The Swamp Fox (Recap #5)

Recap #5 of the book:

The Swamp Fox - How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

In this next installment .. between the Camden failure of the Continental Army on August 16th, 1780 and the surprise route of the 800 under Pickens on August 18th ... Marion wasted no time from his base in Williamsburg County, SC and with 70 of his men (most others were busy targeting flat boats along the Santee to frustrate the Brits) set out to drive off the British guard at Murray's Ferry (the main road between Charleston and Camden) on August 23rd and settled his force upstream at Nelson's Ferry (currently underwater in Lake Marion) See this link for the area.

See attached for a 1780 map of the region that Francis Marion influenced as a freedom fighter.

1) There were few bridges in Marion's day across the rivers like the Santee ... there were flat boats (either state sponsored or private) that facilitated the crossings .. these were critical points of control .. Marion knew that and he knew the region very well

NOTE: Provincials were Americans that were loyal to the British and recruited into units led by British trained officers .. one source says there were more Provincials than there were in the Continental Army 

2) One day after removing the British guard from Murray's Ferry a Tory dissenter walked into camp with news that fear of smallpox among the prisoners from teh Camden debacle were being marched in groups of 150 to Charleston .. with one group just six miles from them at the abandoned plantation home of Thomas Sumter at Great Savannah guarded by 60 British soldiers .. so Marion waited until the middle of the night to rouse his men for this short ride and split his group with 16 to secure the bridge over Horse Creek at daybreak and the rest came right up the plantation's main entrance .. the Brits were caught off guard as all their muskets were on the front porch of the plantation house .. in minutes two Brits were killed, 5 wounded and 25 taken prisoner .. Marion's 70 had just two wounded and 0 killed. The freed prisoners were the same ones that laughed at the militia earlier in the month when Marion was in their camp at Camden. Most of these Continentals would not fight with Marion .. they were sick of it having marched south earlier in the year from NJ, experienced the humid summer and were abandoned by a pansy Gen Gates. Only 3 of the 147 prisoners accepted the invite to join Marion. Over 80 decided to walk to Charleston and another 60 walked to NC to be with their pansy general.

3) As a result, this was the first time Cornwallis mentioned Marion by name and demanded an explanation from Major James Wemyss (pronounced Weems - another character that the movie the Patriot merged with along with Banastre Tarleton) ... and since Clinton had told Cornwallis not to move to NC until SC was secure .. so on August 28th Cornwallis instructed Wemyss to sweep the area between the Santee and PeeDee rivers of all rebel forces and to disarm in the most rigid manner and to punish concealment of arms/ammo with total destruction of plantations .. execution of all rebels by hanging ... just short of "total war" that Gen Sherman would wage 84 years later.

With no script ... Marion found himself the fox being chased by the hound .. as will be seen in the next two years, this role will reverse from time to time :)

His #1 goal ... stay alive!

dad
-- "This message has been intercepted by the NSA: the only branch of government that listens"