It continues to surprise me that an area as rural and sparsely populated as ours is the subject for a number of books on a variety of topics each year, and this year is no exception. Today, we'll look at a February 2021 publication by archaeologist Steven D. Smith. Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community offers a fresh look at Gen. Francis Marion and the area that offered him refuge.
Author Steven D. Smith is Director of the South Carolina Institute of
Archeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina.
Source: University of South Carolina
In the past 30 years Steve Smith has excavated a number of sites within a circle around Snow's Island from Port's Ferry west to Witherspoon's Ferry, southeast down to Britton's Ferry, and across Britton's Neck to Potato Bed Ferry, looking for signs of military encampments. He has also searched Snow's Island itself for any indication of Francis Marion's famed hideout. In this book he looks at both the historical and archaeological record and presents an intriguing theory.
While he gives us a brief overview of Francis Marion's life, he spends much more time introducing us to the families who lived in the vicinity of Snow's Island during the American Revolution. We meet the Snows, Goddards, Ports, Brittons, Jenkinses and others who entered into a symbiotic relationship with Francis Marion, in that Marion and his men, many of whom were from these same families, provided some protection from the Loyalists who lived across the Little Pee River, and the families of the area provided Marion's Brigade with provisions, including food, fodder for their horses, and valuable information on British and Loyalists movements.
The subtitle of the book is Myth, History and Archaeology, and he aptly covers all three within its pages. Much of what the general population knows about Gen. Marion comes from three sources–books by Mason Locke Weems, William Dobein James, and William Gilmore Simms. All of these works paint a romanticized picture of the man we know today as The Swamp Fox. However, these books do capture "the sense of the time." Smith spends time looking at all three of these works and how they furthered the legend of Francis Marion. He also mentions the 1960s Wonderful World of Disney production, starring Leslie Nielsen, which added to the Swamp Fox mythology.
Mason Locke Weems, also known as Parson Weems,
attained fame for his romanticized biography of George Washington.
Source: Smithsonian Institution
He presents the historical record from a number of different perspectives. This includes a look at how and when Marion became known as "The Swamp Fox." In addition, he looks at receipts for support provided to Marion and his men from the surrounding community. In doing so, he sheds light on some of the stories that have been passed down about Marion.
As an example, Nathan Savage is a name associated with the siege of Rebecca Motte's home at Fort Motte. Savage is credited with shooting the flaming arrow onto the roof of the house, which drove the British from the building. We learn from Smith's book, that during his lifetime Nathan Savage amassed thousands of acres of property in the Britton's Neck area. Smith notes, "It is possible that the reputation gained as a result of his service during the war prompted his post war leadership."
Major John James also receipted a number of meals for sometimes as many as 70 individuals and forage for their horses at his home near Indiantown.
Contemporary writings noted that Marion's Brigade was composed of both white and black soldiers, but many historians believed the black soldiers were body servants for the more well-to-do partisans. To some degree that was true, including Marion, himself, whose body servant Oscar "Buddy" Marion found his own place in history thanks to a genealogist descendant. Smith mentions that Jasper Browngard and Moses Irwin were also enslaved men who were part of Marion's Brigade. However, he notes that there were an indeterminate number of free men of color who participated as well, including Jacob and George Perkins and drummer Jim Capers.
The archaeological evidence is also carefully reviewed. In all the years of excavation, Steve Smith has found little that would indicate a military presence. However, he now believes that partisan groups may have left fewer artifacts that we today would associate with a military presence. There is also the possibility that over the long, intervening years, many of the buttons and hardware one would expect to find in a military camp may have been scavenged by relic hunters.
Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community was published February 1, 2021.
Smith entertains the theory that Marion's base camp might have been at Dunham's Bluff rather than on Snow's Island itself. Snow's Island has yielded no archaeological evidence of such a camp, but the remains of a camp have been discovered at Dunham's Bluff across the Pee Dee River from the island. There is also some historical evidence that might add credence, including Robert Mills' 1825 Atlas which shows Marion's Camp at Dunham's Bluff. (The reference to Mills' Atlas is interesting in that I recently read a 1929 newspaper article on Robert Mills, written by Laura Hemingway, in which she quotes Charles C. Wilson, who was then an architect in Columbia on the accuracy of the maps in Mills' Atlas. Wilson said, "I have had occasion in the course of my practice to test the accuracy of these maps by extensive and precise surveys in 13 of the 28 districts, and I have yet to find the first material error or omission. Every stream, lake, road, hill, swamp or other permanent landmark I have found to be exactly as represented...")
Statue of General Francis Marion at Venters Landing near the site of
Witherspoon's Ferry, Johnsonville, South Carolina.
Steve Smith notes that while he can almost believe that Marion's famed base camp was at Dunham's Bluff, there are still some points that raise questions for him. However, he concludes, "Essentially, the geographical core family region of the larger Snow's Island region was in fact Marion's Snow's Island camp and depot." He adds that it is certain that "the Snow's Island community informed his strategy and tactical situation. He could not afford to lose the community which was not only his refuge but also his source of manpower, food, and forage."
Despite the fact that no physical evidence of Marion's presence has been found on Snow's Island, it is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is recognized as a National Landmark. Steve Smith writes that "the living memory of Francis Marion alone establishes it as a place of importance in the American narrative." This book also deserves a place of importance in the American narrative of Francis Marion and this area's role in the American Revolution.
P.S.: Don't neglect to read the footnotes at the end of each chapter. They contain additional information that is informative, and Kingstree residents will find one that mentions Spencer Barker, who grew up here.
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