There is a reason I said this was about Francis’ 1780 character, because the context is his South Carolina culture not ours. His culture was one that had a government morphed towards the tyranny of an empire to the point where the people refused to be abused any more.
Francis Marion’s character became legend after the American Revolution war years well AFTER he had died. Stories of his actions as a freedom fighter rippled through the post-war society and he became a hero. This was very different than what reality was for him when the war was over in 1783. He was essentially marginalized at the end of the war as a new government had its own agenda.
As a freedom fighter from 1780-1782, he could have easily have advocated barbarism but instead, his friend Peter Horry (pronounced OR-ree) said “Of all men who ever drew the sword, Marion was the most humane”.
The question becomes, how did he get this way? The myth about Marion being involved with Indian slaughter is not true, but it may have been true of his contemporaries in the South Carolina colony, Thomas Sumter or Andrew Pickens. CSI includes looking at events from his past can help toward understanding the nurture side of his bent.
Francis’ past reveals a man of moderation that balances liberty and order while also attempting to occupy the area in between the extremes of violence and passivity. He was not a Charleston aristocrat but was not a back-country bumpkin. He was very ruthless in battle but also averse to the shedding of needless blood, whether that of friend or foe.
From the nature side on can look at his ancestors who weathered persecution in the old world and sought freedom in a new one as a French Huguenot.
Francis (the only of his siblings without a Biblical name) was a pre-term baby “not larger than a New England lobster” according to Parson Weems (author of a 1808 book about Marion that mixed fact with myth .. same author that claimed George Washington cut down a cheery tree). Francis’ father passed land on down to the oldest three sons Gabriel, Issac and Benjamin .. but money ran out by the time Job and Francis were of age. This prompted Francis to try the West Indies naval experience. Gabriel ended up in a bankruptcy (but recovered enough to eventually help Francis get land later in 1759) and Francis lost his dad when he was in his teens. I guess what doesn’t kill you can make you stronger apparently.
Francis Marion served with the British when putting down Indian (Cherokee) uprisings in 1759 (when he was 27) and again in 1761. Francis picked up both the arrogance of British officers and the fickle nature of colonial militias. It was the 1761 effort that involved 5000 Indian women and children being driven up to the mountains to starve with no evidence that Francis was part of this. What Francis learned was this cycle of vengeance that needed to be broken some how, some way.
Eventually Francis was able to build a plantation of his own and in 1773 made out a will even though he had no kids and was not married and was over 40 years old. The will included:
#2 Negroes not sold until his godson (Gabriel’s son) turned 21 #3 bequeath to my niece Charlotte (daughter of Gabriel) one negro wench named Venus and her child Rachel and their increase to her and her heirs forever. Freedom for my faithful negro man June and old nurse Willoughby. I will also free my mustee (in this case 1/2 indian and 1/2 negro) girl Peggy and give June twenty pounds sterling annually ..
Interesting that he would free June (negro) but not his wife, nor their son …
In this pre-American Revolutionary War culture, Francis was a unique man with a unique view on his world. The next season of Francis’ life (1780 to 1782) would yet again mold his character toward what South Carolina, and the rest of the American colonies really needed in the effort for independence from the British Empire.
More on this in future posts … coming soon as I am about to cover the July 1780 events related to South Carolina in the next few days.
In the mean time, you might want to buy the book that inspired me to research Francis Marion and how he saved the American Revolution