Posted on 01/21/2006 6:48:15 PM PST by Pharmboy
Gen. Francis Marion is rightly remembered as one of South Carolina's greatest heroes. Unfortunately, the condition of his grave site belies the historical importance of the pivotal Revolutionary War figure. The Legislature should provide for the necessary structural repairs to grave markers of the general and his wife as well as improvements to the site and its access road.
The general's Pineville grave site is reached by a narrow rutted road, more than a mile in length. The small Huguenot cemetery in which his grave is located is surrounded by a low, rambling chain-link fence. (Former Congressman and state Sen. Arthur Ravenel charitably describes it as "not elegant.") The photo shows deterioration at the base of grave stones for both the general and his wife.
Mr. Ravenel tells us he recently visited the grave site and heard tourists remark unfavorably about its condition. "A group of people from Maryland were making disparaging comments about how shabby it looks," he said. Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, says work is needed on the grave markers, the wrought-iron fence and brick columns that surround the Marion graves and the road leading up to the cemetery.
The original 1795 gravestone was demolished by a falling tree during a storm in 1893. Soon after that the Legislature unanimously voted to set up a new tombstone. It is inscribed "in commemoration of the noble and disinterested virtues of the citizen and the gallant exploits of the soldier who lived without fear and died without reproach."
Sen. Grooms sought a $20,000 appropriation for repairs last session. The allocation was increased to $50,000 after Sen. Hugh Leatherman questioned whether $20,000 would do the job, according to Sen. Grooms.
Ironically, that allocation was one of the few gubernatorial vetoes sustained by the Legislature even though it was not the kind of pork barrel expenditure that rightly has been criticized by the governor.
Francis Marion occupies a major place in the history of this state and this nation. The care of his grave is by no means akin to financing a back-home balloon festival. The fact that routine maintenance is performed by the state Park, Recreation and Tourism Department speaks to the state's acknowledged responsibility. The Legislature should see to it that funds for more extensive repairs are part of the department's budget this year.
An effort is under way to improve a park named in Gen. Marion's honor near the nation's Capitol. It should be matched with improvements to his final resting place in Berkeley County.
The Palmetto State should be ashamed of themselves and the Guv oughta be tarred and feathered.
"Nobody knows where the Swamp Fox at!"
That would help get national interest.
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A picture of Francis Marion's grave...
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=669
$50k for a something the size of a shed? It could be made of rock and mortor for 1/10 the price!
Wonder if the producers of The Patriot could cough up a few bucks?
An EXCELLENT point, Larry...
"The greatest guerrilla fighter in the American Revolution was Francis Marion. Incredibly daring, he terrorized the entire British Army in South Carolina, striking with fantastic swiftness, then vanishing ghost-like into the swamps. To chase him was a futile nightmare, for the Swamp Fox was too clever and too fearless.
Born near Georgetown, South Carolina, Marion was for years a peaceful farmer. When the Cherokees began their massacres he began his fighting career, learning the Indian techniques of surprise attack and sudden disappearance, how to use swamps and forests as cover.
Thus when England sent a vast fleet to capture Charleston, Marion was already a brilliant strategist. From a tiny, unfinished island fort he defied fifty warships of the greatest navy in the world. He and his men crippled the entire British fleet and saved the city, though they lacked adequate ammunition, achieving the first important victory of the American Revolution.
When Charleston fell to the enemy, Marion escaped and formed Marion's Brigade, one hundred fifty tattered, penniless patriots. None received pay, food or even ammunition from the Continental Army. The only reward they sought was freedom from tyranny, freedom for America.
Although Marion received a Congressional citation for wisdom and bravery he was never accorded the honor his country owed him, and when the British evacuated Charleston he was not asked to participate in the celebration because he and his men were too ragged.
But that ragged brigade who followed Francis Marion on the long, hard road to American independence earned its rightful plate in history."
Most interesting...I never realized he was involved with the initial defense of Charleston.
I think the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot" was based on Francis Marion.
Indirectly. The Gibson character was fiction, but it incorporated a few individuals, Marion among them
We should be able to designate at least some of our tax money to care for such places rather than for 'National Endowment to the Arts'
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