Birth of Gen. Marion. His Ancestry. First Destination of Going to Sea.
Voyage to the West Indies and Shipwreck. His settlement in St. John's,
Berkley. Expedition under Governor Lyttleton. A Sketch of the Attack
on Fort Moultrie, 1776. And the Campaign of 1779.



FRANCIS MARION was born at Winyaw,* near Georgetown, South Carolina,
in the year 1732; -- memorable for giving birth to many distinguished
American patriots. Marion was of French extraction; his grandfather, Gabriel,
left France soon after the revocation of the edict of Nantz, in 1685,
on account of his being a protestant, and retired from persecution to
this new world, then a wilderness; no doubt under many distresses and dangers,
and with few of the facilities with which emigrants settle new,
but rich countries, at the present day. His son, also called Gabriel,
was the father of five sons, Isaac, Gabriel, Benjamin, Francis, and Job,
and of two daughters, grandmothers of the families of the Mitchells,
of Georgetown, and of the Dwights, formerly of the same place,
but now of St. Stephen's parish.

--
* This is in error -- The Marion family moved to Winyaw
when Francis was six or seven years old. Francis was probably born
either at St. John's Parish, Berkeley, or St. James's Parish, Goose Creek;
the respective homes of his father's and mother's families.
1732 is probably correct as the year of Francis's birth,
but is not absolutely certain. Despite beginning with this error,
the author's remoteness from this event is not continued
with the events mentioned later in the book, to which he was a witness.