Pee Dee Tour

• Marion’s Stronghold Across the Pee Dee

Perhaps no place is more closely associated with Francis Marion’s Revolutionary War career than his legendary camp on Snow’s Island, the large, thickly forested landmass in front of you across the Great Pee Dee River.

• Why Snow’s Island Was Ideal

With plenty of high, dry ground protected on all sides by water and marshland, an abundance of fish and game, and friendly Whig settlements nearby, Snow’s Island was an ideal location for a secluded base. In Marion’s day, the canopy of the enormous old trees probably hindered the growth of an understory, and horsemen could ride freely across much of the island.

• Base of Operations and British Raid

From the fall of 1780 to the spring of 1781, Francis Marion used a large camp somewhere on Snow’s Island ~ together with outposts at Port’s Ferry and here at Dunham’s Bluff ~ as his main base of operations against British and Loyalist forces in eastern South Carolina. After British soldiers raided the Snow’s Island camp at the end of March 1781, Marion’s campaign shifted away from this area.

• A Lost Camp in a Changing Landscape

The island’s sheer size, the difficulty of the terrain, and the alteration of the landscape through generations of forestry have all made archaeological investigation particularly difficult. So far, the precise location of Marion’s Snow’s Island camp remains a mystery.

• Gates’ Southern Advance

Late in the summer of 1780, Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates led a Continental army toward South Carolina to attempt to roll back the British conquest of the province. As Gates prepared to meet the British at Camden, he sent Col. Francis Marion ~ a Continental officer who had only escaped the fall of Charleston because of a broken ankle ~ south towards the Santee River to gather the local militia forces and prevent a British retreat.

• Marion Takes Command at Witherspoon’s Ferry

On August 17, 1780, leading a ragtag band of fewer than twenty men, “some white, some black, and all mounted, but most of them miserably equipped,” Col. Marion entered the camp of the Williamsburg Militia here at Witherspoon’s Ferry (probably at a site a few yards downstream, just ahead of you) and took command. William Dobein James, then a fifteen-year-old militiaman, recalled his first sight of Marion:

• A First Glimpse of the Swamp Fox

He was below the middle stature of men. His body was well set, but his knees and ankles were badly formed; and he still limped upon one leg. He had a countenance remarkably steady; his nose was aquiline, his chin projecting; his forehead was large and high. And his eyes black and piercing…. He was dressed in a close round-bodied crimson jacket, of a coarse texture, and wore a leather cap, part of the uniform of the second regiment, with a silver crescent in front, inscribed with the words, “Liberty or Death.”

• British Crackdown on Williamsburg

After Francis Marion’s initial victories in August and early September 1780, British military authorities in South Carolina moved to eliminate the threat of an insurgency in Williamsburg District. Lord Cornwallis ordered Maj. James Wemyss to sweep through the area with a large force of British regulars and Loyalist militiamen and “disarm in the most rigid manner, all Persons who cannot be depended on” to support the King. Faced with a much larger force on his trail, Col. Marion had little choice but to retreat into the swamps of eastern North Carolina, but his decision left Williamsburg undefended.

• ​Weymss’ Scorched Earth Campaign

On September 20, Maj. Wemyss reported to Cornwallis that he had “burnt and laid waste about 50 houses and Plantations, mostly belonging to People who … are now in arms against us.”

• Indiantown Church in the Crosshairs

According to local lore, Weymss also ordered the burning of Indiantown Presbyterian Church, calling it a “sedition shop.” Founded in 1757 and the heart of community identity for the rebellious Ulster Scots (or “Scots-Irish”) families of the area, it probably was a center of Whig activity in Williamsburg. The church, a simple log structure on the site of the present building, was rebuilt after the Revolutionary War and again in 1830.

• Rising Alarm in British Ranks

By late August 1780, Francis Marion and the Whig militiamen of eastern South Carolina had already begun to cause alarm among the British military leaders in charge of subduing the province. Sensing the British would move against him, Col. Marion sent one of his trusted officers, Maj. John James of the Williamsburg Militia, and a few men back to Kingstree to gather intelligence.

• Skirmish on Academy Street

While Patriot lore has called this incident the “Battle of Kingstree,” the reality was probably much more modest. Hiding behind a thicket on the side of a road (probably near here on what would become Academy Street), Maj. James and his men watched as dozens of troops rode into town. They conducted a brief hit-and-run strike, capturing at least one prisoner and an orderly book. From these, Marion learned that two hundred soldiers of the 63rd Regiment under Maj. James Wemyss had already reached Kingstree, and that hundreds more British and Loyalist troops were on their way. Other scouts confirmed that Marion’s force would soon be surrounded.

• Retreat to the Great White Marsh

Marion knew that leading some 150 militiamen against a force as much as ten times larger would be a suicide mission, and a disastrous defeat would break the morale of the rebellion in South Carolina. Faced with a simple strategic choice, Marion retreated into the Great White Marsh of eastern North Carolina and waited for the right moment to return and fight.

Over three weeks in March 1781, Brig. Gen. Francis Marion conducted a series of engagements between the Santee River and Georgetown, battering a larger force of British regulars and Loyalist militiamen under the command of Col. John Watson. This series of skirmishes is known as Watson’s Chase or the Bridges Campaign.

After clashes at Wiboo Swamp and Mount Hope Swamp, Marion continued moving east along the Santee towards Murray’s Ferry, thinking Watson would follow. But Watson turned north and made for the Lower Bridge over the Black River, with Kingstree just beyond. Marion and his men moved quickly to get to the Lower Bridge first. When Watson arrived at the high bluffs of the south bank (across the river), he found the bridge partially destroyed and Marion’s men arrayed against him on the low, swampy ground of the north bank (on this side of the river).

In most battle, the high ground is the best tactical position. But in this case, when Watson sent his artillery forward, his artillerymen could not lower their guns far enough to hit their opponents below. As Marion’s expert riflemen picked off his artillerymen, Watson withdrew to the Witherspoon plantation nearby. Baffled at the defeat, Watson reportedly said to his unwilling Whig hostess: “I have never seen such shooting before in my life.”