The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-06-12
FRANCIS MARION.
4 Beautiful Word Portrait of tho Great
Revolutionary Hero.


Revolutionary Hero.
The following sketch of Gen. Marion,
delivered some time ago before the Ma
rion Artillery by J. P. K. Bryan, Esq,
one of the most talented young men of
Charleston, is so eloquent and polished
in its composition as to afford pleasure at
any time. and therefore we publish it be-
low:
Captain and Gentlemen Of tie Ilarion
ArtiAery: 1t is with grateful sense of
your kindness and the honor done me
that rise to respond to the sentiment
that for you is enwrapped in "The mem.
ory of Francis Marion" that great
citizen soldier Of the State, one of
the noble workers of the Revo1u-
tionary struggle, whose name is the COM
mon heritage of his countrymen." That
name you have enshrined here; to that
memory you have set up an altar OF con.
tinual remembrance, and invoked it as
the inspiration of your civic and martial
life.
1t is we'll for me that that name speaks
always for itself, that it needs no inter-
prefer, that its spell is as subtle as it is
universal, living in tradition and romance
and poetry, where it has cluded the slow
er grasp of sober history. The memories,
gentlemen, that cluster round it recall
some of the noblest feeling and highest
living that has illustrated the majesty of
manhood and ennobled the dignity of hui
man nature. 1t recalls the self-sacri6ce
and heroism of the Huguenots-those
grand exiles for conscience-the force
and fervor of their creed, their deathless
love of liberty and virtue. 1t recalls q
strong character, high sentiments, simple
and noble manners, the flower and fruit
of noble mind. 1t recalls right thinking
and plain living, personal honor, undaun-
ted courage and whole-souled devotion
to the common veal. 1t recalls a mill
tary insight that was genius, and mar
tial fire that was inspiration. 1t recalls
all the dangers and daring OF partisan
warfare on which hung the destiny of an
oppressed people, and the cause of civil
liberty in the modern world. 1t re-
calls the historic fame of Fort Sullivan,
our own Fort Moultrie, on yonder sea-girt
island-Eutaw, Savannah, and the name
less and countless battles in the forest
fortress, where, with a handful of faithful
followers, he baffled or dispersed the ar
mics sentto destroy him, and kept alive
the fire of patriotism in aState that was
well-nigh overwhelmed in despair. On the
very threshold of our life as q people
there is set up great historical picture
that must ever stir the heart, exalt and
inspire the mind of all the children of
this Niobe of States, whom we call
Mother. When Charleston was taken
and Moultrie was a prisoner of war, and
his companions in arms were his fellow
captives, and Sumter, sick and wounded
had retired from the field, and Gates de-
feated and broken, and the State garri.
soned from seaboard to mountains by the
foe, and her Governor was in a sister
Colony pleading with his eloquence for
aid for stricken people, Marion alone
led the forlorn hope, led it theoretically and
cheerfully, in the face of almost certain
ruin, with the quenchless hope and daunt-
less courage of prophet.
These are the memories that make a
people great. These are the memories
familiar but immortal-that make this
land, even in its ruin and desolation,
land of hope. These are the memories
which, as a people, we cannot forget,
which in late years, amid the peril ofwar
and the sterner hardships of peace, have
made US men.
Your distinguished commander has this
evening portrayed the place and power
of the citizen soldier in a free country.
There is, in the annals of our State, no
higher type of these guardians of popu-
lar right and national stability than Fran
els Marion. The patriot whose genius
and courage revived the despairing cause
and bore up the faltering spirit of his
countrymen, was plain citizen, planter
ofSantee. He had, like Washington, only
an elementary education. He had no
training of the schools, no technical
knowledge of military science, no lore of
books, no experience of travel. But he
had the faculties and instincts of q strong,
simple nature. He knew men. He
knew the human heart as he knew the
stars Of heaven and the trackless forest.
And not only did he know, but he loved
his fellow-man, and the welfare of his
fellow-citizen. And more than all he
loved liberty, not as an empty name,
glorious lie to fool the crowd, but as the
priceless boon of freemen, the inalien-
able right Of humanity, possible of reali-
zation, and which, as divine spirit of
life and light and blessing would, if wor-
shipped and invoked, descend and dwell
with men. 1t was native wisdom, the
simple virtues of head and heart, the
manly instincts of courage and honesty,
the fearless energy of thought and feel
ing, all transfused with the glow of pat
riotism, that made this citizen-soldier
and chieftain great. The heartfelt tribute
of his comrade in arms, Col. Lee, was:
Beloved by his friends and respected by
his enemies, he exhibited luminous ex-
ample of the beneficial effects to be pro-
duced by an individual. who, with only
small means at his command, possessed a
virtuous heart, strong head, and mind
devoted to the common good" Such,
gentlemen, is the man, the citizen SOL
dier, chiehain, patriot and hero, whose
name and memory it is our common priv
ilege as his fellow-countrymen to cherish
and to guard, your peculiar privilege as
members of the Marion Artillery to exalt
in your emulation of an illustrious ex-
ample.
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