The character of Benjamin Martin was originally meant to be The Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, but for the sake of telling the best 'dramatic' story they could, the filmmakers fictionalized the character and the story. They then added elements of the historic figures of Elijah Clarke, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, Andrew Pickens and Thomas Sumter to the character of Benjamin Martin. Such a move also depicted historical inaccuracies that always appear in movies.

Martin's hit and run tactics and famed nickname were inspired by Francis Marion, while the tactics of using the militia on the front to draw the British in the final battle were based on similar tactics used by Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens. Thomas Sumter and Andrew Picken's influence seems to be that both rejoined the fight after the British burned their homes and in Sumter's case, made his wife and son watch the house burn.

General Charles Cornwallis was an a

In the movie the Continental regulars and Colonel Burwell were waiting in reserve behind the rise, rather than retreating to that position during battle as really happened. After seeing the militia retreating, the British had broken discipline in anticipation of a route, but when they came over the rise, they found themselves double-flanked. All of this is pretty close to what happens in the movie.

Cornwallis mentored Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, the figure on which Colonel William Tavington was based, just as Cornwallis seems to do in the movie a bit. They corresponded until Tarleton published his own memoirs in which he blamed Cornwallis for the British loss in America (and you only thought that mudslinging memoirs were a twentieth century invention). Cornwallis was meticulous and his plan for movement of his forces was as depicted in the movie. As far as meeting with one of the famous militia leaders in parlay over prisoners, I have found no record.

In conclusion, the events of this film as compared to the actual events are very accurate. Hollywood used an historical event and interweaved a fictional story line to make a wonderful action film.

ctual historic figure and not merely a character suggested by a historic figure. The personal journals that Martin captures in the movie wer

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