The greatest guerrilla fighter in the American Revolution was Francis Marion. Incredibly daring, he terrorized the entire British Army in South Carolina, striking with fantastic swiftness, then vanishing ghost-like into the swamps. To chase him was a futile nightmare, for the Swamp Fox was too clever and too fearless.

Born near Georgetown, South Carolina, Marion was for years a peaceful farmer. When the Cherokees began their massacres he began his fighting career, learning the Indian techniques of surprise attack and sudden disappearance, how to use swamps and forests as cover. Thus when England sent a vast fleet to capture Charleston, Marion was already a brilliant strategist. From a tiny, unfinished island fort he defied fifty warships of the greatest navy in the world. He and his men crippled the entire British fleet and saved the city, though they lacked adequate ammunition, achieving the first important victory of the American revolution.

When Charleston fell to the enemy, Marion escaped and formed Marion's Brigade—one hundred fifty tattered, penniless patriots. None received pay, food or even ammunition from the Continental Army. The only reward they sought was freedom from tyranny, freedom for America.

Although Marion received a Congressional citation for wisdom and bravery, he was never accorded the honor his country owed him, and when the British evacuated Charleston he was not asked to participate in the celebration because he and his men were too ragged. But that ragged brigade who followed Francis Marion on the long, hard road to American independence earned its rightful place in history.

Little has been written about Francis Marion and the epic part played by southerners in the Revolution, so this book is as fresh as it is exciting.

From the book