The Swamp Fox

Meet Gen. Francis Marion, nicknamed the Swamp Fox, who drove the British crazy in South Carolina late in the Revolutionary War, even after they had established dominance there. He is considered by many historians one of the first military figures to develop guerrilla warfare tactics (the term “guerilla” originated in Napoleon’s era, later). Gen. Marion was essentially a forerunner of special operations, handled today by groups such as the Army Rangers and Navy Seals.

Marion did this by striking at British forces with small groups and quickly withdrawing into local swamps. One opponent, Col. Banastre Tarleton, was sent to capture or kill him in 1780 but finally gave up, saying, "[a]s for this damned old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him." Thus Marion received his nickname. For his accomplishments he was thanked by Congress and finally recognized by the military establishment that had largely ignored him early in the war.

Historians have had to work especially hard to find out about the real Francis Marion because an early biographer, Parson Weems (who also wrote about other founding figures including Washington), was known to invent stories that had little or no basis in fact. For an update about Marion's true accomplishments, check the article "The Swamp Fox," by Amy Crawford, in Smithsonian Magazine--Smithsonian.com, July 1,2007: 

         http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/fox.html