Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-13

NV VII % &sss' a: . er reinforce ns Sss
seen IT was made up of twenty men. al
ragged. all oddly armed and captained by
wee bit of man, who limped badly oW-
ing to broken ankle and who wore a
red jacket, the remnant of a pair OF
trousers and leather cap. On the front
of the cap was crescent and on the
crescent was the motto. Liberty or
Death" Some of the men in the little
party were old. Some were young. Some
had swords crudely made from saws.
Some had fowling pieces and some mad
muskets. It was a characterization lot
but there was not man In the pano
who did not have a good horse.
The miitiamen of Virginia, OF Deia-
ware and of Maryland. who formed the
bulk of Gates army, could not help put
laugh at the recruits, so grotesque an ap
pearance did they make. From laughter
they turned TO ridicule the newcomers.
Even Gen. Gates was amused. Had II
not been for Gov. Rutledge OF South
Carolina. who was visiting the camp, the
ragged troop probably would have been
turned off In Difference TO the governor S
insistence that the commander OF the
wretchedly CARRIED band was one OF South
Cardinals most patriotic sons ana an
earnest and a good fighter. Gen. Gates
listened indulgently to the few modest
suggestions he had to make regarding
the coming campaign. Gates was KIND
hearted good -natured and keenly I'M
pressed with his own high ability.
He II was who had conquered Bur-
goyne, and now he was to crush Corn
wallis. 1t was incumbent upon him In
ste bur he
have to heed He was a trained soldier.
and he knew so much more than the
ragged captain that he probably was glad
when the interview was over. He did
not see how he could use the puny cap
tain or his tattered crew. so he did not
offer to take them into his force.
The ragged captain and his ragged
,sna rode out Of Gen. Gates camp bit
ter, If not disguised. They might nave
forgiven the laughter and the ridlcuie
but they could not forgive the re1usai Oh
their services. That hurt.
Poor Horatio Gatesi In a rev weeks
his army was in disorderly flight. and MS
reputation as a military commander was
ruined. CORVALLIS. following up his sue,
cess with an activity that was worthy OF
country until the only force left to up :
hold the continental cause In the caro-.
Iinas was that of the little captain anu
his ragged crew. Little did Gen. Gates
realize that july Gay III iiSO l4i"e 49,
commander of the grotesque band was
one of the remarkable soldiers OF the rev.
oll,tionary war. And certainly he did not
imagine that posterity would rank Fran
els Marion far higher than Horauo Gates.
7. probably was a good thing for the
continental army that Gates had no de-
sire 70 use Marion and his men. for Ma
ha
opened when he departed from Gates
camp. To be sure. he had plenty of ex-
nerience. for he had served in three In
dian campaigns before the revolutionary
war. and had led the forlorn hope in the
hattie of Etchoee where the power OF the
Cherokees was broken He had been a
captain under Moultrie In the defense or
charleston in 1776, and had fired some or
the shots that riddled the british nee'
and won that remarkable engagement.
He had been In command of Fort Moul-
trte for a year or two, and In 1IH went
from there to take part In the desperate
attempt to drive the British out OF Sa-
Possibly he would have been captured
in the fall of Charleston. in the early part
of 1850. had II not been for an accident.
In the early days Of the siege he was
one of half a dozen guests at the nome
OF q prominent gentleman.
The host, I'm a foolish endeavor to pre-
vent his friends from leaving before they
had eaten and drank freely. locked the
front door Marion one OF the most tenn
perate of men. rather than remain in
a house under such conditions, Jumped
from a second-story window he broke
his ankle and was carried to his planta-
ton on Utter. WhHe ne was iaid up
Gen. Lincoln surrendered Charleston.
For months after the surrender Marion
had TO be moved secretly from place TO
place to prevent his capture by the BRIT
ish, but with the first appearance or Gates
in the field he had limped out from his
hiding place, gathered as many OF the
scattered patriots together as he could
and had hurried TO offer his services 10
the general.
He was in the camp of Gates when he
received an invitation from the whig
farmers OF the Williamsburg district to
be their leader Gov. Rutledge at
once gave a brigadiers commission to
Marion and IL was then. a the age OF
forty-eight, that Marion began to show
his genius His fame rests largely on
tradition. There was little written record
kept in Marions band of what was done.
but II there was nothing to refer TO ex-
cept the journals of Lords CORVALLIS
and Rawdon and Coils Tar'eton and Wat
son that would be sufficient. Twas the
British who gave the name of the Swamp
Fox TO him. No one gave more trouble to
them than did Marion He was a will
o the wisp. They never seemed able to
catch him. At a time when the British
thought they had all the country in con-
troll he cut off their supplies dispersed
tory bands, broke up recruiting bodies.
swooped down on the rear guards or
the vanguardS of the kings commands,
destroyed communications and kept the
English in turmoil. if not in terror
Sometimes he had comparatively few
men At other times he had 400 or 500.
He was able 1t seemed. TO disband or to
assemble his force according to his needs.
Not only did he have to fight the British
regulars, but the tories. Nowhere in the
whole country was the proportion OF
tories so large as in South Carolina.
How marvelously active he became may
be appreciated from the fact that five
months after the defeat of Gates, Corn