esults were produced,
we meet his assertion with very flat denial. All the testimonies of the
time, but his own, show that, in this respect, he wandered very widely
from the truth. No single specification of cruelty was ever alleged
against the fair fame of Francis Marion. His reputation, as a humane
soldier, is beyond reproach, and when questioned, always challenged
and invited investigation. The charge made by Cornwallis was urged by
Lt.-Col. Balfour, commandant of Charleston, in a correspondence with
General Moultrie. The latter answered it in a frank and confident
manner, which showed what he thought of it. "I am sorry," he writes to
Balfour, "to hear that General Marion should use his prisoners ill. IT
IS CONTRARY TO HIS NATURAL DISPOSITION: I KNOW HIM TO BE GENEROUS AND
HUMANE."*1* He adds elsewhere: "General Marion always gave orders to his
men that there should be no waste of the inhabitants' property, and
no plundering."*2* Marion had lived in the family of Moultrie,*3* had
repeatedly served under him, and if any man knew thoroughly his true
disposition, the hero of Fort Sullivan was certainly that man. But
the testimony of all who knew him was to the same effect. Indeed, the
gentleness of his nature made him a favorite wherever known. Touching
the lessons and hopes of plunder, which his men are said to have
received, this scarcely requires any answer. We have seen, and shall see
hereafter, the state of poverty and privation in which the brigade of
Marion subsisted. A few little facts will better serve to show what
their condition was. During the whole period in which we have seen him
engaged, and for some months later, Marion himself, winter and summer,
had slept without the luxury of a blanket. He had but one, on taking
command of the "Brigade", and this he lost by accident. Sleeping
soundly, after one of his forced marches, upon a bed of pine straw, it
took fire, his blanket was destroyed, and he himself had an escape
so narrow, that one half of the cap he wore was shrivelled up by the
flames. His food was hominy or potatoes; his drink vinegar and water, of
which he was fond. He had neither tea nor coffee, and seldom tasted wine
or spirits. And this moderation was shown at a time when he held in his
possession a power from Governor Rutledge, to impress and appropriate
whatever he thought necessary to his purposes.*4* The charge against
him of cruelty and plunder is perfectly absurd, and rests on the vague
ass