Revolutionary War Continental Brigadier General. In 1753 he joined a militia company to fight in the French and Indian War, but did not see action. During the 1760 Cherokee War he served as a Lieutenant under Captain William Moultrie. In 1773 he established Pond's Bluff Plantation, and was elected to the South Carolina Provincial Congress. Upon the outbreak of hostilities against the British, he was made a Captain in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. In November 1775 he participates in Snow's campaign against the Tories. Promoted to Major in February 1776, he attempted to fortify the Charleston Harbor, and defended the left side at Fort Sullivan on June 28 of that year. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he assumed command of the 2nd South Carolina regiment on September 23, 1778. A year later he was called upon to fight at the second Battle of Savannah, Georgia. On May 12, 1780 he escaped capture at the fall of Charleston because he fractured his ankle at a party. In July he marched with General Horatio Gates to Camden, South Carolina, where General Gates ordered Marion to set up a spy ring in Charleston (among his men in this operation are James and Micajah Pickett). After Gates' defeat Francis Marion and his men set up a guerrilla movement to harass and destroy the British, giving rise to the legend of "Swamp Fox". In December of 1780 Governor John Rutledge promoted Francis Marion to Brigadier General. Joining with General Nathaniel Greene, Continental forces slowly pushed General Lord Cornwallis out of the South and consolidated their hold. In 1782 Colonel Thompson led a 700 man force from Charleston and managed to scatter Marion's men, but was subsequently defeated. Francis Marion's last action in the war was on August 29, 1782 when he ambushed 200 men under Major Thomas Fraser at Fair Lawn, who attempted to reverse the trap and was left with an ammunition wagon. After the war he was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in 1782 and 1784. When the state appointed him commander of Fort Johnson, the salary he earned helped him to rebuild his plantation, which was destroyed during the war. In 1790 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention, in which to serve effectively he had to resign his post at Fort Johnston. He was elected again in 1791 and voted for the federal union.