USA > Georgia > Stories of Georgia > Part 4
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and the wanderer combined in one person, and that person fighting for the holiest cause in which man can take up arms, -- the rights and liberties of the people. What more could be asked ?
Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French twist to his name makes it probable that he was a descendant of those unfortunate Acadians who, years before, had been stripped of their lands and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, their houses and barns burned, and they themselves transported away from their homes. They were scattered at various points along the Amer- ican coast. Some were landed at Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were sent to Georgia. The British had many acts of cruelty to answer for in those days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and helpless Aca- dians. It stands in history to-day a stain upon the British name.
Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about him makes it certain that he never gave quarter to the enemies of his country.
His name was a terror to the Tories. One of them, a man of considerable means, offered a reward of one hundred guineas to any person who would bring him the head of Robert Sallette. - The Tory had never seen Sallette, but his alarm was such that he offered a
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reward large enough to tempt some one to assassinate the daring partisan. When Sallette heard of the re- ward, he disguised himself as a farmer, and provided himself with a pumpkin, which he placed in a bag. With the bag swinging across his shoulder, he made his way to the house of the Tory. He was invited in, and deposited the bag on the floor beside him, the pumpkin striking the boards with a thump.
"I have brought you the head of Robert Sallette," said he. "I hear that . you have offered a re- ward of one hundred guineas for it."
" Where is it?" asked the Tory.
" I have it with me," replied Sal- lette, shaking the loose end of the bag. " Count me out the money and take the head."
The Tory, neither doubting nor sus-
pecting, counted out the money, and placed it on the table.
" Now show me the head," said he.
Sallette removed his hat, tapped himself on the fore- head, and said, " Here is the head of Robert Sallette !"
The Tory was so frightened that he jumped from the room, and Sallette pocketed the money and departed.
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On one occasion Robert Sallette is known to have spared the lives of two Tories, at least for a little while. Once when he and Andrew Walthour (for whom Walthourville in Georgia is named) and another man were riding along a narrow trail late in the afternoon, they met three other riders whom they suspected to be Tories. The plan that Sallette and his companions adopted to capture the men was very simple. An- drew Walthour, who was riding in front, was to pass the first and second men, Robert Sallette to pass the first. As Walthour came to the third man when Sallette had come to the second, and their companion to the first, the Liberty Boys seized the guns of the three simultaneously. The men had no opportunity either to fight or escape.
" Dismount, gentlemen !" said Sallette. Then he ad- dressed himself to the leader. "What is your name?"
In reply to this, a fictitious name was given, as Sal- lette and his companions afterwards found out.
" Where is your camp ? " asked Sallette.
"We are from over the river," answered the man, meaning the Altamaha.
" Where did you cross ? "
" At Beards Ferry." This was where the Whigs and the Liberty Boys were most numerous.
" That is not true !" exclaimed Sallette.
Then he turned to the second man, asked the same questions, and received the same replies. He turned to the third man, asked the same questions, and received the same replies.
" If you do not tell me the truth," exclaimed Sallette to this last man, " I'll .cut off your head !"
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The man persisted, and Sallette was as good as his word. The others begged for their lives, and declared that they would guide Sallette straight to their camp. This they did; and Sallette, aided by his prisoners, captured a large party of Tories.
Once when Robert Sallette and Andrew Walthour were marching with the advance guard of the American troops, they suddenly met the advance guard of the British. A short but sharp skirmish followed, during which a very large man of the British guard was killed. Observing that the dead man wore a pair of good boots, Sallette determined to get them. While he was pulling them off in the midst of a furious fire from the enemy, his companions called out to him to come away or he would surely be killed. " I must have the boots !" cried Sallette to his companions. "I want them for little John Way !"
Here was fun in the midst of tragedy ; for it is said that little John Way could have put both his feet and his fists into one of the boots.
One day Sallette dressed himself up as a British officer and accepted an invitation to dine with a party of the enemy. Suddenly, in the midst of the toasting and drinking, Sallette drew his sword, killed the men who sat to the right and left of him, sprang on his horse, and rode off unhurt, though he was in such a hurry that he had no time to throw the bridle reins over the horse's head.
At the White House, near Sunbury, Major Baker, of the patriot army, with thirty men, attacked and defeated a party of Tories under command of Captain Goldsmith.
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Among the slain was Lieutenant Gray, whose head was almost severed from his body by a stroke of Robert Sallette's sword.
On many occasions, when a battle was in progress, Sallette would detach himself from the American army, gain the rear of the enemy, and kill many men before he was discovered. If this brave man was indeed a descendant of the Acadians, he avenged the wrongs of many of his countrymen.
Another character who attracted attention during the War of the Revolution was Patrick Carr, whose hatred of the Tories made his name celebrated among the Liberty Boys of Georgia. Paddy Carr, as he was called, lived and died in Jefferson County. He was born in Ireland, but came to Georgia before the Revo- lution. When the independence movement began, he threw himself into it with all the ardor of his race. Owing to the cruelty of the Tories, he conceived a special hatred against them. He showed them no quarter. History gives but a word or two to his achievements, but tradition still keeps his name alive in the region where he operated. Like Sallette, he was an independent partisan; but, unlike Sallette, his operations were among those who could remember well enough, but who would not take the trouble to preserve the particulars of even the least of his ex- ploits. We know that Patrick Carr lived. We know that he became famous where recklessness and daring were common. But that is nearly all we know. It is said of him that during the war he killed one hun- dred Tories with his own hands. Once, when praised
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for his bravery, he smiled and shook his head, saying that he would have made a very good soldier, but the Lord had given him a heart that was too merciful. He no doubt remembered the atrocities of the Tories in the section that is now Jefferson, Columbia, Burke, and Wilkes counties. The cruelties they committed in that region during the Revolution have no parallel in civilized warfare.
Among the adventurous characters of that time, on the side of the British, Daniel McGirth stands easily first. . The history of his career during the war is a strange one. He was born in South Carolina, and entered into the struggle against the British with the utmost enthusiasm. He was a brave man, a hard fighter, and one of the most active of those who took up arms against the King. He was an expert woods- man, and was at home in the saddle. He was as- signed to duty as a scout, and was better equipped for that service, perhaps, than any man in the Amer- ican army. The ease with which he secured informa- tion of the enemy's movements and plans, and the energy that marked his movements, made his services of great value to the patriot cause. This was not thoroughly appreciated by some of the officers under whom McGirth acted.
He brought with him into the army a mare which he called "The Gray Goose." She is said to have been an elegant animal, and McGirth was very proud of her. With this mare under him, he always felt safe from pursuit. One of the American officers, who was a good judge of horseflesh, and who probably wanted to
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" cut a dash," as the saying is, saw this beautiful mare, and coveted her. Finding that McGirth scorned all offers to sell her, the officer adopted various means to obtain her. These efforts were resisted by McGirth, mainly on the ground that the mare was his own pri- vate property, and that she was essential to the duties he was called on to perform. Failing to gain his ends in this way, the officer continued to worry McGirth in other ways. He no doubt did something to rouse the ire of the scout, who was an irritable man, and who felt the importance of the service he was rendering to the cause. It is not now known how McGirth in- sulted the officer, -whether in a moment of passion he struck him, or whether he merely used rough lan- guage to him.
Whatever the offense, McGirth was placed under arrest, tried by a court-martial, found guilty of violat- ing the articles of war, and sentenced to be whipped. He received this punishment, and was placed in con- finement again, where he was to remain until he re- ceived another whipping. While thus held, he saw his mare picketed near the camp, and he immediately resolved to escape. He was successful in this. Once free, he secured The Gray Goose, leaped into the saddle, turned around, and, in the face of his pur- suers, pronounced threats of vengeance against all the Americans for his ill treatment.
There is no doubt that he was illtreated; but if he had not been an ignorant man, he would not have pro- nounced against the cause of liberty on account of the treatment he received at the hands of individuals. But
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the savage in his nature was aroused, and he carried out his fierce threats to the fullest extent. For the time being, he attached himself to another American com- mand; but at the first opportunity he deserted to the enemy, and became the scourge and terror of those who opposed the British cause. He spared none. ยท His field ex- tended from the Florida line to the Savannah River, in what is now Elbert
County, and far into
South Carolina. He appeared when least expected, and car- ried destruction with him. His mare became as noted as her master. In what was then Upper Georgia, she was known as " The Bald-faced Pony." On many an occasion he owed his life to the fleetness
of his mare. But his vengeance was never satisfied: it was always active, and thirsting for the blood of the American patriot. The whim of the officer to possess McGirth's mare was a foolish one at best. It was the cause of great public and private suffering.
When South Carolina was rescued from the British, STO. OF GA. - 5
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McGirth retreated into Georgia, and finally into Florida. When the Spaniards regained possession of that terri- tory, he became subject to their laws. For some reason or other he was thrown into one of the dungeons of the old fort at St. Augustine, where he was confined for five years. When released, his health was broken, and it was with great difficulty that he managed to return to Sumter District, in South Carolina, where his wife lived.
A very queer and eccentric character in the Revolu- tion was Captain Rory McIntosh, of Mallow. Though Rory was a kinsman of General Lachlan and Colonel John McIntosh, who were among the most active Lib- erty Boys in Georgia, he took up arms for the King, and a very devoted Tory he was. His eccentricities would have been called whims if he had not stuck to them with such constancy. He was a Highlander and
a follower of the Stuarts. How and why he became loyal to the new line of British kings, history does not state ; but his clan had a chief, and he no doubt thought that every government ought to have a monarch. When the Revolution began, he was over sixty years of age, and was living comfortably on his plantation at Mallow ; but he volunteered, and fought through the war.
A story is told of Rory McIntosh that once when the Spaniards held East Florida, he carried to St. Augustine a drove of cattle. He received payment in dollars, which he placed in a canvas bag behind him on his horse. When near his home, the bag gave way, and a part of the money fell out. He secured what was left and rode on, paying no attention to that which had fallen from the bag. When in need of money
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some years after, he returned to the place where the dollars had spilled, picked up as many as he wanted, and went back home. Whenever he could, he went about accompanied by a piper. Rory was a tall, finely formed man, with bristling whiskers and a ruddy com- plexion : consequently when he appeared on parade, he attracted great attention.
In 1778 two expeditions were sent from St. Augustine for the purpose of attacking Savannah, - one by sea, and one by land under com- mand of Lieutenant Colonel Prevost. This land expedition had been joined by Cap- tain Roderick McIn- tosh, in the capacity of a volunteer. He attached himself par- ticularly to the infantry company commanded by Captain Murray. When the British laid siege to Sunbury and
the fort, Captain Murray's company was in the line near the fort. One morning when Captain Rory had had a dram too much, he determined to sally out and summon the fort to surrender. His comrades tried to re- strain him, but he was determined. Finally he strutted out, a drawn claymore in his hand, with his trusty slave Jim. He approached the fort and cried out, -
" Surrender, you miscreants ! How dare you presume to resist his Majesty's arms?"
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Colonel McIntosh, who commanded the fort, saw at once the condition of Captain Rory, and forbade the men to fire. Then he threw open the gate, and said, - "Walk in, Mr. McIntosh, and take possession."
"No," cried Rory, "I'll not trust myself among such vermin. I order you to surrender !"
At that moment a rifle was fired by some one in the fort, and the ball passed through Captain Rory's face from side to side under the eyes. He fell. backwards, but immediately recovered, and stood on his feet flour- ishing his claymore. Then he began to walk backward, his face to the fort. Several shots were fired at him, and Jim called out, -
" Run, massa, run ! dey kill you !"
"Run!" cried Rory scornfully. " You may run, but I belong to a race that never runs!"
It was at the siege of Sunbury that Colonel McIn- tosh, when summoned by Colonel Prevost to surrender the fort, sent back the reply, " COME AND TAKE IT !"
AUNT NANCY HART.
T HERE lived in Georgia, during the Revolutionary struggle, the most remarkable woman in some respects that the country has produced. To find her match, we shall have to go to the fables that are told about the Amazons. The Liberty Boys called her Aunt Nancy Hart. The Indians, struck by her won- derful feats in behalf of her country, called her "The War Woman; " and there is a creek in Elbert County, where she lived, that was named by the Indians " War Woman's Creek."
There are other heroines to whom history has paid more attention, and whose deeds have been cele- brated in song and story; but not one of them was more devoted to the high cause of freedom, or more courageous, or depended less on aid from others, than Aunt Nancy Hart. In this last respect, the War Woman of Georgia stands alone in history, just as she stood alone when the Tories were waging a war of extermination, sparing neither women nor children, in the region in which she lived. Invention and fable have kindly come to the aid of the most famous of the world's heroines, but neither fable nor invention has touched the character or the deeds of this hero- ine of the Revolution. She stands out on the pages
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of history rough, uncouth, hot-tempered, unmanageable, uneducated, impolite, ugly, and sharp-tongued ; but, as her friends said of her, " What a honey of a patriot she was!" She loved the Liberty Boys as well as she loved her own children. It has been said that she was cruel; but this charge may as well be put out of sight. Before passing upon it, we should have to know what the War Woman's eyes had seen, and what terrible revelations her ears had heard. Standing for American independence in a region that swarmed with Tories, whose murderous deeds never have been and never will be fully set forth, Aunt Nancy Hart had to defend her own hearthstone and her own children.
The maiden name of this remarkable woman was Morgan, and she was born in North Carolina. She married Benjamin Hart, a brother of Colonel Thomas Hart of Kentucky. Thomas Hart was the father of the wife of Henry Clay, and the uncle of the cele- brated Thomas Hart Benton. Aunt Nancy and her husband moved to Georgia with the North Carolina emigrants, and settled on Broad River, in what is now Elbert County. She was nearly six feet high, and very muscular, -the result of hard work. She had red hair, and it is said that she was cross-eyed, but this has been denied on good authority. It matters little. Her eyes were keen enough to pierce through all Tory disguises, and that was enough for her. It is certain that her courage and her confidence kept alive the spark of liberty in hearts that would other- wise have smothered it, and was largely responsible
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for kindling it into the flame that finally swept the British out of that section, and subdued the Tories. When the Whigs and patriots who had been her neighbors were compelled to flee before the murderous Tories, she refused to go with them, but stood her ground and never ceased to speak her sentiments boldly. Nothing but the wholesome dread with which she had inspired them prevented the Tories from mur- dering her and her children. When General Elijah Clarke moved the women and children of the Broad River region to an asylum in Kentucky, and the Lib- erty Boys had taken refuge in South Carolina, Aunt Nancy Hart remained at home, and for a long and dismal period she was unprotected save by her own remarkable courage.
At that period the houses were built of logs, and the chimneys were built of sticks plastered with clay. They were called "stack chimneys." One evening Aunt Nancy and her children were sitting around the fire, on which a pot of soap was boiling. Now, a pot of soap must be constantly stirred, and for this the strong, muscular arms of Aunt Nancy were peculiarly fitted. So she stirred the soap, and, as she stirred, told the youngsters the latest news of the war. Presently one of her children chanced to discover some one peeping through the crack of the chimney, eaves- dropping. By a gesture or a nod of the head Aunt Nancy was informed of what was going on. She smiled, and grew more spirited in her talk, rattling away and laughing as she gave exaggerated accounts of the recent defeats of the Tories. As she talked,
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she stirred the bubbling soap, and kept her keen eyes on the crack where the eavesdropper had been seen. Suddenly she dashed a ladleful of boiling soap through the crack full into the face of the intruder. It was so quickly and deftly done, that the eavesdropper had no time to dodge the scalding stuff. He received the full benefit of it. Blinded and half crazed by the pain, he howled and screamed at a tremendous rate. Aunt Nancy went out, and, after amusing herself at his expense, bound him fast and held him prisoner. The prob- ability is that the next day she tucked up her petticoats, shoul- dered her gun, and com- pelled the unlucky Tory to ford the river ahead of her; and that, once on the other side, she kept in constant communication with the Clarkes and with other partisans of the American cause.
Her husband, whom she sometimes jokingly de- scribed as "a poor stick," assisted her in her commu- nications. A conch shell was kept at the spring, some distance from the house. On this conch shell the chil- dren were taught to blow the blasts that gave Mr. Hart
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information. One signal was, "The enemy is at hand;":" another was, " Keep close ; " another, " Make tracks for the swamp;" and still another was that he and his friends were wanted at the cabin.
At the very darkest hour of the Revolution in Georgia, Aunt Nancy performed one of her most re- markable feats, -one that brought into play all the courage and devotion of her strong nature, and all the tact and audacity that belonged to her character.
Brigadier General Andrew Williamson, with three hundred men, was encamped near Augusta. When Charleston fell, this officer, who was already a traitor, though his treachery had not been avowed, called his officers together, and expressed the opinion that it would be foolish to further resist the King. He there- fore advised them to return to their homes, and there accept the protection which would be offered them. He then abandoned his command, which was immedi- ately disbanded. Shortly afterwards Colonels Brown and Garrison, two partisans of the King's army who had made themselves notorious by their cruelty to Ameri- cans, seized Augusta. Brown had been tarred and feathered in Augusta just before the breaking-out of the Revolution, and he made the patriots of that town and of the country roundabout pay dearly for the indig- nities that had been heaped upon him on account of his loyalty to the Crown. He confiscated the property of the patriots, and issued an order banishing all Whig families beyond the borders of Georgia.
Raiding parties were sent into the region in the neighborhood of Augusta to compel the inhabitants to
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take the oath of allegiance to the King. One of these parties entered the house of Colonel John Dooly, a gal- lant officer, and murdered him in cold blood in the pres- ence of his wife and children. Colonel Dooly was the father of Judge Dooly, who became famous in Georgia after the war.
A detachment of this murdering party found its way to Aunt Nancy Hart's cabin. There were five Tories in the detachment, and Aunt Nancy received them coldly enough. They told her they had come to inquire into the truth of a report they had heard to the effect that she had aided a well-known rebel to escape from a company of King's men by whom he was pursued. With a twinkle of malice in her eyes, Aunt Nancy boldly declared that she had aided her Liberty Boy to escape, and then she described the affair.
She said that one day she heard the gallop of a horse. Looking out, she saw a horseman approaching, and at once knew him to be a Whig flying from pursuers. She let down the bars near her cabin, told him to ride his horse right through her house, in at the front door and out at the back, to take to the swamp, and hide himself the best he could. She then put up the bars, entered her house, closed the doors, and went about her business. In a little while a party of Tories rode up, and called to her with some rudeness. She muffled her head and face in a shawl, opened the door slowly, and asked in a feeble voice who it was that wanted to pester a sick, lone woman. The Tories said they had been pur- suing a man, and had traced him near her house. They wanted to know if any one had passed that way. "I
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told 'em," said Aunt Nancy to the listening Tories, "that I had seen a man on a sorrel horse turn out of the road into the woods a little ways back. So they went back and took to the woods, and my Whig boy got off safe and sound."
Naturally this story, boldly told, did not please the five Tories who heard it; but something in the War Woman's eye prevented them from offering her any personal injury. Instead, they ordered her to give them something to eat.
"I never feed King's men if I can help it," she replied. "The scamps have fixed me so that I can't feed my own family in a decent manner. They have run off with all my pigs and poultry except that old gobbler you see in the yard there."
"Well, you shall cook the old gobbler for us," ex- claimed one who seemed to be the leader of the party. Suiting the action to the word, he raised his musket and shot the gobbler. One of his men brought it into the house and gave it to Aunt Nancy, with or- ders to clean and cook it at once. This, of course, made that stanch patriot very angry, and she gave the Tories a violent tongue lashing.
It is probable that while she was dressing the turkey for the pot, the Tories let some hint drop about the outrageous murder of Colonel John Dooly, who was a warm friend of Aunt Nancy's. At any rate, she sud- denly changed her tactics. She ceased to storm and quarrel, the scowl left her face, and she soon seemed to be in high good humor. She went about getting the meal ready with great good will. She sent her
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