G.L. Lamborn
Of Sweet Potatoes and Newsreels
During the American Revolution, a British officer was sent from Charleston under flag of truce to negotiate a prisoner exchange with “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion. The officer was blindfolded but treated courteously as he journeyed under escort to Marion’s hidden camp. The Swamp Fox warmly greeted the British officer upon his arrival and invited him to dine. The British officer noted that although the camp was austere, morale was high, and the cook provided baked sweet potatoes for breakfast. Francis Marion indicated that the only food he and his guerrillas had to eat was sweet potatoes, but the visitor was told that he might eat as many as he pleased. The visiting officer was awed by Marion and his men—in good spirits despite obvious privation. Upon his return to Charleston, he declared that the Americans could never be beaten and that the Royalist effort in the South would ultimately fail. His testimony had an impact as British morale began to fall despite their military victories in the Carolinas. Canny and resourceful, the Swamp Fox conducted a successful influence operation. Francis Marion won a small but important psychological victory using only courage, courtesy, and sweet potatoes.
In another war on American soil, four months had passed since the battle ended. It was late November and turning cold. After a great orator spoke for two hours, a gaunt-looking man in a dark suit and wearing a tall hat rose to speak. He did not have much to say because he thought himself a poor public speaker. But he hoped to encourage a nation grown weary of war: “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
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