General Francis Marion, a.k.a. "Swamp Fox" | History of SC Slide Collection

General Francis Marion inviting a British officer to share his meal. With the British in charge of the city of Charleston, the war in South Carolina became one of guerilla warfare, with the British trying to pacify the countryside, while patriot forces harassed them whenever they moved, and took advantage of their vulnerability when they extended their lines of communication too far. Most successful at these tactics were Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox") and Thomas Sumter (see Thomas Sumter). Marion and his men lived off the plain food they foraged as they moved through the swampy areas of the coast. In this engraving, based on a famous painting by John Blake White, Marion offers a British officer a meal of sweet potatoes.

Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.