"Unwaried Patience and Fortitude”Francis Marion’s Orderly Book, 1775-1782
Francis Marion is an icon in the state of South Carolina, and much of what is known about him has been distorted, so that now he is more legend than a real man.Marion was one of the most versatile commanders in the Revolution and adapted to whatever was thrown his way, whether it as a commander in conventional warfare, or the life of an insurgent guerilla leader.He was not the typical image of a hero.He was short, middle aged and walked with a limp.
Marion’s orders to his men were written in an order book, along with the comments of what was happening at the time. Each company within a regiment was ordered to maintain an orderly book. Each Continental regiment at any moment was maintaining about ten orderly books.There are some long runs of orderly books from the Revolutionary War; one of the best is at the Library of Congress, attributed to the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment. It runs in 23 volumes, from Sept 1777 to May 1783 with gaps. However it cannot rival the orderly book kept by Francis Marion, which has daily entries from 1775 to 1782.The orders cover the time that Marion was involved in conventional warfare with the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, and the time that Marion became the model of guerilla warfare in the 18th and 19th century.The 75th Ranger Regiment of the US Army includes Marion in their lineage and honors due to his unrelenting harassment of any and all British forces that dared enter his domain.
This book is the transcription of that long running orderly book.Not only is the battles, skirmishes and casualties recorded, but it also shows the day to day mundane life of a soldier in Charleston during the Revolution.In between the transcriptions is a history of what happened at that time, so that the reader can understand the context of each entry.The book also contains original maps and drawings illustrating the life of Marion’s men, and how they fought.Over 1,500 footnotes give information of all those mentioned in Marion’s book, which make this book a great asset to genealogists or those seeking information on their ancestors. The Orderly book is 750 pages, paperback. It is not available in hardback at this time.
To order a copy of "Unwaried Patience and Fortitude”Francis Marion’s Orderly Book, 1775-1782 go to:
