At about this time in 1781, a female hero makes a little-known sacrifice for the Patriot cause
At about this time in 1781, a female hero makes a little-known sacrifice for the Patriot cause . A widow, Rebecca Motte, gave Brigadier General Francis Marion (“the Swamp Fox”) and Lt. Colonel “Light Horse Harry” Lee permission to burn down her home. At the time, her plantation was occupied by nearly 200 British, Loyalist and Hessian soldiers. Marion, Lee, and Motte hoped to drive them out before British reinforcements could arrive. It worked! The Siege of Fort Motte ended with a British surrender. Motte owned a plantation situated on a high hill near the Congaree and Wateree Rivers. In early 1781, the British took over her home and fortified it. They used it as a depot for supply convoys moving between Charleston and Camden. Not too long afterwards, however, the commander of the American army in the South, Nathanael Greene, ordered Lee and Marion to attack British outposts between Charleston and Camden. On April 23, they captured Fort Watson. The two soon moved on to Fort Motte, ...