knew him in the year 1758; he had then lost his father;
and, removing with his mother and brother Gabriel from Georgetown,
they settled for one year near Frierson's lock, on the present Santee canal.
The next year Gabriel removed to Belle Isle, in St. Stephen's parish,
late the residence of his son, the Hon. Robert Marion.
Francis settled himself in St. John's, at a place called Pond Bluff,
from the circumstance of there being a pond at the bottom of a bluff,
fronting the river low grounds. This place is situated about four miles
below Eutaw, on the Santee; and he continued to hold it during life.*
Others fix his settling in St. John's, at a later period:
this is of little consequence, but what is of some, was that
in this most useful of all stations, a tiller of the ground,
he was industrious and successful. In the same year, 1759,
the Cherokee war broke out, and he turned out as a volunteer,
in his brother's troop of provincial cavalry. In 1761,
he served in the expedition under Col. Grant, as a lieutenant
in Captain Wm. Moultrie's company, forming part of a provincial regiment,
commanded by Col. Middleton. It is believed that he distinguished himself
in this expedition, in a severe conflict between Col. Grant and the Indians,
near Etchoee, an Indian town; but, if he did so, the particulars have not been
handed down to us, by any official account. General Moultrie says of him,
"he was an active, brave, and hardy soldier; and an excellent
partisan officer." We come now to that part of Marion's life,
where, acting in a more conspicuous situation, things are known of him,
with more certainty. In the beginning of the year 1775, he was elected one,
of what was then called the provincial congress of South Carolina,
from St. John's. This was the public body which agreed to
the famous continental association, recommended by congress, to prevent
the importation of goods, wares, and merchandizes, from Great Britain:
they likewise put a stop to all suits at law, except where debtors