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The Francis Marion papers: The legend, tactics and life of the Swamp Fox

General Francis Marion offering to share his meal of sweet potatoes and water with a British officer.
Currier & Ives
/
Library of Congress
General Francis Marion offering to share his meal of sweet potatoes and water with a British officer.

After two decades of research and investigation, the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, in collaboration with the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission (SC250), has unveiled the first volume of the Francis Marion Papers, a project that holds the potential to reshape our understanding of one of the American Revolution’s most heroic figures.

The papers, consisting of more than 600 historical documents, include letters written both to and from General Francis Marion, famously known as the Swamp Fox for his elusive guerrilla warfare tactics against British forces. These materials, discovered in archives across the country have been carefully compiled and annotated by leading historians. The first volume, complete with illustrations and battle maps, was released on February 27 – the anniversary of Marion’s death.

For this episode we sat down with Molly Fortune, CEO of SC250); co-editor Ben Rubin, and co-editor Rick Wise, Director of the SC Battlefield Preservation Trust, to talk about the work behind the publication of the papers and about Marion and his compatriots in the Revoultionary War.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.