The film was harshly criticized in the British press in part because of its connection to Francis Marion, a militia leader in South Carolina known as the "Swamp Fox". After the release of The Patriot, the British newspaper The Guardian denounced Francis Marion as "a serial rapist who hunted Red Indians for fun.[23] Historian Christopher Hibbert said of Marion:
"The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the British."[24]
The Patriot does not depict the American character Benjamin Martin as innocent of atrocities; a key plot point revolves around the character's guilt over acts he engaged in, such as torturing, killing, and mutilating prisoners during the French and Indian War, while not mentioning his crimes against fellow colonists during the Revolutionary War. In Hibbert's book Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes, written before The Patriot was released, Hibbert included no criticism of Marion. Conservative radio host Michael Graham rejected Hibbert's criticism of Marion in a commentary published in National Review: