Wikipedia:WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state)/New Georgia Encyclopedia/Nancy Hart

Nancy Hart (ca. 1735-1830) was Georgia's most acclaimed female participant during the Revolutionary War (1775-83). A devout patriot, Hart gained notoriety during the revolution for her determined efforts to rid the area of Tories, English soldiers, and British sympathizers. Her single-handed efforts against Tories and Indians in the Broad River frontier, as well as her covert activities as a patriot spy, have become the stuff of myth, legend, and local folklore.

Frontierswoman

(merged to Nancy Hart)

Patriot and spy

During the Revolutionary War contest between up-country Whigs and Tories in Wilkes County, Hart unleashed her greatest fury against British loyalists. For most of the conflict, she was left alone to fend for herself and her children while her husband served as a lieutenant in the Georgia militia under Elijah Clarke. She emerged as a staunch patriot, facilitating the American cause as a spy. She often disguised herself as a simpleminded man and wandered into Tory camps and British garrisons to gather information, which she subsequently passed along to patriot authorities. She was also an active participant in the conflict and, according to some accounts, was present at the Battle of Kettle Creek on February 14, 1779.

Many of Hart's most legendary acts of courage actually took place at the family cabin, not far from the Broad River. One evening, a Tory spy crept up to the log cabin, and one of the Hart children, noticing an eyeball peeking through a crack, secretly informed her mother. Hart, who was making soap around the fireplace, filled her ladle with boiling soap water and flung it through the crack. A scream confirmed her aim. The Tory was hog-tied and taken as a prisoner to local militia.

The most famous story of Hart's escapades as a frontier patriot began when a group of six (some accounts say five) Tories came to her cabin and demanded information concerning the location of a certain Whig leader. Only minutes earlier, the Whig, hotly pursued by the Tories, had stopped by the Hart cabin and enlisted Hart's aid as he made his escape. Hart insisted that no one had passed through her neck of the woods for days. Convinced that she was lying, one of the Tories shot and killed Hart's prized gobbler. After ordering her to cook the turkey, the Tories entered the cabin, stacked their weapons in the corner, and demanded something to drink. Hart obliged them by opening her jugs of wine. Once the Tories began to feel the intoxicating effects of the wine, Hart sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for a bucket of water. Hart secretly instructed her to blow a conch shell, which was kept on a nearby stump, to alert the neighbors that Tories were in the cabin.

As Hart served her unwanted guests, she frequently passed between them and their stacked weapons. Inconspicuously, she began to pass the loaded muskets, one by one, through a chink in the cabin wall to Sukey, who had by this time slipped around to the rear of the building. When the Tories noticed what she was doing and sprang to their feet, Hart threatened to shoot the first man who moved a foot. Ignoring her warning, one Tory lunged forward, and Hart pulled the trigger, killing the man. Seizing another weapon, she urged her daughter to run for help. Hart shot a second Tory who made a move toward the stacked weapons and held off the remaining loyalists until her husband and several others arrived. Benjamin Hart wanted to shoot the Tories, but Hart wanted them to hang. Consequently the remaining Tories were hanged from a nearby tree. In 1912 workmen grading a railroad near the site of the old Hart cabin unearthed a neat row of six skeletons that lay under nearly three feet of earth and were estimated to have been buried for at least a century. This discovery seemed to validate the most oft-told story of the Hart legend.

Life after the War

(merged to Nancy Hart)

References

This article incorporates material written by Clay Ouzts of Gainesville College for the New Georgia Encyclopedia ("NGE"), posted or last updated January 29, 2010. All derived works must credit the NGE and the original author.

Further reading

• Ray Chandler, "The Legend of Nancy Hart," North Georgia Journal (summer 1999), 22-26.
• Kenneth Coleman, ;;The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, [1958]).
• E. Merton Coulter, "Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution: The Story of the Growth of a Tradition," Georgia Historical Quarterly 39 (June 1955): 118-51.
• George R. Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia, of the Cherokees, and the Author (New York: D. Appleton, 1855; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965).
• John Thomas Scott, "Nancy Hart: 'Too Good Not to Tell Again,'" in Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, vol. 1., ed. Ann Short Chirhart and Betty Wood (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009).