The Marion Family--Birth of Francis Marion--His Youth--
Shipwreck.
We have dwelt upon the Huguenot Settlement in Carolina, somewhat more
largely than our immediate subject would seem to require. Our apology
must be found in the obvious importance and beauty of the fact, could
this be shown, that the character of Francis Marion was in truth a
remarkable illustration, in all its parts, of the moral nature which
prevailed in this little colony of exiles: that, from the harmony
existing among them, their purity of conduct, propriety of sentiment,
the modesty of their deportment and the firmness of their virtues,
he most naturally drew all the components of his own. His hardihood,
elasticity, great courage and admirable dexterity in war, were also the
natural results of their frontier position. We do not pretend that his
acquisitions were at all peculiar to himself. On the contrary, we take
for granted, that every distinguished person will, in some considerable
degree, betray in his own mind and conduct, the most striking of those
characteristics, which mark the community in which he has had his early
training; that his actions will, in great measure, declare what sort
of moral qualities have been set before his eyes, not so much by his
immediate family, as by the society at large in which he lives; that he
will represent that society rather than his immediate family, as it
is the nature of superior minds to rush out of the narrow circles of
domestic life; and that his whole after-performances, even where he may
appear in the garb and guise of the reformer, will indicate in
numerous vital respects, the tastes and temper of the very people whose
alteration and improvement he seeks. The memoir upon which we are about
to enter, will, we apprehend, justify the preliminary chapter which
has been given to the history of the Huguenots upon the Santee. Gabriel
Marion, the grandfather of our subject, was one of those who left France
in 1685. His son, named after himself, married Charlotte Cordes, by
whom he had seven children, five of whom were sons and two daughters.*
Francis Marion was the last. He was born at Winyah, near Georgetown,
South Carolina, in 1732; a remarkable year, as, in a sister colony
(we are not able to say how nearly at the same time), it gave birth
to GEORGE WASHINGTON. This coincidence, which otherwise it might seem
impertinent to notice here, derives some importance from the fact that
it does not stand alone, but is rendered impressive by others, to be
shown as we proceed; not to speak of the striking moral resemblances,
which it will be no disparagement to the fame of the great Virginian to
trace between the two.
* Weems speaks of six children only, naming all the sons and
one of the daughters. Of her, he frankly says, "I have
never heard what became; but for his four brothers, I am
happy to state, that though not formidable as soldiers, they
were very amiable as citizens." James tells us of two
daughters, not naming either, but describing them as
"grandmothers of the families of the Mitchells, of
Georgetown, and of the Dwights, formerly of the same place,
but now of St. Stephen's parish." Such particularity might
be presumed to settle the question.--
The infancy of Marion was unpromising. At birth he was puny and
diminutive in a remarkable degree. Weems, in his peculiar fashion,
writes, "I have it from good authority, that this great soldier, at
his birth, was not larger than a New England lobster, and might easily
enough have been put into a quart pot." It was certainly as little
supposed that he should ever live to manhood, as that he should then
become a hero. But, by the time that he had reached his twelfth year,
his constitution underwent a change. His health became good. The bracing
exercises and hardy employments of country life invigorated his frame,
and with this improvement brought with it a rare increase of energy.
He grew restless and impatient. The tendency of his mind, which was so
largely developed in the partisan exercises of after years, now began to
exhibit itself. Under this impulse he conceived a dislike to the staid
and monotonous habits of rural life, and resolved upon seafaring as
a vocation. Such, it may be remarked, was also the early passion of
Washington; a passion rather uncommon in the history of a southern
farmer's boy. In the case of Washington the desire was only overcome at
the solicitations of his mother. The mother of Marion, in like manner,
strove to dissuade her son from this early inclination. She did not
succeed, however, and when scarcely sixteen, he embarked in a small
vessel for the West Indies. The particulars of this voyage, with the
exception of the mode in which it terminated, have eluded our inquiry.
We have looked for the details in vain. The name of the vessel, the
captain, the port she sailed from, have equally escaped our search. To
the wanton destruction of private and public records by the British,
together with the heedless improvidence of heads of families in the
South, we owe this poverty of historical resource. The voyage must have
been taken somewhere about the year 1747-8. At that period there were
perils of the sea to which the mariner is not often exposed at the
present day. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in particular, were
covered with pirates. The rich produce of New Spain, the West Indies,
and the Southern Colonies of the English, were rare temptations. The
privateers of Spain and France, a sort of legalized pirates, hung about
the ports of Carolina, frequently subjecting them to a condition of
blockade, and sometimes to forced contributions. In the occasional
absence of the British armed vessels appointed for the protection of
these ports, the more enterprising and spirited among their citizens
frequently fitted out their own cruisers, drawing them, for this
purpose, from the merchant service; manning them in person, and
requiting themselves for their losses of merchandise by the occasional
capture of some richly laden galleon from New Spain. No doubt the
imagination of young Marion was fired by hearing of these exploits.
The sensation produced in the community, by the injuries done to its
commerce, in all probability gave the direction to his already excited
and restless disposition. It does not appear, however, that Marion's
first and only voyage was made in an armed vessel. Such, we may well
suppose, would have been his desire; but the period when he set forth to
procure service upon the seas, may not have been auspicious. He may have
reached the seaport a moment too soon or too late, and the opportunities
of this kind were necessarily infrequent in a small and frontier city,
whose commerce lay mostly in the hands of strangers. His small size
and puny appearance must have operated very much against his hopes of
obtaining employment in a service which particularly calls for manhood
and muscle. In what capacity, or in what sort of vessel he obtained a
berth, we are left wholly to conjecture. Choosing the sea as a vocation,
and laudably resolved on acquiring a proper knowledge of his business
(as from what we know of his character, we may suppose was the case),
he most probably went before the mast. His first and only voyage was
unfortunate. The ship in which he sailed was no doubt equally frail and
small. She foundered at sea, whether going or returning is not said;
in consequence, we are told, of injuries received from the stroke of
a whale, of the thornback species. So suddenly did she sink, that her
crew, only six in number, had barely time to save themselves. They
escaped to the jolly boat, saving nothing but their lives. They took
with them neither water nor provisions; and for six days, hopeless of
succor, they lay tossing to and fro, upon the bald and cheerless ocean.
A dog, which swam to them from the sinking vessel, was sacrificed to
their hunger. His raw flesh was their only food, his blood their only
drink, during this distressing period. Two of their number perished
miserably.* The survivors, on the seventh day, were found and taken up
by a passing vessel, nourished carefully and finally restored to their
homes.
* Weems represents the captain and mate, as throwing
themselves overboard in a state of phrenzy, and there is
nothing improbable or unnatural in the statement. Privation
of food, the use of salt water, and exposure in an open boat
to a burning sun, might very well produce such an effect.
The only difficulty, however, consists in the simple fact
that we have no other authority for the statement. James is
silent on the point, and contents himself with simply
stating the death of two of the crew. Weems, however, adds
that of two others, whose end receives, as usual, quite a
dramatic finish at his hands. He suffers none to live but
"little Marion", and, in the exuberance of his imagination,
actually goes so far as to describe the particular food,
"chocolate and turtle broth", by which the youthful hero is
recruited and recovered. By this he designs to show, more
emphatically, the immediate interposition, in his behalf, of
an especial providence. The truth is, that any attempt at
details where so little is known to have been preserved,
must necessarily, of itself, subject to doubt any narrative
not fortified by the most conclusive evidence. Unfortunately
for the reverend historian, his known eccentricities as a
writer, and fondness for hyperbole, must always deprive his
books--though remarkably useful and interesting to the
young--of any authority which might be claimed for them as
histories. As fictions from history, lively and romantic,
they are certainly very astonishing performances; have
amused and benefited thousands, and entitle the writer to a
rank, in a peculiar walk of letters, which has not yet been
assigned him.--
Francis Marion was one of these survivors. The puny boy lived through
the terrors and sufferings under which the strong men perished. So
intense were their sufferings, so terrible the trial, that it will not
greatly task the imagination to recognize in the preservation of the
youth,--looking to his future usefulness--the agency of a special
providence. The boy was preserved for other times and fortunes; and,
in returning to his mother, was perhaps better prepared to heed her
entreaties that he should abandon all idea of an element, from which
his escape had been so hazardous and narrow. It was well for himself
and country that he did so. It can scarcely be conjectured that his
achievements on the sea would have been half so fortunate, or half so
honorable to himself and country, as those which are now coupled with
his name.
Returning to his home and parents, young Marion sunk once more into the
humble condition of the farmer. His health and strength had continued to
improve. His adventures by sea had served, seemingly, to complete that
change for the better, in his physical man, which had been so happily
begun on land; and, subduing his roving inclinations, we hear of him
only, in a period of ten years, as a tiller of the earth. In this
vocation he betrayed that diligent attention to his duties, that patient
hardihood, and calm, equable temper, which distinguished his deportment
in every part of his career. He is represented as equally industrious
and successful as a farmer. The resources of his family seem to have
been very moderate. There were several children, and before Francis
was yet twenty-five years of age, he lost his father. In 1758 he was
planting with his mother and brother Gabriel, near Friersons Lock on the
Santee Canal. In 1759 they separated. Gabriel removed to Belle Isle--the
place where the mortal remains of Francis Marion now repose--while the
latter settled at a place called Pond Bluff in the Parish of St. John.*
This place he continued to hold during life. It is still pointed out to
the traveller as Marion's plantation, and is the more remarkable, as it
lies within cannon shot of the battle ground of Eutaw, which his valor
and conduct contributed to render so justly famous in the history of his
native state. During this long period of repose--the interval between
his shipwreck, and removal to Pond Bluff,--we are only left to
conjecture his employments. Beyond his agricultural labors, we may
suppose that his chief tasks were the cultivation of his mind, by close
application to those studies which, in the condition of the country,
sparsely settled, and without teachers, were usually very inadequately
urged. It does not appear that his acquisitions in this respect were
more valuable than could be afforded at the present day by the simplest
grammar-school of the country. Here again we may trace the resemblance
between his career and that of Washington. Equally denied the advantages
of education, they equally drew from the great mother-sources of
nature. Thrown upon their own thoughts, taught by observation and
experience--the same results of character,--firmness, temperance, good
sense, sagacious foresight, and deliberate prudence--became conspicuous
in the conduct and career of both. In the fortunes of neither--in the
several tasks allotted to them,--in their various situations,--did their
deficiencies of education appear to qualify their successes, or diminish
the respect and admiration of those around them,--a singular fact, as
indicative equally of the modesty, the good sense, and the superior
intrinsic worth of both of these distinguished persons. In the case
of Marion, his want of education neither lessened his energies, his
confidence in himself, nor baffled any of his natural endowments. On the
contrary, it left his talents free to their natural direction. These, it
is probable, were never of a kind to derive, or to need, many advantages
from a very superior or scientific education. His mind was rather
practical than subtile--his genius prompted him to action, rather than
to study,--and the condition and necessities of the country, calling for
the former rather than the latter character, readily reconciled him to a
deficiency the importance of which he did not feel.
* Pond Bluff now lies at the bottom of Lake Marion.
--A.L., 1996.