Backcountry War: The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter

BOOK REVIEW: Backcountry War, The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter by Andrew Waters (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2024) $34.95 Cloth

In his Epilogue to Backcountry War, The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter, Andrew Waters states he wrote the book for himself to better understand his childhood exposure to and fascination with the book’s main characters, Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter. In answering his continued curiosity and as an adult intellectual still attracted to these three characters, he produced a very well written, researched and readable text. Readers will enjoy his narrative.

The title he selected is interesting because the term backcountry is not well defined. If one surmises there is a backcountry, there must be a front country. From a colonial mercantile perspective, the front country represented the coastal and port cities that linked directly to the mother country and therefore were the face of the colony for trade and commerce. In South Carolina, this was the city of Charlestown (today Charleston). The entire British North American colonial system, however, was dependent on raw materials and resources produced by people who lived in the countryside or backcountry and shipped these materials through the front country. The extensive backcountry and its residents were therefore the most important part of Great Britain’s colonial empire in North America and an integral part of the colonial trade network. During the Revolution it was essential for Great Britian to exercise military control of the vast backcountry.

Today, understanding the backcountry and the conditions that continuously evolved during the Revolution is a complex undertaking. Social, political, economic and geographic challenges confronted the individuals who resided there and therefore the British colonial empire in North America. The specific backcountry conditions in South Carolina made the exercise of military control extremely challenging. Pacifying the South Carolina backcountry, as part of the larger British southern strategy, required a tremendous volume of military resources and strategic patience; time was not on the side of the colonial power. Conditions there favored partisan warfare. Waters’ narrative helps to explain why the frequently-employed British fire and sword approach failed in the backcountry.

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Waters’ text focuses on the year 1780 and is organized into four parts containing twenty-one chapters. Part one, about a third of the book, introduces the reader to the three primary subjects as well as numerous other individuals involved in the war in South Carolina. Here, the author also summarizes the background and key events that culminated with the fall of Charlestown in May 1780. This background is helpful in providing context for what follows. Those with more detailed knowledge of events prior to the summer of 1780 will be able to move through this portion of the book quickly.

In Parts Two, Three and Four, Waters generally follows the chronological flow of events involving Tarleton, Sumter and Marion during 1780. Part Two places Huck’s defeat at Williamson’s Plantation and Sumter’s victory at Hanging Rock in context. Part Three addresses events through Kings Mountain in October 1780. Part Four covers the important engagements at Fish Dam Ford and Blackstocks and follows events through December 1780. Waters includes a great deal of detail about people and events, including his three main characters, in a way that fully engages the reader with the text.

What I enjoyed most about the author’s approach was his analysis of people, events and broader issues of warfare that he stimulates the reader to think about. From a military perspective, command and control, partisan warfare and loyalty to one’s commander often surface as topics related to his discussions. From a human perspective, survival in the backcountry was not taken for granted. He makes the reader contemplate how backcountry residents were resilient survivors in a hostile environment, even without open warfare. Partisan warfare in the backcountry significantly complicated their basic survival. Decisions on military allegiance, if and when to fight, and who to follow all included decisions about survival; amazingly many accepted the risk and ultimately chose to support the cause of independence. Waters follows the three important lead characters but introduces the reader to numerous other Patriot, Loyalist and British actors involved in South Carolina during this period.

Individuals with limited familiarity with numerous rivers that bisect South Carolina or locations and places associated with events during 1780 will be pleased with the multiple maps included in the book. I found myself constantly flipping to the large-scale maps in the front to follow the movements and actions described. The tactical maps associated with specific battles are also well done. Waters cites both primary or contemporary sources as well as a wide selection of creditable secondary sources throughout the text. Readers will find the book an enjoyable and informative read on the three primary characters, Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter, and their roles in the Revolution in South Carolina.

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