Mike Massey

The Warwoman of Georgia

─Based on Actual People and Events─

In early 1773 the British Royal Province of Georgia was a strip of land barely 40 miles wide running along the Savannah River from Augusta, a small trading village, down to Savannah and west along the coast to Florida. The western edge of the colony was a true frontier of Indian lands and wilderness off limits and dangerous to settlers. In June of 1773, tribal leaders of the Cherokee and Creek Indian Nations, in order for the British to forgive their mounting trade debt to the province, signed a treaty ceding another 2,000,000 acres of land to Georgia stretching from Augusta north to the Keowee River. The royal governor, to grow his province, advertised the sale of this new land—The Ceded Land—to anyone wishing to homestead there.

Soon, pioneer families made their way to Georgia and over the next ten years, no residents of America ever endured more struggle and suffering to protect their homes then these settlers of the ceded land, first from bands of hostile Indians, angry at the loss of their ancestral lands, and then, as the Revolutionary War moved to the south, the British army. Their most difficult opponents however, would be Loyalists—those settlers who wanted to remain under British rule—many of them family and friends.
Among the new Georgia homesteaders was the family of Nancy Morgan Hart, a smart, stubborn and tough frontier woman who, with her husband and a small group of Patriot friends, fought bravely against those trying to drive them from their land.

Characters

(Alphabetical Order)

Thomas Brown

This young British nobleman arrived from England in 1773 and purchased over 5000 acres in the ceded land to begin a tobacco plantation. As talk of a war with Great Britain started, he angered many of his neighbors by taking the side of the king. He was severely beaten by the Americans rebels for taking that position and his land was taken. He developed a plan to seek revenge against those Patriots who dishonored him.

Alexander Cameron

A Scotsman who immigrated to America in 1738, he joined the British army and was stationed at Fort Prince George on the Keowee River in Cherokee territory to help stabilize conditions on the frontier. In time he became a British Indian agent and when hostilities started between the Cherokee and the settlers, he sided with the Indians and arranged to get them guns if they would also help the British.

Dragging Canoe

As a young Cherokee Warrior and son of the paramount chief of all Cherokee, he challenged his father on the many treaties being signed with the settlers. He argued the Cherokee land of their ancestors was being stolen. When treaties continued, and against his father’s wishes, he gathered an army of Cherokee warriors and swore the land taken would be “dark and bloody”.

Elijah Clark

A strong, hardworking farmer, he arrived in Georgia from South Carolina in 1773. He always spoke his mind and quickly became a leader in The Ceded Land. He was a strong believer in British rule even as many of his neighbors were beginning to turn away. It would take a local crisis to make him a Patriot leader.

Charles Cornwallis

He arrived in America in 1776 as a seasoned lieutenant general in the British Army. He served under Major General Henry Clinton during an attempt to capture Charleston, SC and return the rebellious southern colonies to British rule. Despite overwhelming naval and army forces, the mission failed and the fleet sailed back to New York. He swore to revenge the embarrassment and return to defeat the American rebels.

Nancy Morgan Hart

Growing up in North Carolina, Nancy: was taught to shoot and hunt by her cousin Daniel Boone; learned of the arrogance of British soldiers from her cousin Daniel Morgan; and was taught herbal medicine by a neighbor. She was 38 in 1773 when she migrated with husband Ben and their family to the ceded land in Georgia. Her ability to handle a gun, help with the sick, along with her no-nonsense attitude earned her the respect of all. She would fight bravely against Indian, Loyalist and British foes. She was such a fierce warrior that the Cherokee gave her a nickname: Wahatchee – The Warwoman.

Andrew Pickens

At 22 years old he became a veteran of a 1760 Indian campaign in Long Canes, South Carolina, across the river from Augusta. He was 38 and a militia captain when the Indian conflict rose in 1776. His bravery commanding SC and GA fighting units helped end the conflict and he would go on to be an extraordinary Revolutionary War leader.

The Southern Colonies in 1773

─ BIO ─

I became interested in early American history as a youth. The small Eastern Connecticut village where I grew up is named Moosup after a Narragansett Native American chief who ruled the area. I always wanted to write something about the area history and although my interest was high, with family and work, it was not in the cards.

When I retired from a large communications company I relocated to northern South Carolina and quickly found a similar historical background as in my youth and began to research it. What I discovered was amazing. Even life-long neighbors and friends from South Carolina and Georgia were not aware of the wonderful story of the people who helped settle the area and create our southern states.

Nancy Morgan Hart, The Warwoman of Georgia, was the central catalyst to help me tell that story.

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The Warwoman of Georgia,

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