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Show Ij How a Country Girl Duped Lord Rawdon's Scouts Emily Goigor, tho fk I to 1 ff A Vm 1 1 SreaffBj8B gH?g JUT rlOtieT JVlOtlierS By Mary W. and Harry C. Green " I In that -wonderful scries of short campaigns near the close of the Revolution, Revolu-tion, in which General Greene, with Vnit tho ragged remnant, of an nrm', lost ever' battlo and won cacli cnntpniijn by a retreat, and which ended with the driviup of tho British out of every colony col-ony or tho Southland, thoro wns a bruvo deed done by a patriotic maid of South Carolina that is still told in song and story. It came in May. 17S1, ut tho time Genoral Greene, sorely harassed, wns forced to raise tho siepco of Fort. .Ninety-six .Ninety-six und beat a retreat before tho advancing ad-vancing forces of Lord limvdon. His I men, few in number, halt clad and poorly fed, wore weary and dispiritod. "Wo can got across into Virginia, and escape this vny," one of his officers said, exultantly. "Wo aro not going across into Virginia," Vir-ginia," the general replied. "Wo are going to drive tho British out of South Carolina or leavo our bones here." Al-road3' Al-road3' tho plans were forming in tho mind of tho militant old Quaker. Ho was about to execute another of the sorties that were slowly but surely wearing out tho British "forces. Raw-don, Raw-don, with tho fatuitous judgment ho characteristic of most of the titlod English Eng-lish officers of thnt day. instead of pursuing pur-suing Greene with all the forces at his command, had sent back a part of his troops when ho had reached the Broad. It was now tho purpose of General Greene, could ho get; reinforcements, to round on Rawdon. To do' this ho must get word across tho country to General Sumter then only fifty miles away, on tho Waloree. But to get, an order carried to Sumter wns most hazardous. haz-ardous. The country was overrun with ful. Tho person caught bearing Hiich a mcssago would bo hanged as a spy, and no trustworthy man could be found who wanted to undertake tho mission. Proffors Her Sorvicos. Thon it was that Emily Geigor presented pre-sented herself and proffered her services serv-ices Sho was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer in Orangeburg county, whore a settlement of emigrants from Holland hnd boon mado years before at n place still known as tho "Dutch Fork" of tho Congaree river. Sho has boon described aa "a slight, dark-haired dark-haired girl, scarcely our. of her toons. I high spirited, and intensely patriotic. She was visiting in the vicinity of General Gen-eral Groeno's hoadquartors when word camo that he greatly needed a messenger messen-ger who could ride through the enemy's country and carry an order to General Sumter. No one "know better thnn this Dutch-American girl of the dangers of such a venture. But sho did not hesitate. hesi-tate. Sho wont straight to Gonoral Greene and offered to curry his message. mes-sage. General Groenc was well pleased. A woman of rondy wit and with tho spirit that she appeared to possess, nnd who knew tho country, was apt to got through safely where a man would bo taken, and if once captured, would bo given short shrift. Novortheloss ho impressed gravely on the girl's mind tho clangors which she ran in undertaking undertak-ing such a mission. Sho only smiled, "t have a fleet horse, which I broke and trained nrysolf." sho said. "I "EMILY GEIGEK BEAEING MESSAGE FOR GENERAL GREENE." know the country, and I am suro that J can get through." British soldiery, and. what was more to bo dreaded, was alivo with predator bands of Tories, vindietivo and rovonge-Mounting rovonge-Mounting her horse tho girl rode away, loaving the general more pcr- turbed over hor safoty than she appeared ap-peared to bo horsclf. And indeed it General Greene trusted hor and prepared pre-pared his mofisago to General Sumtor, carefully reading it to the girl in ordor that if sho found herself in danger of being captured sho might destroy it and so bear no incriminating ovidonco upon her person. was a hazardous undertaking. To Sumter's camp, as tho crow flics, was fully fifty miles from .Fort Ninety-six, across a county in which there was 'uo 8eml)lancc of law or ordor; every path and highway, parolled by Rawdon Raw-don 'h scouts and traversed by marauding ma-rauding bands of ToriCB and petty bandits, who carod for nothing but to pillage and despoil. For a time sho rode in an opposito direction from that sho intended to pursue, and then making mak-ing a wide detour, shaped hor course for Sumter's camp uh straight aa highways and byways would permit. Tho first day ol hor journey passed without incident, in-cident, though she barely escaped meeting meet-ing two pnrtics of mounted men by leaving the highway and riding into the timber. That night sho stop-od at a farm house, whore she found friends anil sympathizers. On the second day, well along toward the noon hour, just as she was congratulating horsclf upon having escaped trouble until the most dangerous danger-ous part of hor ride was over, she suddenly found horsolf facing a small party of Rawdon 's scout's, Her heart was in her mouth, as she afterward described de-scribed it, but outwardly sho wns us calm and self-possessed as if she had been in hor own homo. How to keep that letter from falling into tho hands of tho soldiers was tho uppermost thought; in her mind. Sho was not as good a prevaricator as alio had bolioved, and at onco forgot all the little- explanations expla-nations and oxcuses that sho had conned over for just such an occasion as this. Sho blushed and stammered when tho young officer in command pressed her' as to where she was going and the nature of her mission. Ato tho Letter. After a short conference among thorn-selves, thorn-selves, tho soldiers told her that thoy would have to hold her as a prisoner for the time, and she was locked in a room in a farm house. What hor captors intended to do with Iiot she did not know, but no sooner had tho door boon closed upon her than she tore up tho letter she boro and chewed and swallowed the pieces. Barely had, tho last atom of the tell-tale missive disappeared disap-peared when a Tory woman entered -the room, and sho was compelled to submit sub-mit to boing searched. Of course nothing noth-ing of a suspicious nature was found in hor clothing, and then the woman questioned her closely, but t'o little purpose. pur-pose. After tho ordeal was over tho woman told the officer: "Why, it is a child, a country girl, bashful and innocent. Thoro is, no prevarication pre-varication thero. You have fright'enod her till sho hardly knows where she is going or whoro sho came from. Sho is harmless." So thoy let her go her way Again sho made a wide detour and headed for Sumter's camp, which she reached before sundown and delivered her mcssago, together with a spirited account ac-count of hor arrost and rcloaso by Raw-don's Raw-don's scouts, which greatly amused tho old "Game Cock of South Carolina," Caro-lina," as ho was familiarly known to all tho country side. Every courtesy possible was shown the brave littlo maid. Genoral Sumter's entire command acted as her escort until 9 it joined General Greene at Orangoburg. ISH, Th'o rest of flic story is history; how m General Greene marched his army acroB3 4flB the conn to to Eutaw Springs, whora wKL took placo one of the hardest fought JUr battles of tho Revolution; how thu IfiS British, beaten and disorganized, hastily -39h retreated toward Charleston, and theu W followed the faint-hearted Cornwallis to the north, is all a part of tho story JM of a great' war, which the daring rido ymw of the aid of tho Congaree' was but JK ono of tho many acts of individual 'mL heroism given women to do. Lived to Good Old Ago. 9H Emily Goiter was happily married JB after the Revolution, and lived to a good JH old age. She wns buried noar Columbia, dftMB the state capital, where she lived. Her llqgm descendants are numerous, and her namo ' .JP is highlv honored in her home state. A w handsome tablot to her memory has boon erected in tho fitato house in V Colnmbia hv the Daughters of tho .M American Revolution, and other honors .w havo been paid to her name by patriotic ,W, and civic bodies. 'ffmv But tho greatest honor camo from tho JK legislature of her native state, which a w few years ago ordered that her effigy bo A placed upon the seal of the state, along- IB side that of Gen. William Moultrie. Tho W old seal, which Had been in use sinco the -tmt state was founded, ha'd become worn $S out, and had to be replaced, and in the 9 later nineties a new one was made W and, by order of tho state government, fijg mado to pay a lifelong tribute to tho memory of one of South Carolina's most ' MB patriotic daughters. Vm |