A heritage tourism trail centering on the life and campaigns of General Francis Marion. Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, was one of the most successful partisan military leaders of the American Revolutionary War.
In the summer of 1781, with the British hold on the interior of South Carolina significantly weakened, Continental commander Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene sent Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter, with Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and Lt. Col. Henry “Light . . . — — Map (db m53889) HM
After Eutaw Springs, the British retreated to their post at Fair Lawn Plantation. In November 1781, Brig. Gen. Francis Marion sent Col. Hezekiah Maham with 180 horsemen and Col. Isaac Shelby with 200 mountain riflemen to eliminate British foraging . . . — — Map (db m53885) HM
Fair Lawn Plantation was an enormous property granted to Sir Peter Colleton, oldest son of Sir John Colleton, one of the original eight Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony. During the Revolutionary War, the British army first occupied the . . . — — Map (db m53883) HM
Wadboo was a Native American name given to the enormous landholding of James Colleton, a son of Sir John Colleton, who was one of the original eight Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony. Called a barony according to the Proprietors’ plan . . . — — Map (db m53891) HM
On the night of November 7, 1780, Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his Green Dragoons—together with Harrison’s Provincials, a large unit of Tories from the area between the upper Santee and Wateree Rivers—camped at the plantation of the late . . . — — Map (db m51985) HM
In March 1781, Lord Francis Hastings Rawdon, the British commanding officer in Charleston, designed a two-pronged assault against the forces of General Francis Marion. From Camden, Col. Welbore Ellis Doyle and the Volunteers of Ireland moved east . . . — — Map (db m51986) HM
In December 1781, Maj. Robert McLeroth and the 64th Regiment were conducting newly-arrived British army recruits of the Royal Fusiliers from Charleston to the High Hills of Santee. Learning of McLeroth’s movement, Col. Francis Marion led some 700 . . . — — Map (db m227715) HM
Assigned to hold all of eastern South Carolina but with only a small force at his disposal, Col. John Watson needed to build a fort to protect the vital transportation corridor between Charleston and Camden, the British inland headquarters. The spot . . . — — Map (db m51477) HM
Late in the summer of 1780, Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates led a Continental army toward South Carolina to attempt to roll back the British conquest of the province. As Gates prepared to meet the British at Camden, he sent Col. Francis Marion ~ a . . . — — Map (db m53899) HM
In South Carolina, the Revolutionary War had many of the characteristics of a civil war, with those who supported independence, (the Whigs or Patriots) fighting against neighbors and kinsfolk who remained loyal to the King (the Tories or Loyalists). . . . — — Map (db m115304) HM
In September 1780, Francis Marion returned to South Carolina after a short tactical retreat into the swamps of eastern North Carolina. Hearing that British and Loyalist forces were burning the homes of Whig militiamen in Williamsburg District, . . . — — Map (db m53702) HM
From the time Col. Francis Marion took control of the Williamsburg Militia in August 1780 until the following spring, a network of camps in the area where the Great Pee Dee, Little Pee Dee, and Lynches Rivers meet formed a base of operations for his . . . — — Map (db m53901) HM
Perhaps no place is more closely associated with Francis Marion’s Revolutionary War career than his legendary camp on Snow’s Island, the large, thickly forested landmass in front of you across the Great Pee Dee River. With plenty of high, dry . . . — — Map (db m53900) HM
After Francis Marion’s initial victories in August and early September 1780, British military authorities in South Carolina moved to eliminate the threat of an insurgency in Williamsburg District. Lord Cornwallis ordered Maj. James Wemyss to sweep . . . — — Map (db m53898) HM
By late August 1780, Francis Marion and the Whig militiamen of eastern South Carolina had already begun to cause alarm among the British military leaders in charge of subduing the province. Sensing the British would move against him, Col. Marion . . . — — Map (db m53897) HM
Over three weeks in March 1781, Brig. Gen. Francis Marion conducted a series of engagements between the Santee River and Georgetown, battering a larger force of British regulars and Loyalist militiamen under the command of Col. John Watson. This . . . — — Map (db m53893) HM
