Marion's brigade of farmers and hunters seldom numbered more than seventy,
and often less than twenty. But with this very small force he annoyed the
British beyond measure by rescuing prisoners, and by capturing
supply-trains and outposts.
[Illustration: Marion Surprising a British Wagon-Train.]
One day a scout brought in the report that a party of ninety British with
two hundred prisoners were on the march for Charleston. Waiting for the
darkness to conceal his movements, Marion with thirty men sallied out,
swooped down upon the British camp, capturing the entire force and
rescuing all the American prisoners.
It was the custom of Marion's men, when hard pressed by a superior force,
to scatter, each man looking out for himself. Often they would dash
headlong into a dense, dark swamp, to meet again at some place agreed
upon. Even while they were still in hiding, they would sometimes dart out
just as suddenly as they had vanished, and surprise another squad of
British which might be near at hand. "Swamp Fox" was the name the British
gave to Marion.
With the aid of such partisan bands, and with skilful handling of his
army, Greene was more than a match for Cornwallis.
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