This comprehensive biography of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, covers his famous wartime stories as well as a private side of him that has rarely been explored In the darkest days of the American Revolution, Francis Marion and his band of militia freedom fighters kept hope alive for the patriot cause during the critical British "southern campaign." Employing insurgent guerrilla tactics that became commonplace in later centuries, Marion and his brigade inflicted enemy losses that were individually small but cumulatively a large drain on British resources and morale. Although many will remember the stirring adventures of the "Swamp Fox" from the Walt Disney television series of the late 1950s and the fictionalized Marion character played by Mel Gibson in the 2000 film The Patriot, the real Francis Marion bore little resemblance to either of those caricatures. But his exploits were no less heroic as he succeeded, against all odds, in repeatedly foiling the highly trained, better-equipped forces arrayed against him. In this action-packed biography we meet many colorful characters from the Revolution: Banastre Tarleton, the British cavalry officer who relentlessly pursued Marion over twenty-six miles of swamp, only to call off the chase and declare (per legend) that "the Devil himself could not catch this damned old fox," giving Marion his famous nickname; Thomas Sumter, the bold but rash patriot militia leader whom Marion detested; Lord Cornwallis, the imperious British commander who ordered the hanging of rebels and the destruction of their plantations; "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, the urbane young Continental cavalryman who helped Marion topple critical British outposts in South Carolina; but most of all Francis Marion himself, "the Washington of the South," a man of ruthless determination yet humane character, motivated by what his peers called "the purest patriotism." In The Swamp Fox, the first major biography of Marion in more than forty years, John Oller compiles striking evidence and brings together much recent learning to provide a fresh look both at Marion, the man, and how he helped save the American Revolution.

One of the most fascinating figures of the American Revolution, General Francis Marion slipped in and out of the Carolina swamps to strike sudden, devastating blows against the British. Cutting through the Swamp Fox legend, Robert D. Bass has arrived at a realistic and fascinating appraisal of this military genius with this 1959 literary work. “[A] close but spirited chronology of the raids and routs [General Francis Marion] led against the British. A humane man, a dedicated soldier with a devotion to duty and a worship of liberty, [he] was also a taciturn, moody and introverted character. With an intuitive sense of strategy, particularly that of the swift advance and the rapid retreat, he became a sound and savage fighter [...] rose from the ranks as an unknown captain to become a Brigadier General. Here, bivouac by bivouac, are the lashes and the sieges in which he engaged; the daring rescue of 150 Rebel prisoners from Sumter’s house; the bedevilment and the destruction of the British is small diversionary actions; and the indefatigable endurance of that gaunt, ill-kempt, gallant fighter who became a nemesis to Cornwallis and the entire British Army....”—Kirkus Review

A biography of the Colonial Francis Marion, who led guerrilla forces against the British in South Carolina during the American Revolution.

Calls attention to Marion's military career and crucial role in the Revolution as a guerrilla leader in the South during the years 1780 and 81.