The Swamp Fox of the Revolution is about Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Even though one of my most favorite topics in history is the Revolutionary War, most of the battles in the book were unknown to me. The only battles I knew were Charleston, South Carolina; Cowpens, South Carolina; Kings Mountain, South Carolina; Guildford Courthouse, North Carolina; Yorktown, Virginia; and Eutaw Springs, South Carolina (no wonder it was called the Southern Campaign!). The book starts when Banastre Tarleton tried to defeat Marion. But he couldn't go past a swamp, and he called Marion the "Swamp Fox" and left. Now Horatio Gates, the hero of the great American victory at Saratoga, came south to defeat Charles Cornwallis, the hero of the great British victory at New York. The result was...
CAMDEN, A BRITISH VICTORY.
Now George Washington sent his most courageous general, Nathaniel Greene, to the South. And with him came Colonel Daniel Morgan. Once they went south, they had two choices:
1. Don't fight in the winter
2. Fight in the winter
"I'd better fight than hole up all winter," said Morgan, and so it was decided. Meanwhile, backwoodsmen from Tennessee and West Virginia attacked British and Tories (Americans supporting the British) under Patrick Ferguson. They killed Ferguson and defeated his force in...
KINGS MOUNTAIN, AN AMERICAN VICTORY.
Daniel Morgan was getting ready. He had one row of sharpshooters, one row of militias, and one row of Continentals. Banastre Tarleton could come at any moment now. And...There he came with his British Dragoons! They dissolved the sharpshooter and militia lines, but Morgan knew that they were not ready for the Continentals. The Continentals were pushing the Dragoons back. The Dragoons attacked Colonel William Washington. Washington attacked them with a sword. The Dragoons turned and fled. It was...
COWPENS, AN AMERICAN VICTORY.
Now Cornwallis caught up with Nathaniel Greene in North Carolina, near Guildford Courthouse, so the battle was called the Battle of Guildford Courthouse. Greene modeled his lines on Morgan's successful Cowpens plan. But something went wrong. The Continentals, seeing the militias fleeing, fled too. Cornwallis won.
Greene told Marion to capture two British forts, Ft. Watson and Ft. Motte. How could they capture Ft. Watson? It was on a hill! One of them had an idea. Most of Marion's men were once loggers. They felled all the trees that were around until they made a ramp high enough to reach the fort. And then, Marion's men went up the ramp and captured the fort. Now it was time for Ft. Motte. Ft. Motte was on a Native American mound. There was no place to build a ramp. How could they capture Ft. Motte? They had a risky idea. Private Nathan Savage was a bow-and-arrow expert. Marion's men dug a tunnel under the fort. Savage went through and shot at the fort. British soldiers tried to douse the flames. But Marion captured the fort.
Cornwallis caught up with Greene again at Eutaw Springs. Marion fought bravely at Eutaw Springs. At first, the Americans were winning. They were almost in the British camp! But the British fought harder and harder. And finally they succeeded in pushing the Americans back and winning at...
EUTAW SPRINGS, A BRITISH VICTORY
Though Cornwallis had won at Guildford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs, he was tired of chasing Greene through the Carolina wilderness. So he went northeast until he reached the coast, on the Chesapeake Bay and York River.The French admiral Comte de Grasse was leading a fleet from the Caribbean to...
Chesapeake Bay! General George Washington was interested. He knew that Cornwallis was camped on the York River, and that he established a settlement called "Yorktown" where he camped. Washington and Comte de Rochambeau, another French admiral, set out south. De Grasse blockaded Yorktown on sea, while Washington and Rochambeau blockaded by land. Cornwallis sent a message to British headquarters at New York, pleading for supplies. But it was too late. The Americans won at...
YORKTOWN, THE FINAL BATTLERATING: 100/100
STATUS: READ
Here is a photo of Marion:
http://teachers.greenville.k12.sc.us/sites/ekrezdor/South%20Carolina/Francis%20Marion-%20Swamp%20Fox.bmp
(Though it's underlined and blue, you can't click on it)
