Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends - Sophie Lee Foster

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that it shall be

       The happy land of liberty,

       Through time's continuation.

       —Francis H. Orme.

      This song has been adopted as a State song by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Georgia, and as a national song by the Continental Congress 1906.

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      By Mrs. M. S. D'Vaughn.

       Archibald Bullock Chapter, D. A. R., Montezuma, Ga.

      This is a story of how a woman's wit and tact saved her husband's life from the hands of the Tories, in the dark days of the Revolution.

      It was in South Carolina, the British General, Cornwallis, had ordered any American sympathizer caught, to be hung or shot at sight. Numberless outrages had been done and the feeling was intensely bitter against the Tories, or Royalists, as they called themselves. Especially so was it in the section of the country where lived Elizabeth Robert. Her husband was fighting with Marion, the "Swamp Fox," in another part of the state and the only protector for herself and two young children was a faithful slave called "Daddy Cyrus." Here on her plantation Elizabeth spent her days living quietly enough. However, she was no idler, but rather a most thrifty housewife and her muscadine wine excelled any other and was known far and wide for its delicious flavor.

      Now, John Robert grew restless, as the days passed and no word came from his wife, so obtaining leave of absence from General Marion, he quietly slipped through the lines, and by a devious route, appeared one dark night at the door of his home. But some foreign eye had noted the unusual happiness and excitement in the "big house" as it was called, and in a short while it was surrounded, and Capt. John was a prisoner in the hands of the Tories. Mary, with tears, pleaded for her husband's life, but to no purpose, and dawn was to see his dead body hanging from the limb of a huge oak near by. Tears availing nothing, Elizabeth's quick brain began to teem with plans for John's escape.

      Slipping down to "Daddy Cyrus'" cabin, she told him of her plan of rescue, then back to her house she ran, her absence not having been noted. Then bringing all her womanly beauty, graciousness and charm to bear upon the Tories, she inticed them into the dining room, leaving her husband tightly bound to the tree where he was to meet his death—and then from her mahogany sideboard, she served to them her famous muscadine wine. Drink after drink, she offered them, while her smiles and gay repartee allured them. More—more—and yet more, until their befuddled wits were completely gone.

      Then faithful old "Daddy Cyrus" waiting, watching, guarding, with his sharp knife, cut the bonds of his "Young Marster," and into the darkness Capt. John was gone back to his comrades with a hurried kiss from the lips of his wife who had saved him.

      The Tories were persuaded that the wine was the cause of their hazy belief of the capture of Capt. John Robert, and no harm was done to Elizabeth.

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      Poem composed by Mrs. C. M. O'Hara and read before David Meriwether Chapter, Greenville, Ga., Georgia day, 1911.

      Georgia, the baby of the original thirteen,

       Not, however, youngest in importance, I ween,

       Was born to the colonies in seventeen thirty-two,

       To help those in prison their lives to renew.

       What Oglethorpe planned for this child of his heart

       Was that rum and slaves of it should not be a part,

       But this wayward child would have her own way,

       In spite of her mistakes she has made up to date,

       Georgia is called of the South the Empire State.

       She was the fifth of her sisters in secession to say,

       "The Union she'd leave" when there was not fair play.

       This child of famous men has sent her portion

       From the "marshes of Glynn" to the Pacific Ocean.

       Near Savannah, where Oglethorpe first planted his foot,

       Ebenezer, the first orphanage, has taken firm root.

       Another distinction, too, fair Georgia can claim

       Is the first college for women, Wesleyan by name.

       Towering intellects she reared in her Toombs and her Hills;

       She can boast of her factories and her mills;

       She has kept pace with her sisters in every movement

       That tends to her children's uplift and improvement.

       Now in heathen lands, across the deep waters,

       Performing deeds of mercy are Georgia's sons and daughters.

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      Miss Francis Clarke.

       Prize Essay of Girls' High School, Atlanta, Georgia, for the loving cup offered by Joseph Habersham Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

      The forts of Georgia, though for the most part hurriedly and roughly built for protection against Indian, Spaniards, Englishman, or Federal, have nevertheless been the scenes of the bravest defenses, of the most courageous deeds. In them probably more than anywhere else, the men of Georgia have shown their hardy spirits and distressing trials. Never has a Georgia fort been surrendered except from absolute necessity, though its protectors were weak from starvation.

      The first of the long list of five hundred forts that have been erected in Georgia is Fort Charles, on the northeastern coast of Georgia. It was built about 1562 by the direction of John Ribault, who with a party of Huguenots had come from France with the approval of Admiral Coligny, the Protestant leader at that time. Two years later the fort was abandoned, and there is now no sign to point out the spot where it once stood.

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      Fort Argyle was the next fort on Georgia soil. It was built by Oglethorpe in 1733 for the protection of his Savannah colony. Then followed a wonderful series of forts, when you consider the few people in Georgia at that time and the dangers of traveling on account of the Indians. But Oglethorpe, braving all perils in the next four or five years had established Forts Thunderbolt, near Savannah; St. Simon, on St. Simon's Island; Frederick, at Frederica, on the same island; Fort William and Fort Andrews, on Cumberland Island, besides several other unimportant ones such as the fort on Jekyl Island and those along the Altamaha. These forts, especially Fort William and Fort Andrews, served as a great protection from the Indians and the Spaniards; but as time went on, the Spaniards ceased invading the country, the Indians were forced westward, and the forts fell into disuse. Indeed by the opening of the Revolution, scarcely a vestige remained of these once important forts.

      For some years preceding the Revolution the white settlers on the frontier had much trouble with the Indians, and they began to build forts inland to the westward. In 1774, at Sherrill's Fort, about three hundred men, women and children were massacred. These dreadful massacres continued all during the Revolution at the instigation of the British, and added to the many other troubles of the Georgians the expense of keeping up these frontier forts.

      At

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