delightful and charming air. The many details of the contest possess nearly every requisite to arrest and gratify the imagination. It only lacked the glitter and pomp of a pageant to fascinate the world. The deeds performed were unfortunately enacted in homespun, rather than in steel, and therefore lose some of their charm. They were without martial parade, but the mode of warfare, the strange characters gathered in the bands, the wild forest retreats, all combine to give them a romance of their own. It is with peculiar delight that the imagination follows Marion and his followers into their fastnesses. Their retreats were better strongholds than was ever the castle of a Norman knight. They defied the ingenuity and the power of their enemies to expel them. To follow them was to plunge into a region beset with unknown dangers, and once involved into its secret depths, the key of Ariadne was needed to trace the puzzling labyrinth. The herald, or messenger from the enemy, was blindfolded, and led by intricate courses, through vast morasses, and by paths bowered by masses of foliage the sun never penetrated, until at last he would be admitted into the sequestered area where the chief and his men would receive him. And this area, this camping ground, where was organized the daring expedition, the sudden attack, and the cunning stratagem, from which emanated all the schemes that held at bay, and in terror the English leaders; whence sprang the undying patriotism and the undaunted heroism; where Liberty's altar was erected, and where her fires ever burned with a hopeful flame, and never sank or died, when all around, gloom and horror and wretchedness had wept and extinguished her flame; this noble, imposing area of freedom, what a grand piece of nature's handiwork it was! It was a fit asylum for those true to nature's behests. It was her grandest cathedral, where trees,

aged, and with the grey moss streaming in hoary locks from their venerable trunks, loomed up in their mighty strength, and locked their giant limbs in a huge dome, through which the stars gleamed, and the sun shone in a gentle light that fell like the rays through the stained glass of the cathedral, softly upon the virgin moss of the far extending, and lofty aisles. And here, in the midst of these scenes, guarded from access by impenetrable thickets, dangerous marshes, and rugged defiles, where no enemy could penetrate, and which no force, however great, could destroy-here was the home of patriotism in the South-here, in the free air of heaven, sojourned the partizan, Marion. The soft bank of moss was his couch, and truly, the couch of Mars, and nothing but the domed oaks and sycamores canopied his head. No luxurious ease intruded in to the sacred precinct-sacred to the cause of liberty and humanity-for with a Spartan hardihood, those warriors, in fair or foul, amid the severities of summer or of winter, clung to their forest home, and nightly embraced the hardened couch, save when hurling themselves upon the ranks of the enemy, or rushing forth upon the beck of victory.

And glorious indeed were the victories achieved by that noble band. If the accomplishment of great ends by little means be a stamp of greatness, we cannot withhold from Marion the highest rank. It is true that he performed no single great victory, and his army, if it could be called an army, was but a band of a few hundred patriots. But with these few hundred, he kept in check the whole British army. He was the Nemesis of the South; the sure and terrible avenger of wrong. The iniquities of the English leaders, and Tory marauders, were visited with a sudden, rapid and fearful punishment. Their career of bloodshed was known to him; and their midnight expeditions, marked by burning

dwellings, reckless murders, with flying families before them, and desolate hearths behind-these were treasured up, and shortly found a retribution. His scouts traversed every section, in many disguises, often assuming as many shapes as Proteus, and hung upon the routes of armies, and watched the actions of men. So keen was their cunning, so exhaustless their resources, that they would visit the same encampment many times, each in a different form; creep into the councils of the enemy; sometimes adroitly capture and carry off persons from the very midst of their armies. By these, Marion was always kept informed of the movements of his enemy, while his own were so rapid and so sudden that his own men were often puzzled to trace and find him.

He usually set out upon his expeditions at about sundown. He would then ride rapidly thirty or forty miles, fall suddenly upon some division of the enemy, who were reposing in false security; scatter them before they could form for defence; continue his journey, attack and defeat another detachment twenty miles farther, and ere the news could spread, he would have disappeared into his fastnesses, where no step could follow, and his enemies without, would gaze in wonder about, as if a meteor had shot down destruction upon them, and suddenly vanished into air.

Their expeditions were beset with great difficulties, that only patience and hardihood could overcome. They had to swim rivers, penetrate tangled thickets, cross dangerous morasses, and undergo severe fatigues of all kinds, such as prolonged hunger, exhaustion from want of sleep, and often suffering from want of clothing sufficient to protect them from the weather. When pursued, and many a huge army was sent to destroy him, he was more cunning than the fox, and still dangerous as the lion. He would as certainly lure his enemy into his toils, as they would

attempt to follow him. He would fall upon their camps, cut off their provision, dash upon them like a thunderbolt, in advantageous places, and suddenly disappear, lead them into ambuscades from which they would only be extricated by fearful loss, puzzle bewilder and send them back defeated, disgraced and utterly confounded.

His brigade formed a picturesque and motely group.-Their costumes were formed of every imaginable kind and color, such as their own resources could provide, or their swords capture from their enemies. Sometimes the contrast presented by them, would be highly amusing. There would be the huge backwoodsman, with his rough boots and flannel shirt, mounting some silken or golden remnant of an English officer's regimentals, often times ridiculously in keeping with his own habiliments; here would be seen a fortunate adventurer bedecked with conquered plumes and scarfs, glittering by the side of ragged, threadbare fustian, there a swarthy negro, with naked feet and a gold embroidered coat, or perhaps with lace and ruffles, and gilded ornaments, but hiding himself in shame for his nakedness. Not only the men themselves, but many of the partisan officers, were suffering from want of clothing, and compelled to adapt such articles as chance threw in their way. But sometimes they were bedecked in vesture, furnished by the hands of fair ladies, and pledged to defend and protect them to the last. The whig ladies of South Carolina, were as high-souled and chivalrous a body of the sex as ever knight broke lance for. During the whole war, they exerted themselves for the welfare of their defenders, and often by their sacrifices, or their cunning, or their patriotism, was some signal service done to the state. They particularly exerted themselves to the procuring of necessaries for the partizan warriors.

Many of those who resided in Charleston, by their ingenuity, supplied their friends from the abundance of the British garrison. Notwithstanding all those who passed out into the country, were examined, to prevent smuggling, their resources provided ways to elude the vigilance of the guards, and to carry off articles with impunity. Says Garden,* who served in the South, "The cloth of many a military coat, concealed with art, and not unfrequently made an appendage to female attire, has escaped the vigilance of the guards, expressly stationed to prevent smuggling, and speedily converted into regimental shape, worn triumphantly in battle. Boots have, in many instances, been relinquished by the delicate wearer to the active partisan. I have seen a horseman's helmet concealed by a well arranged head-dress, and epaulettes delivered from the folds of the simple cap of a matron. Feathers and cockades were much in demand, and so cunningly hid, and handsomely presented, that he could have been no true knight, who did not feel the obligation, to defend them to the last extremity."

The privations of these devoted bands were manifold. They were often dependant for food entirely upon the uncertain resources of the forest. They were always without salt, except when captured from the enemy, and even then this necessary condiment was distributed among destitute whig families, rather than preserved for themselves, although the want of it was a serious grievance, and made their ill-cooked meals, barely palatable. We are all familiar with the anecdote of the British officer, who upon visiting Marion's encampment, was invited to dine, and who, after a surprised survey of the forest for any signs of dinner, was shown a few roasted potatoes, on a shingle, which had just been

* Major Garden's Revolutionary Anecdotes.