tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post1678548047173773666..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Collecting Possible Images of Oscar MarionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-72163092247151702252010-07-28T22:53:37.181-05:002010-07-28T22:53:37.181-05:00The 1821 memoir of William Dobein James identifies...The 1821 memoir of William Dobein James identifies Francis Marion’s slave serving food in a wartime camp as “Oscar,” and that influenced other authors. If there are good records of the slaves Marion owned around that time, and they offer no hint of an “Oscar,” then that name might well have been fiction. <br /><br />With your hints, I see that the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=QBEbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA219" rel="nofollow"><i>Southern and Western Magazine and Review</i></a> in 1845 said that “Buddy” actually accompanied Francis Marion during the war. Curiously, the editor of that magazine, William Gilmore Simms, had published a biography of Francis Marion mentioning “Oscar” the year before.<br /><br />There are <a href="http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2008/02/collecting-possible-images-of-oscar.html" rel="nofollow">some other paintings of Francis Marion</a> during the war, with black men shown accompanying him. <br /><br />Personally, I rather doubt any of those paintings shows an individual servant. I think the black men in those paintings were symbolic rather than individuated.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-81070768733972420702010-07-28T19:36:56.864-05:002010-07-28T19:36:56.864-05:00I always thought the man serving the potoatos was ...I always thought the man serving the potoatos was "oscar" I am now in some doubt. White did 4 sweet pototo pictures and I have copies of all four. They differ significantly from the prints. According to Yeardon, a newpaper man who was writing in the 1840's and who married into the Marion family, Marion's servant was Buddy and Oscar is a ficticious name. He also said that there had been a portrait done of Buddy. He was probabably talking about the sweet potato picture. Marion had a 2nd servant that was very faithful named Cropo or Crapo. As Marion's personal servant, Buddy would have reflected on his master and would have been well dressed. Based on that, I think Buddy may be the black man holding the horse both in White's picture and in Ranney's. Buddy could play the fiddle and may have been able to play the bugle which one of the black men is shown with.<br />Buddy was not in the family at the time of Mrs. Marion's death (which means he was not around to pose) but Crapo was. I can give you more info if you want.klmacnutthttp://@aol.comnoreply@blogger.com