02/17/2026
A remembrance of Huguenot descendant John Blake White.
On this day in 1899, the United States Senate accepted the gift of John Blake White’s painting “General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal,” which was donated to the Senate by the artist’s son Octavius White.
The painting depicts a legendary (and possibly apocryphal) episode in Marion’s career. According to the story, a British officer was led to Marion’s camp on Snow Island, to negotiate a prisoner exchange. When the negotiations were complete, the officer accepted Marion’s invitation to stay for dinner, whereupon Marion (in the words of militiaman Samuel Weaver), “pulled out his potatoes, wiped the ashes off with a dirty handkerchief, placed them on a pine log (which was all the provision they had) and General Marion and the British officer partook of them.”
According to the traditional story, when presented with the meal the British officer said, “But surely general this cannot be your ordinary fare,” to which Marion replied, “Indeed it is, sir. And we are fortunate on this occasion, entertaining company, to have more than our usual allowance.” The story goes that the British officer was so impressed by seeing that Marion and his men were living in the swamp and subsisting on sweet potatoes and water, while drawing no pay and being required to provide their own rations, that he resigned his commission and switched sides, enlisting as a private in Marion’s command. Men willing to make such sacrifices to win their liberty cannot be defeated, the officer reportedly said.
White’s painting is one of several depictions of the event and he said that he painted Marion from memory, having known him as a boy.
