The Swamp Fox (Recap #12A)

"Do You Hear Me now?"

06 December 1780 finds Francis Marion putting pen to paper for yet one more communique with Horatio Gates, Continental Army Southern Commander. This was the tenth letter and Marion had only received one very brief reply to date. As he wrote he was unaware that on 03 DEC 1780 Nathaniel Green, the self-taught most brilliant military mind the Continentals had, had been made the Southern Commander.

1) Nathaniel Green had NO formal military training and little formal education. A "lapsed" Quaker (meaning that his membership was suspended because he was seen at the bar, called a "public ale house", in 1773) Nathaniel eventually withdrew from this religious sect and in 1774 organized a militia in his native Rhode Island. Greene was self-taught with a 250 book personal library. By 1775 he was promoted from private to major general of the state army and by June he was promoted by Congress to Brigadier General in the Continental Army at age 32. His defense of Long Island commenced in 1776 as well as his defense of Fort Lee (NJ) and Fort Washington (NYC) later in the year eventually gave way due to overwhelming odds to a evacuation of NYC on Christmas Day 1776 with George Washington. He subsequently was part of the Hessian attack at Trenton as well as the losses at Brandywine and Germantown. His forces held fast at the stand-off at Monmouth Courthouse against British forces under Cornwallis which was the last battle before the Brits shifted their effort to the south in 1780 with both Cornwallis and Clinton operating in GA and then Cornwallis alone in SC at Charleston.

2) Greene was greeted in NC by 2300 men of whom only 1500 were fit for duty. Greene commenced to write George Washington and Thomas Jefferson on the state of the Southern Continental Army on 04 DEC 1780 .. and also wrote Francis Marion on that day ... and the letter reached Marion on 22 DEC 1780. Green would write dozens of letters to Marion over the next two years.

3) Marion had used most of December to melt away into the SC interior with the British again on the hunt for the fox and his men. He left small units to keep up the harassment of British and Tory forces .. and kept on the move so the British struggled to get a bead on his militia. By the time he received Greene's letter he was above Kingtree at Benbow's Ferry.

4) Letter of introduction: "I have not the honor of your acquaintance .. but am no stranger to your character and merit .. your services in the lower part of South Carolina in aiding the forces and preventing the enemy extending their limits has been very important and it is my earnest desire that you continue where you are until further advice from me .. I like your plan of frequently shifting your ground .. it frequently prevents a surprise and perhaps a total loss of your party .. until a more permanent army can be collected than is in the field at present, we must endeavor to keep up a partisan war and preserve the tide of sentiment among the people as much as possible in our favor .." Privately, Green thought less of the typical militia, thought that victory in these various states (SC, GA) cold only come from regular army. Greene also saw the typical bent of militia towards personal plunder and pillage .. personal gain and glory and went on to state that they like the locusts in Egypt, eating up all the greens. Thomas Sumter chaffed under such generalities .. and probably due to his allowance of plunder and pillage felt targeted when he learned of these opinions of Greene. However, Marion could empathize with what Greene was saying as his own experience pre-1780 in the war bore that out to be generally true. Having directed militia operations for much of 1780, Marion himself was probably more against the pillage/plunder asspect and at one time stated "any soldier from any denomination who is found taking an article from any plantation whether from black or white" may be executed!

5) Greene the realist - knowing that expecting any reinforcements from the north was futile thinking, Greene was willing to learn how to best utilize the militia he had at his command via Marion and others. In time he saw the value of securing small posts throughout the state vs one big battle to secure either SC or GA. Marion as well adapted his operations in tandem with Greene's overarching strategy. Marion still admired the discipline of the regular army verses the anarchy that seemed to prevail in the militia, so he was a very interesting hybrid at this point in time. Greene also wrote in response to some of the needs Marion indicated in his last letter and said ammo was on its way but the army had no clothing and he also did not yet have a good prospect for a surgeon and then empathized about the hard service and great suffering Marion and his men had experienced but countered with the hope of the "great prize for which we contend".

6) Greene on intel - Nathaniel Greene also went into detail as to how Marion might encourage the spy effort so that Greene could be made aware of British movements around Charleston. Marion wrote back on the same day he received Greene's letter 22DEC1780 that these spies needed to be paid in real money, gold or silver, and not IOUs that Greene had suggested. In subsequent letters Greene left Marion to handle the details of gathering intel as this was all about understanding each others gifts and talents already developed.

NOTE: The balance of chapter 12 is rich in how the Swamp Fox designed the winter quarters on Snow's Island, a triangular shaped three mile by two mile swamp plateau that made this location a safe haven until spring operations were to begin. Archeological digs have proven that instead of one base camp, Snow's Island actually had several smaller camps both on and around the island so in typical guerrilla style, he and his men could move between all these to keep it all real. Snippet 12B will be used to expand the very real aspect of what the famous author William Gilmore Simms described of Marion's Sherwood Forest was that "The swamp was his moat, his bulwarks were the deep ravines which, watched by sleepless rifles were quite as impregnable as castles on the Rhine"