The American Revolutionary War ─ General Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox and Marine Corps War Fighting Doctrine

I have been interested in Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox of the Revolution, ever since reading of his exploits as a young boy. I was living in Africa at the time, the son of missionaries, and when I was roaming the Namibian veldt with my Bushman buddy hunting for small game, I would pretend to be the Swamp Fox. In many places along the Okavango River, which separates Angola from Namibia, the terrain is strikingly similar to the description of General Marion’s hideout in the South Carolina swamps. We would build little forts on the swampy banks of the river. There we would retreat and eat the fish we had caught or small game we had killed, all the while pretending to fight our imaginary foes.The Patriot, a recent movie starring Mel Gibson as the Swamp Fox, rekindled my youthful interest in Francis Marion and the American Revolution. I thought it would be interesting to compare the Marine Corps’ warfighting philosophy, as described in Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication One (MCDP 1), Warfighting, with Francis Marion’s style of warfare against the British and Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War.