escaped on a lifeboat but had to spend one week at sea before reaching land. In the following years, Marion managed the family's plantation, including overseeing the activities of the family's slaves.
A British force led by Sir Henry Clinton entered South Carolina in the early spring of 1780 and laid siege to Charleston. Marion was not captured with the rest of the city's garrison when Charleston capitulated on May 12, 1780, as he had broken an ankle in an accident and had left the city to recuperate. Clinton led part of the force that had captured Charleston back to New York, but a significant number stayed for operations under Lord Charles Cornwallis in the Carolinas.
After the loss of Charleston and the defeats suffered by Isaac Huger's men at the Battle of Monck's Corner and Abraham Buford's troops at the Battle of Waxhaws (near the North Carolina border, in what is now Lancaster County), Marion organized a small military unit, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men and was the only force then opposing the British in the region. At this point, Marion was still hobbling on his slowly healing ankle.