d destined to sweep the land of its
patriot defenders. He was the right arm of Cornwallis, in his
movements in the interior, and began to be deemed invincible, when his
course was arrested by Morgan, the Virginian, and his resolute
companies of native defenders of the State, at the battle of Cowpens.
But it was in Marion that the chief spirit of resistance was
incorporated. On the arrival of Gates from the North, in command of
the Southern army, having partially recovered from his lameness, he
presented himself before the hero of Saratoga, on his march toward the
fatal field of Camden. American commanders were accustomed to odd
sights of dress and equipment in the patriot soldiery who enlisted
under their banners, and Gates must have been used to appearances with
which the eye of Washington himself was but too familiar. The little
band of Marion, however, seems to have astonished even their American
brethren-in-arms. As for the well-equipped British, they always held
the ragged American regiments in contempt, till they were soundly
flogged by them. An intelligent looker-on at the camp, Colonel Otho
Williams, in his narrative of the campaign, speaks of Colonel Marion's
arrival, "attended by a very few followers, distinguished by small
leather caps and the wretchedness of their attire; their number did
not exceed twenty men and boys, some white, some black, and all
mounted, but most of them miserably equipped. Their appearance was, in
fact, so burlesque, that it was with much difficulty the diversion of
the regular soldiery was restrained by the officers; and the general
himself was glad of an opportunity of detaching Colonel Marion, at his
own instance, toward the interior of South Carolina, with orders to
watch the motions of the enemy, and furnish intelligence."

It was while Marion was engaged on this service, that the battle of
Camden was fought; but luckily, he had no share in the misadventure.
He was employed, in fact, in quite an independent career of his own,
organizing his own forces and acting at his own discretion. He was at
the head of that system of partisan warfare, which, in its
developments, was to rid the State of the foreign foe. His present
command, "Marion's Brigade," was formed from the hardy spirited
population of Irish descent, settled between the Santee and the Pedee,
in the territory of Williamsburg. They were convinced of the
intentions of the British rulers at Charleston to reduce them to
poli