300 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS contrary, he saw " a swarthy, smoke-dried little man, with scarcely enough of threadbare homespun to cover his nakedness, and instead of tall ranks of gay- dressed soldiers, a handful of sunburnt, yellow-legged militiamen, some roasting potatoes, and some asleep, with their black firelocks and powder-horns lying by them on the logs." This is VVeems's narrative, a little colored with his full brush, but true enough as to detail. The improvement which he works up from the plain potato presented as a dinner to the officer, is equally sound as a moral, though we will not vouch for the exact expression of the sentiment. As a speci- men of Weems, it is characteristic ; but certainly Marion never talked in the fashion of this zealous biographer. The Briton, however, entrenched at Charleston, and with his double line of forts encompassing the interior, was not all at once driven out. When he was compelled to leave, it was by the slow process of an exhaustion, to which even victory contributed ; for every British conquest in that region was as costly as a defeat. Greene came with his Fabian policy, acquired in the school of Washing- ton, to repair the errors of Gates. It was a course with whiOh the policy of Marion was quite in agreement, attacking the enemy when they were vulnerable ; at other moments retreating before them. Both officers knew well how to drain the vitality of the British army. Greene appreciated Marion. " I like your plan," he wrote to him, " of frequently shifting your ground. We must endeavoi to keep up a partisan war." He sent Lieutenant-Colonel Lee to his aid, and to gether they attempted the capture of Georgetown in a night attack, which was but partially successful, in consequence of a loss of time and the want of artil- lery. Though not fully carried out, it served as a diversion and alarm in the rear of Cornwallis, who now, after the defeat of an important portion of his force under Tarleton, was advancing rapidly through North Carolina at the heels of Greene. Lee was recalled to join his commander, and Marion continued his par- tisan warfare in South Carolina. He was after a while reinforced by Greene on his return to the State, and assisted that general greatly in the movements which resulted in imprisoning the enemy in Charleston. After a brilliant affair with the British, in conjunction with Lee and Sumter, and other bold spirits, he has- tened to Greene in time for the battle of Eutaw, in which engagement he com- manded the right of the South Carolina militia, and gallantly sustained the fierce attack of the enemy. Toward the close of the war, he took his seat in the Legis- lative Assembly which met at Jacksonborough, as the representative of St. John, Berkeley. He was engaged in one or two further conflicts with the enemy, and the struggle which he had so manfully sustained was at an end. He now retired to his plantation, to find it broken up by the incursions of the British. While engaged in its restoration, he was sent as representative of the district to the Senate of the State. It is recorded to his credit that he displayed in this situation a ready magnanimity toward Tory off"enders in preserving their lands from confiscation. " It was war, then," said he ; " it is peace now. God has given us the victory. Let us show our gratitude to heaven, which we shall not do by cruelty to man."
