Thomas Sumter (l) and Francis Marion
The American Revolution produced a number of historic iconic figures. The Revolution in the southern colonies was both brutal and divisive as it pitted family members and political foes against one another with a vengeance. The divide was not just between the planters of the coastal regions against the less affluent of the inland areas but the planter class dominated the colonial legislatures to a great degree in the southern colonies leaving the less affluent with little to no say in the affairs of the colonies. This divide would exacerbate the war’s hostility between the classes and make for a brutal and destructive affair. Here I will attempt to highlight two of the -better known figures, namely Thomas Sumter and Francis Marion. They both would play a major role in the war against the world’s premier military force in the southern colonies.
Thomas Sumter, born in Hanover County Virginia (August 1, 1734) was the son of a former indentured servant, one William Sumter while his mother was a midwife. Young Thomas was not afforded a formal education but he would over- come his gentle beginnings to become a force in both the Revolutionary War and South Carolina politics after the war.
As a member of the Virginia colonial militia he was part of General Braddock’s overall command when it was attacked by French and Indian forces. General Braddock would not survive the day; he died on July, 13, 1755. Sumter, along with George Washington, would escort the survivors of the battle to safety. In 1761 he would accompany members of the “Timberlake Expedition” in order to bring peace between the Cherokee Nation and settlers during the French and Indian War. As part of that effort, in May 1762 Thomas would accompany three Cherokee leaders to England to meet with the king of England. On his return to North America he became stranded in South Carolina due to financial difficulties and would be jailed for debt in Virginia. Loaned money to buy his way out of jail by Joseph Martin in 1766, Sumter returned to South Carolina where he married Mary Jameson in 1767; becoming a businessman and later a successful planter.
Sumter began his rise in the Revolution in February of 1776, elected Lt. Colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line. He would be appointed Brigadier General in 1780. Starting in August of 1780 his regiment would be engaged in 5 engagements. At the Battle of Catawba Ford, (August 18, 1780) Banastre Tarleton would nearly annihilate his regiment. Sumter would raise another force all the while continuing to attack the scattered British outposts and raiding British supply trains. Lt. General Charles Cornwallis ordered Tarlton to break off his pursuit of Brigadier Francis Marion and focus on Sumter and his revitalized regiment. At the Battle of Blackstock’s Farm (November,11,1780) Sumter would once more face Banastre Tarlton, but this time Sumter was the victor though wounded in the battle; later his surgeon would extract a musket ball from under his left shoulder.
Banastre Tarleton would later call Sumter his greatest plague due to his fierce fighting tactics, nicknaming Sumter the “Caroline Gamecock”.
After the war his service to his country continued as he would be elected to the House of Representatives twice and served from March 1789 to March 1793 and from March 4, 1797 to December 5, 1801. Selected to fill the seat vacated by Senator Charles Pinckney, Sumter would resign from the Senate on December 16, 1810.
Thomas Sumter died at his plantation home June 1, 1832, he was 97 years old.
Francis Marion was born in 1732 in Berkeley County, South Carolina on his father’s plantation. Marion came from a well to do family ending up as the plantation manager before entering military service January 1, 1757. Little is known of Marion’s early life but he served in the South Carolina militia during the French and Indian War. As a staunch supporter of the American cause, he enlisted in the Continental Army’s 2nd South Carolina Regiment as a Captain June 21, 1775.
Marion served under William Moultrie in the defense of Fort Sullivan, built to protect the city of Savannah, June 28, 1776. Congress would commission him a Lt. Colonel in September, 1776. Convalescing from a broken ankle, Marion was not in Savannah when the city garrison surrendered to British troops, May 12, 1780.
Spurred by the brutality of Banastre Tarleton’s troops at the Battle of Waxhaws, Marion began to organize a small band of men that at first only numbered between 20 and 70. Men who served without pay and for the most part furnished the majority of their own equipment and horses; all the while, Marion was still hobbling around due to his ankle injury.
July 27, 1780, Major General Horatio Gates dispatched Marion to the interior on an intelligence mission. As a result, Marion was not at the disaster that was General Gates undoing. Marion’s genius for guerilla tactics of hit and run caused British morale to suffer, both in the British Army and the Loyalist population. Marion was not above using terror to keep the Loyalist sympathizers in check. His intelligence network was very effective while that of the British suffered; mainly because of Marion’s tactics of terrorism.
The bravery and audacity of Marion’s irregulars would involve them in 12 battles beginning at Black Mingo Creek, September 28, 1780, concluding at Wabdoo Plantation August 29, 1782.
British General Cornwallis was disturbed by the actions of Marion stating that, “Colonel Marion had so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an inhabitant between the Santee and the Pee Dee that was not in arms against us”. Cornwallis would dispatch Colonel Banastre Tarleton to capture or kill Marion in November of1780. Tarleton would pursue Marion but could never catch him; Marion’s escape earned him the title, “The Swamp Fox”…
An unsuccessful attack on Georgetown by Marion and Colonel Henry (Light Horse Harry) Lee III in January of 1781 was followed by successes at Fort Watson and Fort Motte in April; the result being that British communications between the British outposts was severed further hampering British military operations. Marion would receive the thanks of the Continental Congress for his rescue of a small American force August 31.
General Nathaniel Greene recognized Marion’s leadership skills and assigned him the right wing at the Battle of Eutaw Springs September 8, 1781. Both the Americans and the British claimed victory; in a letter to Washington dated Sept. 17, 1781, Greene would write, “The most obstinate fight I ever saw. Victory was ours, and had it not been for one of those little incidents which frequently happen in the progress of war, we should have taken the whole British Army”.
Marion would be elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in January of 1782; he would return to his men in June to put down a Loyalist rebellion. In August, Marion would return to his plantation, Pond Bluff, finding it destroyed during the war. The cessation of hostilities and the British withdrawal from Charleston in December of 1782 brought the end of the war.
Marion would marry at the age of 54, serve several terms in the South Carolina Senate and be named commander of Fort Johnson in 1784. He would die on his plantation in 1795 at the age of 63.
This is but two of the myriad of men to whom we owe our freedom, may we NEVER FORGET!!!!