Ambush At Benbow’s Ferry

William Dobein James, who rode with General Francis Marion during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, wrote in 1821 about L/C Tarleton following Marion “…as he (Tarleton) says, ‘for seven hours, through swamps and defiles.’ In fact he pursued about twenty-five miles, when arriving at Ox swamp, which was wide and miry, and without a road to pass it, he desisted, saying to his men, ‘Come my boys! Let us go back, and we will soon find the Gamecock, but as for this d—-d old fox, the devil himself could not catch him.’ … Had Tarleton proceeded with his jaded horses to Benbow’s, he would have exposed his force to such sharp shooting as he had not yet experienced, and that in a place where he could not have acted either with his artillery or cavalry.”