Georgia
and the Revolutionary War
Loyalists/Patriots
 Loyalists/Tories/British
Royalists/King’s
Friends
 Patriots/Whigs/Liberty Boys/
Colonials/Sons and Daughters of Liberty
 ..\The Liberty Boys.mht
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
 Signers
of the Declaration of
Independence from Georgia
 George Walton/youngest signer
 Button Gwinnett/most valuable
signature/most sought after collector’s
autograph in the world ($250,000)
 Lyman Hall/helped establish UGA
Button Gwinnett
Button Gwinnett
 (1735-1777)
After the Governor died in
1777, Button Gwinnett served as the
Acting Governor of Georgia for two
months, but did not achieve
reelection. His life was one of economic
and political disappointment. Button
Gwinnett was the second signer of the
Declaration to die as the result of a duel
outside Savannah, Georgia.
Lyman Hall
Lyman Hall (1724-1790)

Lyman Hall was one of four signers trained as a
minister and was a graduate of Princeton
College. During his life he also served as a
doctor, governor and planter. During the
Revolutionary War, his property was destroyed
and he was accused of treason. He left Georgia
and spent time in South Carolina and
Connecticut to escape prosecution. When the
war was over, he went back to Georgia and
began to practice medicine. He served as
Governor of Georgia from 1783-1784.
George Walton
Offices he held:
 Continental Congress
 Colonel of First
Georgia Militia
 Governor of Georgia
 U.S. Congress
 Chief Justice of
Georgia
 U. S. Senator
George Walton (1741-1804)—
 George
Walton was elected to the
Continental Congress in 1776, 1777, 1780
and 1781,
 Colonel of the First Georgia Militia, in 1778,
Governor of Georgia from 1779-1780,
 Chief Justice of the State Superior Court of
Georgia from 1783-89, a presidential elector
in 1789,
 Governor of Georgia from 1789-1790 and a
United States Senator from 1795-1796.
In Georgia
 Most
of the fighting during the American
Revolution was between Georgia Patriots
and Loyalists
 Activities such as the Committees for
Correspondence, Boston Tea Party, and
the Continental Congress were supported
by the Patriots
Elijah Clarke/Battle of Kettle Creek
 Led
rebel militia group
 Defeated force of more than 800 British
troops /Battle of Kettle Creek (near
Washington, GA)
 Important battle to GA /Patriot victory
 Lifted spirits of GA militia
 SHOWED GEORGIA’S RESOLVE TO
RIGHT AND THERE WERE VERY FEW
PATRIOT LOSSES

Elijah Clarke was born in
North Carolina in 1742. He
was an active participant
in the American
Revolution, being
wounded several times
and taking part in
numerous skirmishes, the
most notable being when
he led American militia to
a victory over the British
at the Battle of Kettle
Creek in Georgia. When
the British occupied
Georgia, Clarke helped
lead a guerilla warfare
effort on the Georgia and
South Carolina frontier.

After the Revolution, he served in the Georgia
state assembly, and continued fighting Indians
on the frontier; he even illegally tried to set up
an independent nation, called the Trans-Oconee
Republic, on Creek lands. Though he died
almost bankrupt in 1799, Georgia did honor him
for his war time service by naming Clarke
County for him in 1801
Austin Dabney
 Freed
slave/ mulatto (mixed parentage)
 War hero/Battle of Kettle Creek
 Took place in war for Richard Aycock
 Wounded in action/received land & military
pension
 According
to Revolutionary lore, Nancy
Hart famously outwitted a group of Tories
who had invaded her home. She served
them wine and, once they were drunk,
filched their weapons, which she used to
shoot two of the men and hold the rest
captive until help arrived.
Nancy Hart
 Lived
near Elberton, GA with 8 kids/
husband
 6 Tories stopped/forced her to cook/heard
bragging of murder of Hart’s neighbor
 Nancy gave them whiskey
 Daughters ran for woods/sounded
alarm/help
 Nancy took rifles as she served meal
 Men
rushed her/she killed one/held others
at gunpoint until help arrived
 Remains of 6 skeletons in one grave
uncovered near her home in 1912 by
railroad workers
 ..\The Nancy Hart Story.mht
 During
the Revolutionary War, Walton was
captured by the British in 1778 during the
attack on Savannah and released within
the year.
 He was the founder of the Richmond
Academy and Franklin College which later
became the University of Georgia.
Siege of Savannah
 December
1778
 British took control of Savannah
 October 1779/American & French attacked
British/45 minute battle/British won/Count
Pulaski (1 of America’s best foreign
patriots) died with 1,000 American men
 Savannah stayed in British hands 3 ½
years
http://www.gpb.org/georgiastories/st
ories?page=7