Francis Marion
Francis Marion
1732-1795
Also known as: Swamp Fox
Born: WINTER, 1732 in South Carolina, United States, Berkeley County
Died: February 27, 1795
Occupation: General
Source Database: DISCovering U.S. History
Table of Contents
Biographical Essay | Further Readings | Source Citation
Hero of the southern campaign in the American Revolution, who was known for his mastery of the small-unit tactics necessary for effective guerrilla warfare.
BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
Francis Marion was born in the winter of 1732 (his exact birth date is unknown) at Goatfield Plantation in St. John's Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. His parents, Gabriel and Esther Marion, were of French Huguenot descent. The Huguenots were French Protestants who had suffered persecution for their beliefs during the reign of Louis XIV. Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which forbade the practice of Protestantism, 50,000 Huguenots left France. Marion's grandparents were among them. Along with 70 or 80 other Huguenot families, they farmed the banks of the Santee River near Charleston, South Carolina, where the land proved ideal for growing rice and indigo, a highly treasured blue dye which brought a good price in Europe. The cultivation of both crops spanned an entire year, so the planters were never idle, and they were rewarded with a comfortable lifestyle.
Because the land had been largely untouched before the Huguenots began farming it, much effort was expended preparing the land for raising crops, leaving little time for the acquiring of formal educations. Although the Huguenots were firm believers in cultural pursuits, Marion received only a rudimentary education, as his correspondence attests.
When Marion was five or six years old, his family moved to another plantation, Winyah Bay in Prince George Parish, near a port called Georgetown. Despite Marion's small, rather puny, stature and ill health, his young life was a continuous cycle of work. But as he farmed the land, his
1732-1795
Also known as: Swamp Fox
Born: WINTER, 1732 in South Carolina, United States, Berkeley County
Died: February 27, 1795
Occupation: General
Source Database: DISCovering U.S. History
Table of Contents
Biographical Essay | Further Readings | Source Citation
Hero of the southern campaign in the American Revolution, who was known for his mastery of the small-unit tactics necessary for effective guerrilla warfare.
BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
Francis Marion was born in the winter of 1732 (his exact birth date is unknown) at Goatfield Plantation in St. John's Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. His parents, Gabriel and Esther Marion, were of French Huguenot descent. The Huguenots were French Protestants who had suffered persecution for their beliefs during the reign of Louis XIV. Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which forbade the practice of Protestantism, 50,000 Huguenots left France. Marion's grandparents were among them. Along with 70 or 80 other Huguenot families, they farmed the banks of the Santee River near Charleston, South Carolina, where the land proved ideal for growing rice and indigo, a highly treasured blue dye which brought a good price in Europe. The cultivation of both crops spanned an entire year, so the planters were never idle, and they were rewarded with a comfortable lifestyle.
Because the land had been largely untouched before the Huguenots began farming it, much effort was expended preparing the land for raising crops, leaving little time for the acquiring of formal educations. Although the Huguenots were firm believers in cultural pursuits, Marion received only a rudimentary education, as his correspondence attests.
When Marion was five or six years old, his family moved to another plantation, Winyah Bay in Prince George Parish, near a port called Georgetown. Despite Marion's small, rather puny, stature and ill health, his young life was a continuous cycle of work. But as he farmed the land, his