Francis Marion

Ancestor Number

A073731 »

Date of Birth

1732

Place of Birth

Biggin Creek, Cordesville area, Berkeley County, South Carolina

Date of Death

February 27, 1795

Place of Death

Pond Bluff Plantation, South Carolina

Spouse(s)

Mary Esther Videau

American Revolution Service

Representative, 1st Provincial Congress and Senator; Officer in the SC Continental Line

State of Service

South Carolina

Donor

South Carolina State Society, NSDAR, Culbertson Administration June 2018

Francis Marion was born near St. John Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina, in 1732. He was the fifth son to Gabriel Marion Sr., and Esther Cordes.

The Marion family’s religious background was French Calvinist Protestants, also known as Huguenots. Marion began his military career in 1757 with the South Carolina militia under British command and he campaigned against the Cherokee in the French and Indian War in the early 1760s.

General Marion painting by John Blake White

Francis Marion historic marker, credit to Cathi Lee.

Marion offers a British officer a meal of sweet potatoes. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.

Francis Marion burial site plaque, credit to Cathi Lee.

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He returned home to farm but picked up the arms to fight against the British in the American Revolutionary War from 1775–1782 as an officer in the Continental Army and the South Carolina Militia.

Under his command, his Continental “irregulars” adopted guerilla attacks, based on their intimate knowledge of South Carolina’s Lowlands, leading to Marion’s nickname of “Swamp Fox,” given to him by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton. He is considered a father of modern guerrilla and maneuver warfare.

Marion was elected to the South Carolina State Assembly in January 1782 in Jacksonborough but in June he returned to his troops to stop a Tory Loyalist uprising on the Pee Dee River. His plantation was burned but he returned to restore it after Great Britain withdrew after the Revolution. He was named Commander of Fort Johnson on nearby James Island. This office paid $500 annual salary—enough to allow him to rebuild his Pond Bluff Plantation.

On April 20, 1786, at 54 years old, Francis Marion married his cousin, 46-year-old Mary Esther Videau. They had no children together.

Marion was again elected to the South Carolina State Senate in 1786 and served as a delegate to the South Carolina Constitution Convention at which he voted (for South Carolina?) to join the Union of the United States of America.

Brigadier General Francis Marion passed away at Pond Bluff on February 27, 1795, the day after his 63rd birthday. He was buried at the Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery Saint Stephen’s Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. Each year on the anniversary of his death, the DAR and the SAR meet at his gravesite to celebrate and remember this great Revolutionary War Patriot.