William Gilmore Simms - The Life of Francis Marion: The True Story of South Carolinas Swamp Fox

Battle of Fort Moultrie

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright (new material) 2007 by Sean Busick

All rights reserved

Cover image: Marion and His Men in the Swamp, oil painting by William D. Washington, c. 1865. Courtesy of South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

First published 1844

The History Press edition 2007

Second printing 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.62584.427.9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870.

The life of Francis Marion / William Gilmore Simms; introduction by Sean R. Busick.

p. cm.

This new edition contains the full text and illustrations from the 1844 text of The life of Francis Marion, published by Henry G. Langley--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-263-5 (alk. paper)

1. Marion, Francis, 1732-1795. 2. Generals--United States--Biography. 3. South Carolina--Militia--Biography. 4. United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Biography. 5. South Carolina--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Campaigns. 6. Georgia--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Campaigns. 7. United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Campaigns.

I. Title.

E207.M3S5 2007

973.33092--dc22

[B]

2007010540

From the publisher: This new edition contains the full text and illustrations from the 1844 publication of The Life of Francis Marion, published by Henry G. Langley, New York. All efforts have been made to maintain the integrity of the original text, including spelling and punctuation. Footnotes within the original text have been set as endnotes in this edition and the table of contents has been corrected.

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

South Carolinas Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, has always been one of the most popular heroes of the American Revolution. More places have been named in honor of Marion than for any other soldier of the Revolution, excepting George Washington. Marion had no male heir to carry on his family name, but he has given his name to counties in seventeen states, a university, a national forest and many cities. Numerous Confederate military units, such as the Marion Rangers, the Marion Artillery and the Marion Rifles also took his name. Marion has also inspired several biographies, novels, childrens books, songs, poems, films, a comic book and a 1950s television series starring Leslie Nielsen. The most recent and best-known film based on Marions exploits is The Patriot, released in 2000, starring Mel Gibson.

How did Marion earn such renown? He kept alive the hope of patriots in the Southern states when victory and independence were most in doubtafter the fall of Charleston and the rout of the Continental Army at Camden. In the darkest hours of the Revolution, when the Continental Army had been run out of South Carolina, Marion and his small band of citizen soldiers took the field against the British Regulars. By keeping up a constant harassment, they made sure the British were never able to rest after their victories in South Carolina, and eventually helped to drive them from the state and toward their final defeat at Yorktown.

Despite all the attention that Marion has received over the years, Simmss biography, first published in 1844, remains the best. The Life of Francis Marion was the most commercially successful work of nonfiction by William Gilmore Simms (18061870), perhaps South Carolinas greatest author. It was one of the best-selling history books the year it was published. The first edition sold out in less than a weekwith no advertising. It continued to sell briskly, went through three editions in its first three months off the press and had been through ten editions by January 1847.

Simms began planning his biography of Marion in 1840 and, after more than three and a half years of research, wrote the book in early 1844. His goal was to make known the facts of Marions life and to justify, by the array of authentic particulars, the high position which has been assigned him in the pantheon of Americas Revolutionary heroes. Simms recognized that arraying authentic particulars presented special challenges to the biographer of Marion. The story of the Revolution in the Southern colonies has been badly kept, he wrote. Documentary proofs are few, bald and uninteresting. Lacking abundant hard evidence, the facts of Marions life had escaped the ordinary bounds of history and become inseparably interwoven with myth and legend. This process of mythmaking transformed the story of an individual into what Simms called a peoples history written in the hearts of Marions countrymen instead of in their books. As a peoples history, Marions story possessed value that it would lose if confined to the page in a lifeless recording of dry facts. Simms thus saw both a challenge and an opportunity before him. The challenge was to fashion a biography from the scanty evidence that was true to both reliable oral traditions and the meager documentary sources available. The opportunity was the possibility of exercising his imaginative and narrative skills in truthfully filling in the gaps in the evidentiary record.

Because Simms, in his own informal style, employed footnotes and provided the book with a selective bibliography, we have a pretty good idea what most of his sources were. Among the most important sources were five volumes of MS. Letters from distinguished officers of the Revolution in the South. From the Collection of Gen. Peter Horry. Also valuable was a MS. Memoir of the Life of Brig. Gen. P[eter] Horry. By Himself. Unfortunately, the valuable memoir of Peter Horry, who served under Marion during the Revolution, has been partially lost. All that remains of some of the missing sections are the passages quoted by Simms, thus increasing the significance of this biography. Ever the careful historian, Simms weighed his sources and indicated when they could not be trusted. He also pointed out when the record was silent instead of simply filling in the gaps with his artistic imagination without telling readers what he was up to.

The book begins with an extended description of the Huguenot settlements in South Carolina. A good Romantic and historical materialist, Simms believed national spirit, as well as personal circumstances and condition, played a role in helping to shape history. However, he recognized that the most powerful force in shaping history was personal character. Marion came from Huguenot stock, and Simms sought insight into his character in the peculiar spirit and circumstances of this people. The Huguenots were a better sort of people than the typical Europeans who settled in America, wrote Simms. As French Protestants who were persecuted and then expelled from France, they were better prepared for the hardships of life in a new country and were more appreciative of the liberties they gained. They were a people of principle, and pure habits. Their devotion to their principles was evidenced by their endurance of the persecution they suffered for their religious faith. The Huguenot refugees arrived in Carolina poor and were distrusted by the English who had been their traditional enemies. Yet in time the Huguenots would thrive in Carolina and be fully accepted by the English colonists. Their eventual success was the result of perseverance and tireless industry. These virtues, part of the Huguenot spirit, were inherited by Marion.