American
Revolution
GEORGIA

Loyalists (TORIES)
 American Loyalists, or "Tories" as their opponents called
them, opposed the Revolution, and many took up arms
against the rebels.
 What motivated the Loyalists? Most educated Americans,
whether Loyalist or Revolutionary, accepted John Locke's
theory of natural rights and limited government. Thus, the
Loyalists criticized such British actions as the Stamp Act and
the Coercive Acts.
 Loyalists wanted to pursue peaceful forms of protest
because they believed that violence would give rise to
mob rule or tyranny. They also believed that independence
would mean the loss of economic benefits derived from
membership in the British mercantile system.

Patriots
 Patriots (also known as American Whigs,
Revolutionaries, Congress-Men or Rebels) was
the name the colonists of the British Thirteen
United Colonies, who rebelled against British
control during the American Revolution,
called themselves.
 Americans rejected taxes not imposed by
their own legislatures. "No taxation without
representation!" was their slogan—referring to
the lack of representation in the British
parliament.

Elijah Clarke
Among the few heroes of the
Revolutionary War from Georgia, Elijah
Clarke was the leader at the Battle of
Kettle Creek.
Clarke's name appears on a petition in
support of the king's government in
1774. However, he subsequently joined
the rebels and, as a militia captain

Elijah Clarke
 All of Georgia and most of South Carolina
fell to the British in 1780. Elijah Clarke and
thirty men passed through the Native
American lands to continue the fight in
the Carolinas. As a partisan, Clarke led
frontier guerrillas in inflicting a heavy toll
against the British and American Loyalists

Elijah Clarke
 After the war Clarke served in the state
assembly from 1781 to 1790, on the
commission of confiscated estates, and in the
state constitutional convention of 1789.
 However, Clarke grew impatient with the
failures of the national and state government
to bring peace to the frontier and took
matters into his own hands. He tried to form
an independent republic, known today as the
Trans-Oconee Republic, by seizing Creek
lands on the Oconee frontier.

Austin Dabney
 Austin Dabney was a slave who became
a private in the Georgia militia and fought
against the British during the Revolutionary
War (1775-83). He was the only African
American to be granted land by the state
of Georgia in recognition of his bravery
and service during the Revolution and
one of the few to receive a federal
military pension.

Austin Dabney
 Born in Wake County, North Carolina, in the 1760s,
Austin Dabney moved with his master, Richard
Aycock, to Wilkes County, Georgia, in the late 1770s.
In order to avoid military service himself, Aycock sent
Dabney to join the Georgia militia as a substitute.
Serving as an artilleryman under Elijah Clarke,
Dabney is believed to have been the only black
soldier to participate in the Battle of Kettle Creek
 He was severely wounded in the thigh during the
fighting, and Giles Harris, a white soldier, took
Dabney to his home to care for the wound. Dabney
remembered Harris's kindness and worked for the
Harris family for the rest of his life.

Nancy Hart
Georgia's most acclaimed female participant during the
Revolutionary War (1775-83) was Nancy Hart. 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.

Georgia’s signers of the
Declaration of Independence

Button Gwinnett
Button Gwinnett was one of three Georgia
signers of the Declaration of Independence. He
served in Georgia's colonial legislature, in the
Second Continental Congress, and as president
of Georgia's Revolutionary Council of Safety.
In Philadelphia, Gwinnett served on a number of
committees and supported separation from
England. He voted for independence in July,
signed the Declaration of Independence in
August (along with other Georgians George
Walton and Lyman Hall), and soon afterward
returned to Georgia, where he became
embroiled in political controversy.

Button Gwinnett
 Gwinnett proposed a military foray into British East Florida, a
defensive measure that he argued would secure Georgia's
southern border. McIntosh and his brother George (who
had opposed Gwinnett's election as president and
subsequently had been arrested for treason) condemned
the scheme as politically motivated.
 McIntosh was furious. He publicly denounced Gwinnett in
the harshest terms, and Gwinnett challenged him to a duel.
Though each man shot the other, only Gwinnett's wound
proved fatal. He died on May 19, 1777, and was buried in
Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery, though the exact
location of his grave is unknown. Gwinnett County was
named for him when it was established in 1818.

Lyman Hall
Lyman Hall was one of three Georgians
to sign the Declaration of
Independence. He served as a
representative to the Continental
Congress and as governor of Georgia
(1783-84).
An active and early leader in the
Revolutionary movement, he was
elected to represent St. John's Parish in
the Second Continental Congress in
1775. He participated in debates in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that year
but did not vote, as he did not
represent the entire colony. A year
later, as an official representative of
Georgia, Hall signed the Declaration

Lyman Hall
 InJanuary 1783 he was elected governor.
During his administration he had to deal
with a number of difficult issues, including
confiscated estates, frontier problems with
Loyalists and Indians, and a bankrupt and
depleted treasury. One highlight,
however, was the role he played in
helping to establish the University of
Georgia in 1785.

George Walton
George Walton was one of three
Georgians to sign the Declaration of
Independence. He served in numerous
capacities for the state of Georgia
after the American Revolution.
By the eve of the American Revolution
he was one of the most successful
lawyers in Georgia. Active in Georgia's
Revolutionary government, he was
elected to the Provincial Congress and
then became president of the Council
of Safety in 1775. In 1776 he served as a
delegate to the Second Continental
Congress in Philadelphia, where on July
4 he signed the Declaration

George Walton
 Returning to Savannah, Walton was
captured during the 1778 British assault on
the city, led by Archibald Campbell. After
his exchange he returned to Georgia and
was elected governor in 1779, having
switched allegiances from the
conservative to the radical faction. He
served for two controversial months
before reelection to Congress.

Battle Of Kettle Creek
Kettle Creek flows into the Little River near the Tyrone
community in Wilkes County. It likely takes its name
from a local fish trap, called a kittle.
The most important event to occur at Kettle Creek,
however, took place on Sunday, February 14, 1779. On
that morning 600 American supporters of the British
cause, popularly known as Loyalists or Tories,
encamped atop a hill in a bend of the creek.

Battle of Kettle Creek
 The Battle of Kettle Creek provided the rebel
cause with a victory, however small, in the
midst of a string of much larger defeats. The
British had expected thousands of loyal
southerners to rally to their flag and restore
the whole South to the king.
 After Kettle Creek, British leaders should have
realized that practical Loyalist military support
in the South, if it ever existed, had
disappeared.

Siege of Savannah
 Governor Sir James Wright returned to
Georgia on July 14, 1779, and announced the
restoration of Georgia to the crown, with the
privilege of exemption from taxation. Thus
Georgia became the first, and ultimately the
only one, of the thirteen states in rebellion to
be restored to royal allegiance. Governor
Wright had hardly settled to his duties when
on September 3, 1779, a French fleet of
twenty-five ships appeared unexpectedly off
the Georgia coast.

Siege of Savannah
 Count Charles Henri d'Estaing intended to
oblige George Washington by stopping
off on his way back to France to
recapture Savannah. He disembarked his
army of 4,000-5,000 men at Beaulieu on
the Vernon River and proceeded to
besiege Savannah.