Marion
County W. P. A. History
CHAPTER I
FORMATION
NAME
There seems to be a division of
opinions as to why Marion County was so named. In
Dunbar Rowland's “Mississippi” Volume I page 166
we find the positive statement that the county was
hrefd in honor of General Francis Marion of
Revolutionary War fame, but according to
information gathered from some of the older
citizens in the county, the href Marion might have
been chosen by the early settlers in memory of the
district in South Carolina from whence they came,
Marion District. In the latter event, however the
chances are that the district of Marion, South
Carolina was hrefd in honor of the above mentioned
general, a fact which would make Marion County
indirectly hrefd in his honor.
Since there is a possibility the county is
indebted to General Marion for its href, it might
be interesting to know a little about him. From
Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia we learn that he
was a member of the provincial congress in 1775
which voted money for the raising of troops.
Marion assumed military duties as captain of a
South Carolina band of soldiers and was rapidly
promoted, but when the capitol of the province,
Charleston, was captured, he and a small band of
troops took to the forests and swamps and became
known as Marion's Brigade, he himself earning the
nick-href of “Swamp-Fox” as applied by Colonel
Tarleton, the British Commander. By their unique
method of warfare Marion and his troops were able
during the Revolutionary War to hinder the British
forces from overcoming South Carolina for months
and at the same time they were keeping alive the
patriotic enthusiasm of the settlers and giving
Congress time to send into the section a larger
army.
The fighting spirit which General Marion
exhibited in fighting the British was of the same
type his grandfather exhibited in his home
country, France, in 1690 when he preferred to be
exiled rather than relinquish his Huguenot
religion.
After the thirteen colonies had won their
independence, Marion served terms in the state
senate, and was a member of the state
constitutional convention in 1790.
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