Francis Marion (February 26, 1732-February 27, 1795) was a Major-General in the Revolutionary War. His daring tactics and exploits earned him the nickname "Old Swamp Fox" by the British General Banastre Tarleton, who spent much time and energy vainly pursuing, but never apprehending him.
"Marion's Brigade" was a volunteer force that could assemble at a moment's notice, and seemed, to the British, to be able to attack everywhere at once. Taking part in several important battles, and capturing many prisoners, General Francis Marion made communication impossible for the British troops in the Carolinas.
Marion's grandfather, a French Protestant Huguenot who fled to America in 1690 for religious freedom, settled on a farm in South Carolina. In 1775, Francis Marion was elected a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress and, after the War, served in the State Senate of South Carolina for several terms. He stated:
<Who can doubt that God created us to be happy, and thereto made us to love one another? It is plainly written as the Gospel. The heart is sometimes so embittered that nothing but Divine love can sweeten it, so enraged that devotion can only becalm it, and so broken down that it takes all the forces of heavenly hope to raise it. In short, the religion of Jesus Christ is the only sure and controlling power over sin.> 1732FM001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1732FM001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Francis Marion. General Horry and Mason Locke Weems, Life of General Francis Marion. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 317-318.