Editing Francis Marion (section)

===Engagements with Tarleton===
[[Image:Banastre-Tarleton-by-Joshua-Reynolds.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Banastre Tarleton]]'' by [[Joshua Reynolds]], 1782.]]

The British made repeated efforts to neutralize Marion's force, but Marion's intelligence gathering was excellent and that of the British was poor, due to the overwhelming Patriot presence in the Williamsburg area. Colonel [[Banastre Tarleton]] was sent to capture or kill Marion in November 1780. After pursuing Marion's troops for over 26 miles through a swamp, Tarleton supposedly said "as for this old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him."<ref name="NPS"/> Based on this tale, Marion's supporters began to call him "the Swamp Fox".<ref name="Smithsonian" /> 

Once Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, Governor [[John Rutledge]] commissioned him as a brigadier general of militia.<ref name="AHC">{{cite web|url=https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/francis-marion/|title=Biography of Francis Marion the "Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution|last=staff|work=American History Central|access-date=9 September 2022}}</ref> Marion fought against [[Black Loyalist|freed slaves]] working or fighting alongside the British. He received an order from Rutledge to execute all Black people suspected of carrying provisions or gathering intelligence for the British "agreeable to the laws of this State".<ref>Young p. 74</ref>