Historical Marker 34-16
Detailed information on this marker can be found at the Historical Marker Database.
Francis Marion and the Sweet Potato Story
to Share His Meal
Francis Marion was in his camp near Snow Island on the Pee Dee River with his Militiamen. A British officer visited with Marion under a flag of truce to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. Marion offered him a meal consisting of sweet potatoes cooked in the ashes of the campfire and water to drink. The British officer returned to Charlestown and refused to fight against an enemy ( the Patriots) as dedicated as Francis Marion, “who ate roots cooked in a fire and drank nothing but water from the swamp.”
Resources/References
From the South Carolina Encyclopedia
“Marion occupied Snow’s Island from late December 1780 through January 1781, and it is possible that he camped there as early as August 1780. “
From The Life of Francis Marion, Chapter 11
“The adroitness and address of Marion’s captainship were never more fully displayed than when he kept Snow’s Island; sallying forth, as occasion offered, to harass the superior foe, to cut off his convoys, or to break up, before they could well embody, the gathering and undisciplined Tories.”
From the South Carolina Department of Archives and History:
