342 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEKICA 



The Dashing 

 Colonel 



The Men Who 

 Won Battles 



followers of the "Swamp Fox." Here a trooper is 

 meudiug his bridle beneath a gigantic oak, or ash, or 

 hickory, while a little further away another of less stren- 

 uous make-up is stretched at length, with feet to the fire, 

 and half-closed eyes peering dreamily up through the 

 branches into the starlit sky. Yonder a knot of younger 

 men are busy fashioning arrows from a great pile of 

 canes or reeds such as abound in the lowlands of this 

 region, while a basket stands near by crowded with 

 feathers of the eagle, crane, hawk and common turkey, to 

 be fitted to the shafts when ready. In the hollow trunk 

 of a tree bows and these arrows will be stored against the 

 possible failure to capture more of King George's baggage- 

 wagons laden with British arms and ammunition. The 

 trees are a veritable depository for bridles, blankets, coats 

 and cloaks, and a dozen saddles lie scattered about. 



Here in his element is the typical ranger, or forester, of 

 the period, with his scanty though picturesque costume, 

 consisting of a mixture of Indian undress and military 

 uniform, with his nonchalance, his drawl, and his almost 

 uncanny cleverness in woodcraft, or the fence which is 

 capable of deluding an enemy into the feeling that he is a 

 friend. Even the names by which he is familiarly known 

 among his fellows bespeak the haunts and habits to which 

 his peculiar warfare has driven him ; for, in the frank and 

 unconventional phrase of the camp, we shall be sure to 

 meet Hard-Eiding Dick, Dusky Sam, Clip the Can, 

 Prickly Ash, and Black Fox. Such a leader, in such 

 surroundings, was Francis Marion, who seemed to his 

 slower antagonists to wear a charmed life and possess 

 wings. 



And what a company it was one might have met in the 

 Swamp on occasion. There was the powerful Ehode 

 Islander, General Greene, in whose veins was Huguenot 

 blood, and who was majestic alike in person and in pro- 

 fessional dignity ; as unlike Marion as one could imagine ; 

 noble Governor Eutledge, the veritable father of the peo- 



