And Then There Were Thirteen with Dr. Henry Lumpkin was an instructional series debuted by SCETV in the mid-1970s. The 20-episode series featured lectures by Dr. Henry Lumpkin of the University of South Carolina Department of History filmed on actual battle sites and campaign areas of the American Revolution in South Carolina. In part one of Francis Marion, Professor Henry Lumpkin introduces us to the partisan career of Francis Marion in the American Revolution. We learned about the political situation of the times, and other key figures in the partisan campaign as well as his fighting area from the Charleston peninsula, up to the Santee Country, to the PeeDee and up in the high hills of the Santee.
Now Professor Lumpkin talks about Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, the daring partisan leader, his raids, operations, and the final set battles where he led troops once again in open field fighting against the British enemy. Professor Lumpkin talks about Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, the daring partisan leader, his raids, operations, and the final set battles where he led troops once again in open field fighting against the British enemy. Marion’s first military operation of consequence occurred after the Battle of Camden, when he attacked a British escort containing one hundred and fifty American prisoners taken at that battle down to Charleston. In a brief surprise attack early in the morning, Francis Marion and Peter Horry captured or killed twenty-two British soldiers and two loyalist guides.
Marion sent word to the defeated general Horatio Gates, licking his wounds in North Carolina, and Gates shared with Congress one piece of cheering news, in an otherwise grim picture. The item appeared in some Northern newspapers, for the first time, the dispirited country heard of Francis Marion. Thereafter he moved from hard fought victory to hard fought victory. None of the victories were of outstanding import, but what they succeeded in doing was undermining the British with the constant harrying of supply lines and ambushes.
Along the way, you will learn who gave the nicknames of “Swamp Fox” to Francis Marion and “Gamecock” to Thomas Sumter and so much more. We feel that you will enjoy Professor Lumpkin's stirring descriptions of the action and the participants as you learn more about one of South Carolina's most famous heroes!
Side Notes
- Francis Marion's horse "Ball". After the encounter, the remaining British troops fled into the swamp and left behind a valuable cache of supplies that Marion quickly seized. Along with the supplies, it is said that General Marion also took possession of British Colonel John Coming Ball’s horse, renamed him “Ball,” and rode him throughout the rest of the war. The victory saw the forces under Marion gain complete control of the Black Mingo area and ended the British effort to establish strongholds in the Georgetown District. The victory at Black Mingo signaled a small but significant turning point for the Patriot cause in South Carolina.
- Nathanael Greene (1742 – 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as one of George Washington's most talented and dependable officers and is known for his successful command in the Southern theater of the conflict.
- Henry Lee III (1756 – 1818) was an early American Patriot and politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. Lee's service during the American Revolution as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army earned him the nickname by which he is best known, "Light-Horse Harry". He was the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, who led the Army of Northern Virginia against the Union Army during the American Civil War.
- Peter Horry - South Carolina Hall of Fame: Peter Horry.
- The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on 15 March 1781 during the American Revolutionary War, near Greensboro, North Carolina.
- Siege of Yorktown. The siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It was won decisively by the Continental Army, led by George Washington, with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops, led by the Comte de Rochambeau, and a French Navy force commanded by the Comte de Grasse, defeating the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.
- Banastre Tarleton - Nicknamed "Bloody Ban" by Patriots, Banastre Tarleton became infamous in the southern states during the American Revolution. His conduct illustrated and exacerbated the problems the British faced in pacifying the population of the Carolinas. As the commander of a cavalry and mounted infantry unit, his unit became the eyes and ears of Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis' southern army, winning battlefield glories until a decisive day at Cowpens on January 17, 1781.
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738 – 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped to bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped to enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.
- Snow's Island - A South Carolina historic marker on U.S. 378 at Dunham's Bluff Road (16 miles west of Conway in the Briton's Neck community) notes the existence of Marion's camp on Snow's Island which was finally raised by Loyalist troops in March of 1781. Although it has been repeatedly timbered over the ages, Snow's Island today retains the wild and almost inaccessible nature that characterized it during the Revolutionary War.
- The Battle of Guilford Court House - The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on 15 March 1781 during the American Revolutionary War, near Greensboro, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis defeated Major General Nathanael Greene's 4,500 Americans. The British Army suffered considerable casualties, with estimates as high as 27% of their total force. The battle was "the largest and most hotly contested action" in the American Revolution's southern theater. Before the battle, the British had great success in regaining control of Georgia and South Carolina with the aid of strong Loyalist factions and thought that North Carolina might be within their grasp. The British were in the process of heavy recruitment in North Carolina when this battle put an end to their recruiting drive.
- Rebecca Motte - Located atop high ground on the road to McCord’s Ferry, a crossing near the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree Rivers, Rebecca’s new home became a target for the opposing armies. In the spring of 1781, British Lt. Donald McPherson arrived at Rebecca’s doorstep. McPherson banished Rebecca and her family to one of the plantation’s outbuildings, turning the property into an outpost in the supply chain that supported Fort Granby and Camden. The British converted Rebecca’s three-story house into a veritable fortress, surrounding it with a wooden palisade reinforced with a rampart and supported by blockhouses manned by a garrison of 165 men.
