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Articles
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| Feds, residents working to honor ŒSwamp Fox¹ in SE park |
VOICE writes, "Feds, residents working to honor ŒSwamp Fox¹ in SE park
BY KATIE REYES
Plans to install a statue to honor Revolutionary War hero and Capitol Hill park namesake Francis Marion are slowly moving forward.
Residents near Marion Park in Near Southeast and in South Carolina have been lobbying Congress to erect a statue of Marion, a brigadier general in the militia who became known as the "Swamp Fox" during the war. Marion was a native of the Palmetto State.
Legislation calling for the statue has cleared the House and is waiting for the go-ahead by the Senate. The park, which sits between Fourth, Sixth and E streets and South Carolina Avenue, SE, falls under the oversight of the National Park Service. "
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All funds for the statue are coming from private donations. John McCabe, a South Carolina resident who heads the Marion Memorial Project, and the Palmetto Conservation Foundation are leading the fund-raising efforts.
"It has been long overdue since Francis Marion's achievements have been addressed in our nation's capital," McCabe said. "It is all about honor and heroes. I want my children to learn more about American history and real heroes whose sacrifices gave us our freedoms that we have today."
After clearing Congress, the National Capital Planning Commission and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts would need to approve the statue. McCabe is not expecting an easy process.
"We need to go through the same monumental process that it took to get the World Ward II memorial erected. It is such a clear and defined process, we are just so happy that we have made it this far," he said.
But before the statue can be installed, the park service said Marion Park must undergo a series of upgrades.
Sharon Wilson Geno, head of Friends of Marion Park, said the first move is short-term, "more concentrated maintenance of the park, like cleaning up the lawn and keeping the sidewalks clean." The Friends of Marion Park can accept federal funds to clean up the park and begin its reconstruction process.
The friends group will then turn to more long-term projects. It will team up with the park service to recruit volunteer architects and landscape artists to reshape the park grounds, Geno said.
"We see the Marion Memorial Project and the reconstruction of the park as two separate projects but with a parallel effort. We want to help make Marion Park a much better usable place, to preserve, protect and maintain the playground for the children and to make it just more available for everyone in the community," Geno said.
McCabe and Geno are working together to redesign and maintain the park while they continue to wait for the legislation to move through Congress.
A tentative design for the statue has Marion dressed in full battle garb, ready to draw his sword against the British Army. At the base of the statue there will be room for text that explains Marion's contributions to the war, McCabe said.
Francis Marion was a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress in 1775. He resided at Pond Bluff plantation near Berkeley County, S.C. Soon after the Revolutionary War began, Marion was commissioned as captain in the Second South Carolina Regiment, where he was instrumental in the 1776 defense of Fort Sullivan and Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor.
Marion served as lieutenant colonel until he narrowly escaped capture on May 12, 1780, when Charleston fell. Afterward, he began to build up a militia with the countrymen of South Carolina when he gained his nickname the "Swamp Fox," due to his use of his guerrilla warfare, scouting and tracking.
Gov. John Rutledge commissioned him brigadier general of state troops, a title he maintained until the end of the war.
Marion later served multiple terms in the South Carolina State Senate. In 1784, he was made the commander of Fort Johnson in admiration for his services during the war.
"I hope that we get the continued support and capital that we need to continue with the reconfiguration of the park. I feel that we are on the right track with our outreach so far, and I hope to come out with having a great park that everyone in the community will get to enjoy," Geno said.
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Posted on Sep 29, 2007 16:04pm.
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