Beschreibung:

MARION, Francis (1732-1795) ("The Swamp Fox,") Partisan leader. Autograph letter signed ("Fran s Marion," with his typical flourish), TO JOHN LARENS ("Col. John Lawrence"), Barons Bridge, 15 May 1782. 2 pages, small 4 o (207 x 156mm), addressed on p.4 (trace of mount at edge of second leaf) . A BOLDLY SIGNED WAR-DATE LETTER FROM THE "SWAMP FOX", THREE DAYS AFTER HIS VICTORY AT FORT MOTTE. Fort Motte, a heavily fortified private home, was "the principal depot on the British line of communications between Charleston and the interior" (Boatner). Marion, with Henry Lee's cavalry, innvested Fort Motte on May 8; a summons to surrender was refused on 10 May, and, learning a British relief column was expected, Marion and Lee determined to set the mansion's roof set afire with flaming arrows (some of which were supplied by the unflinchingly patriotic Mrs. Motte). Just after mid-day on May 11, the British garrison surrendered to the Americans. Here, a few days after this successful operation, Marion writes to another hero of the Southern theatre, John Laurens (1752-1782): "Sir ...Mr Francis Cobie is the qua[r]t[e]r master of my Brigade, and cannot be spared on any account whatever. As you have three or four Guides of my Brigade, I Emagined they was sufficient, but if you will send them to me, I will let you have proper Guides which will answer your purpose much better & know more then the broad roads... Genl. [Nathanael Greene's] General Orders forbid Vollanteers not for that reason only, but to know who are really such as they will not get any Certificate of their doing Six Months Duty without a full conviction of their performing it agreable to Law." Marion's unrelenting guerilla forays against the scattered British garrisons proved so effective that ultimately the British evacuated their interior forts, and, seven months after this letter, in December 1782, the port city of Charleston itself. After the war Marion served several terms in the Georgia state senate. WAR-DATE LETTERS OF THE SWAMP FOX ARE RARE.