Nancy Hart
The Cabin on the Broad River
In December 1912, workers were building a railroad in Elbert County, Georgia. They dug up six skeletons. The bones lay in a neat row. They had been in the ground for about 100 years. The land was near the place where Nancy Hart's log cabin once stood. For almost 90 years, people in Georgia had told a story about that cabin.
A Frontier Family
Nancy Hart was born around 1735, probably in North Carolina. In the early 1770s she and her husband Benjamin moved to Georgia. They settled near the Broad River. This was the frontier. The frontier was the edge of the land where settlers lived.
During the war, Benjamin Hart was an officer in the Georgia militia. In Georgia the war split neighbors. Some backed the king. They were called Loyalists. Others wanted independence. The two sides attacked each other's farms.
The Story of the Cabin
The story says that five or six Loyalist soldiers came to the cabin. Benjamin was away. The soldiers shot Nancy's turkey. They told her to cook it. She fed them and gave them wine. She sent her daughter to get water. She told her to blow a shell horn to call for help.
The soldiers set their guns by the wall. As they ate, Nancy slid the guns out through a gap in the logs. The men saw what she was doing. She grabbed a gun and pointed it at them. She shot one man and then another. Then Benjamin and the neighbors came. The story says they hanged the soldiers who were left.
Stories also say Nancy was six feet tall with red hair. They say she was a great shot. Some say she spied on Loyalist camps dressed as a man.
How the Story Spread
No one wrote the cabin story down during the war. It was first printed in a Georgia newspaper in 1825. That was about 50 years later. In 1848 a writer named Elizabeth Ellet put Nancy in a book about women of the Revolution. People all over the country read it.
Historians cannot prove the story. The details grew each time it was told. Records do show that a Hart family lived on the Broad River. The six skeletons fit the story. But they do not prove it. No one knows who the six people were.
Later Years
After the war the Harts moved to the Georgia coast. Later Nancy moved to Kentucky. She died there around 1830. In 1853 Georgia named Hart County after her. It is the only county in Georgia named for a woman.
Key facts to use in your script
For your Hook
- In 1912, railroad workers in Georgia dug up six skeletons in a row.
- The bones were near where Nancy Hart's cabin once stood.
- People had told a story about that cabin for almost 90 years.
For your Story
- The story says Loyalist soldiers made her cook a turkey.
- She slid their guns out through a gap in the wall.
- She shot two men and held the rest until help came.
For your Wrap
- No one wrote the story down until 1825.
- Historians cannot prove it, and the skeletons do not prove it either.
- In 1853 Georgia named Hart County after her.
Source Spotlight: A Document from the Time
Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution — the Hart chapter Published 1848 — 65 years after the war
Elizabeth Ellet wrote this. It is one chapter of her book about women in the war. The book came out in 1848. That was 65 years after the war ended. She built the chapter from stories that were first printed long after the war. She wanted to tell readers about brave women.
Simplified version, not the source. These are not the writer’s words, so do not quote them. To quote, use the original words below.
This person was Nancy Hart. She had no schooling. She did not know the polite rules of life. But she loved liberty. She loved the "liberty boys," as she called the Patriots. […] She was coarse and could not read. But she was kind to guests, and she was brave. She was not pretty. She would have said so herself, if she had ever seen a mirror.
She was cross-eyed. Her mouth was wide. She was clumsy. Her words and manners were rough. But she had a woman's heart for her friends. For her country's enemies, she had the heart of a tiger. […] The Tories knew her well. They were a bit afraid she would pay them back for any wrong. But they teased her whenever they could get away with it.
Read the original (the real words you can quote)
This person was NANCY HART, a woman entirely uneducated, and ignorant of all the conventional civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty and of the "liberty boys," as she called the (supporters of the Revolution — the Patriots). […] This vulgar and illiterate, but hospitable and (brave) female patriot could boast no share of beauty; a fact she would herself have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror.
She was cross-eyed, with a broad, angular mouth — ungainly in figure, rude in speech, and awkward in manners — but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a tigress […] for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the tories, who stood somewhat in fear of her vengeance for any grievance or aggressive act; though they let pass no opportunity of teasing and annoying her, when they could do so with (without fear of punishment).
Make it yours: Ellet praises Hart and makes fun of her at the same time. Pick one line that does both. Rewrite it so it keeps only what a person in 1848 could really know.
Elizabeth F. Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (New York, 1848), ch. XLIII · See the source
In December 1912, workers grading a railroad bed in Elbert County, Georgia, dug into a row of six skeletons about three feet under the ground. The bones had been there for at least 100 years. The land lay near the spot where, people in the county said, a woman named Nancy Hart had once lived in a log cabin. For almost 90 years they had been telling a story about that cabin, a group of Loyalist soldiers, and a hanging.
A Frontier Family
Nancy Hart was born around 1735, probably in North Carolina. In the early 1770s she and her husband Benjamin Hart moved with their children to Georgia. They settled in the valley of the Broad River, on the frontier, the edge of the land where settlers lived. During the war Benjamin Hart served as a lieutenant in the Georgia militia.
In the Georgia backcountry the Revolution was a civil war. Neighbors who supported the king, called Loyalists or Tories, fought neighbors who supported independence. Both sides raided each other's farms. Loyalists called the area the Hornet's Nest because so many people there backed independence.
The Story of the Cabin
According to the story, five or six Loyalist soldiers came to the Hart cabin one day while Benjamin was away. One of them shot her turkey and ordered her to cook it. She fed them and opened her wine. As they ate and drank, she sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for water and told her to blow a conch shell to call the neighbors.
The soldiers had stacked their muskets by the wall. Nancy began slipping them, one at a time, out through a gap between the logs. When the men noticed, she pointed a musket at them. She shot one man who moved toward her and then a second. Benjamin and the neighbors arrived, and the story says the surviving soldiers were hanged.
Other stories say Nancy spied on Loyalist camps dressed as a man. Stories from the 1800s describe her as six feet tall, with red hair and crossed eyes, and an excellent shot.
How the Story Spread
No one wrote the cabin story down during the war. It first appeared in print on October 6, 1825, in a newspaper in Milledgeville, Georgia, about 50 years after the events. In 1848 the writer Elizabeth Ellet included Nancy Hart in her book The Women of the American Revolution, which sold across the country. Ellet called her "a zealous lover of liberty."
Historians cannot prove the story. In 1955 the historian E. Merton Coulter showed that it gained new details each time it was retold. Records do show that a Hart family lived on the Broad River and that Benjamin served in the militia. The six skeletons found in 1912 fit the story, but they do not prove it. No one knows who the six people were.
Later Years
In the late 1790s the Harts moved to Brunswick, on the Georgia coast. After Benjamin died, Nancy moved back to the Broad River for a time. Around 1803 she moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, and she died there around 1830. In 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her. It is the only county in the state named for a woman.
Key facts to use in your script
For your Hook
- In December 1912, railroad workers in Elbert County, Georgia, found six skeletons buried in a row.
- The bones lay near the spot where Nancy Hart's cabin was said to have stood.
- For almost 90 years, Georgians had told a story about that cabin and a hanging.
For your Story
- The story says five or six Loyalist soldiers made her cook a turkey while her husband was away.
- She slipped their muskets out through a gap between the logs, one at a time.
- She shot two men and held the rest until her husband and neighbors arrived.
For your Wrap
- The story was first printed in 1825 and grew with each retelling.
- Records show a Hart family on the Broad River, but the skeletons do not prove the story.
- In 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her, the only county in the state named for a woman.
Source Spotlight: A Document from the Time
Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution — the Hart chapter Published 1848 — 65 years after the war
Elizabeth Ellet wrote this chapter for her book The Women of the American Revolution. The book came out in 1848, about 65 years after the war ended. It is a popular history book, not a record from the time. She built the chapter from stories first printed decades after the war. She wanted readers to admire the women who helped win it.
Simplified version, not the source. These are not the writer’s words, so do not quote them. To quote, use the original words below.
This person was Nancy Hart, a woman with no education at all, who knew nothing of the polite rules of society. But she was a passionate lover of liberty and of the "liberty boys," as she called the Patriots. […] This coarse woman could not read, but she welcomed guests and she was brave. This female patriot could not claim any beauty. She would have admitted that herself, if she had ever had the chance to look in a mirror.
She was cross-eyed, with a wide, sharp-cornered mouth. She was clumsy in body, rough in speech, and awkward in manners. But she had a woman's heart for her friends, and the heart of a tigress […] for the enemies of her country. The Tories knew her well. They were somewhat afraid she would take revenge for any wrong or attack. Still, they never missed a chance to tease and annoy her when they could do it without being punished.
Read the original (the real words you can quote)
This person was NANCY HART, a woman entirely uneducated, and ignorant of all the conventional civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty and of the "liberty boys," as she called the (supporters of the Revolution — the Patriots). […] This vulgar and illiterate, but hospitable and (brave) female patriot could boast no share of beauty; a fact she would herself have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror.
She was cross-eyed, with a broad, angular mouth — ungainly in figure, rude in speech, and awkward in manners — but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a tigress […] for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the tories, who stood somewhat in fear of her vengeance for any grievance or aggressive act; though they let pass no opportunity of teasing and annoying her, when they could do so with (without fear of punishment).
Make it yours: Ellet praises Hart and insults her in the same sentence. Pick one line that does both at once. Rewrite it the way a fair historian would, keeping only what someone in 1848 could actually know.
Elizabeth F. Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (New York, 1848), ch. XLIII · See the source
In December 1912, workers grading a railroad bed in Elbert County, Georgia, dug into a neat row of six skeletons about three feet under the ground. The bones had been there for at least a hundred years. The land lay near the spot where, people in the county said, a woman named Nancy Hart had once lived in a log cabin. For almost ninety years they had been telling a story about that cabin, a group of Loyalist soldiers, and a hanging.
A Frontier Family
Nancy Hart was born around 1735, probably in North Carolina, though some accounts say Pennsylvania. In the early 1770s she and her husband Benjamin Hart moved with their children to Georgia and settled in the valley of the Broad River, in what was then Wilkes County. This was the frontier, the edge of the land where settlers lived. During the Revolution Benjamin Hart served as a lieutenant in the Georgia militia under Colonel Elijah Clarke.
In the Georgia backcountry the Revolution was a civil war. Neighbors who supported the king, called Loyalists or Tories, fought neighbors who supported independence, called Patriots or Whigs. Both sides raided each other's farms. Loyalists called the area the Hornet's Nest because so many people there backed independence.
The Story of the Cabin
According to the story, five or six Loyalist soldiers came to the Hart cabin one day while Benjamin was away. One of them shot her prize turkey and ordered her to cook it. She fed them and opened her jugs of wine. As they ate and drank, she sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for water and told her to blow a conch shell to call the neighbors. The soldiers had stacked their muskets by the wall. Nancy began slipping them, one at a time, out through a gap between the logs. When the men noticed, she pointed a musket at them. She shot one man who moved toward her and then a second. Benjamin and the neighbors arrived, and the story says the surviving soldiers were hanged.
Other stories say she spied on Loyalist camps disguised as a simple-minded man. Accounts from the 1800s describe her as six feet tall, red-haired and cross-eyed, and an excellent shot with a rifle.
How the Story Spread
No one wrote the cabin story down during the war. It first appeared in print on October 6, 1825, in the Milledgeville Southern Recorder, a Georgia newspaper, about fifty years after the events, and a Savannah paper reprinted it. In 1848 the writer Elizabeth Ellet included Nancy Hart in her book The Women of the American Revolution, which sold across the country. Ellet called her "a zealous lover of liberty" and, in the same chapter, "a woman entirely uneducated."
Historians cannot prove the story. In 1955 the historian E. Merton Coulter traced it from the 1825 newspaper through later retellings and showed that it gained new details each time. Records do show that a Hart family lived on the Broad River and that Benjamin Hart served in the militia. The six skeletons found in 1912 fit the story, but they do not prove it. No one knows who the six people were or how they died.
Later Years
In the late 1790s the Harts moved to Brunswick, on the Georgia coast. After Benjamin died, Nancy moved back to the Broad River for a time and then lived near Athens. Around 1803 she moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, and she died there around 1830. In 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her, with its county seat at Hartwell. It is the only county in the state named for a woman.
Key facts to use in your script
For your Hook
- In December 1912, railroad workers in Elbert County, Georgia, found six skeletons buried in a neat row near the site of Nancy Hart's cabin.
- The cabin story had been in print since 1825, about fifty years after the events it describes.
- In the Georgia backcountry the Revolution was a civil war between Loyalist and Patriot neighbors.
For your Story
- By the story, five or six Loyalists shot her turkey and ordered her to cook it; she fed them wine and sent her daughter to blow a conch shell for help.
- She slipped their stacked muskets out through a gap between the logs, then held them at gunpoint.
- The story says she shot two men and that the survivors were hanged.
- Other stories say she spied on Loyalist camps disguised as a man.
For your Wrap
- No record from the war mentions the cabin story; it was first printed in 1825 and spread nationwide in Ellet's 1848 book.
- Records show a real Hart family on the Broad River and Benjamin Hart in the militia.
- The 1912 skeletons fit the story but do not prove it; no one knows who the six were.
- She died in Kentucky around 1830, and in 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her, its only county named for a woman.
Source Spotlight: A Document from the Time
Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution — the Hart chapter Published 1848 — 65 years after the war
Elizabeth Ellet’s 1848 best-seller is the book that spread Nancy Hart’s fame nationwide, built from stories first printed decades after the war. Notice the voice: Ellet mocks Hart’s looks, class, and manners even while celebrating her courage. This is how a real frontier woman became a legend. Ask of each detail: how could anyone in 1848 verify this?
This person was NANCY HART, a woman entirely uneducated, and ignorant of all the conventional civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty and of the "liberty boys," as she called the (supporters of the Revolution — the Patriots). […] This vulgar and illiterate, but hospitable and (brave) female patriot could boast no share of beauty; a fact she would herself have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror.
She was cross-eyed, with a broad, angular mouth — ungainly in figure, rude in speech, and awkward in manners — but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a tigress […] for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the tories, who stood somewhat in fear of her vengeance for any grievance or aggressive act; though they let pass no opportunity of teasing and annoying her, when they could do so with (without fear of punishment).
Make it yours: Ellet praises Hart and insults her in the same breath. Pick one line that does both at once, and rewrite it the way a fair historian would — keeping only what someone in 1848 could actually know.
Elizabeth F. Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (New York, 1848), ch. XLIII · See the source
In December 1912, workers grading a railroad bed in Elbert County, Georgia, dug into a neat row of six skeletons about three feet under the ground. The bones had been there for at least a hundred years. The land lay near the spot where, people in the county said, a woman named Nancy Hart had once lived in a log cabin. For almost ninety years they had been telling a story about that cabin, a group of Loyalist soldiers, and a hanging. Newspapers reported the find, and many people took it as proof that the story was true.
A Frontier Family
Nancy Ann Morgan Hart was born around 1735, probably in North Carolina, though some accounts say Pennsylvania and some put her birth as late as 1747. In the early 1770s she and her husband Benjamin Hart moved with their children to Georgia and settled in the valley of the Broad River, in what was then Wilkes County and is now Elbert County. This was the frontier, the edge of the land where settlers lived. During the Revolution Benjamin Hart served as a lieutenant in the Georgia militia under Colonel Elijah Clarke, who led the Patriot militia of the backcountry.
In the Georgia backcountry the Revolution was a civil war. Neighbors who supported the king, called Loyalists or Tories, fought neighbors who supported independence, called Patriots or Whigs. After the British captured Savannah in December 1778 and Augusta in January 1779, Loyalist and Patriot bands raided each other's farms across the backcountry. Loyalists called the area the Hornet's Nest because so many people there backed independence.
The Story of the Cabin
According to the story, five or six Loyalist soldiers came to the Hart cabin one day while Benjamin was away. One of them shot her prize turkey and ordered her to cook it. She fed them and opened her jugs of wine. As they ate and drank, she sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for water and told her to blow a conch shell to call the neighbors. The soldiers had stacked their muskets by the wall. Nancy began slipping them, one at a time, out through a gap in the chinking between the logs. When the men noticed, she pointed a musket at them. She shot one man who moved toward her and then a second. Benjamin and the neighbors arrived, and the story says the surviving soldiers were hanged.
Other stories say she spied on Loyalist camps disguised as a simple-minded man, and that she threw boiling soap water through a crack in the wall at a Loyalist spy who was peeking in. Accounts from the 1800s describe her as six feet tall, red-haired and cross-eyed, with a face scarred by smallpox, and an excellent shot with a rifle.
How the Story Spread
No one wrote the cabin story down during the war. It first appeared in print on October 6, 1825, in the Milledgeville Southern Recorder, a Georgia newspaper, about fifty years after the events, and the Savannah Republican reprinted it. In 1848 the writer Elizabeth Ellet included Nancy Hart in her book The Women of the American Revolution, which sold across the country. Ellet praised and mocked her in the same paragraph. She called Hart "a zealous lover of liberty" and "a woman entirely uneducated, and ignorant of all the conventional civilities of life," and she wrote that Hart had "a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a tigress ... for the enemies of her country."
Historians cannot prove the story. In 1955 the historian E. Merton Coulter published a study in the Georgia Historical Quarterly that traced the story from the 1825 newspaper through later retellings and showed that it gained new details each time. Ellet herself was writing sixty-five years after the war, from stories that had been passed down in Georgia. Records do show that a Hart family lived on the Broad River and that Benjamin Hart served in the militia. The six skeletons found in 1912 fit the story, but they do not prove it. No one recorded who the six people were or how they died.
Later Years
In the late 1790s the Harts moved to Brunswick, on the Georgia coast. After Benjamin died, Nancy moved back to the Broad River for a time and then lived near Athens, in Clarke County. Around 1803 she moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, and she died there around 1830. In 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her, with its county seat at Hartwell. It is the only county in the state named for a woman.
Key facts to use in your script
For your Hook
- In December 1912, railroad workers found six skeletons in a neat row near the site of Nancy Hart's cabin, and many took it as proof.
- The cabin story first appeared in the Milledgeville Southern Recorder on October 6, 1825, about fifty years after the events.
- Loyalists called the Georgia backcountry the Hornet's Nest because so many people there backed independence.
For your Story
- The story has her pass the muskets through a gap in the chinking, shoot two men, and hold the rest until the neighbors hanged them.
- Ellet in 1848 called her "a zealous lover of liberty" and "a woman entirely uneducated" in the same chapter.
- E. Merton Coulter's 1955 study traced how the story gained details with each retelling.
- Other stories, the spying in disguise and the boiling soap water, are just as undocumented.
For your Wrap
- No record from the war mentions the cabin story; the earliest printing is from 1825, and Ellet wrote in 1848 from stories passed down in Georgia.
- Records confirm only that a Hart family lived on the Broad River and that Benjamin Hart served under Elijah Clarke.
- No one recorded who the six skeletons were or how they died.
- She died in Henderson County, Kentucky, around 1830, and in 1853 Georgia named Hart County for her.
Source Spotlight: A Document from the Time
Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution — the Hart chapter Published 1848 — 65 years after the war
Elizabeth Ellet’s 1848 best-seller is the book that spread Nancy Hart’s fame nationwide, built from stories first printed decades after the war. Notice the voice: Ellet mocks Hart’s looks, class, and manners even while celebrating her courage. This is how a real frontier woman became a legend. Ask of each detail: how could anyone in 1848 verify this?
This person was NANCY HART, a woman entirely uneducated, and ignorant of all the conventional civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty and of the "liberty boys," as she called the (supporters of the Revolution — the Patriots). […] This vulgar and illiterate, but hospitable and (brave) female patriot could boast no share of beauty; a fact she would herself have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror.
She was cross-eyed, with a broad, angular mouth — ungainly in figure, rude in speech, and awkward in manners — but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a tigress […] for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the tories, who stood somewhat in fear of her vengeance for any grievance or aggressive act; though they let pass no opportunity of teasing and annoying her, when they could do so with (without fear of punishment).
Make it yours: Ellet praises Hart and insults her in the same breath. Pick one line that does both at once, and rewrite it the way a fair historian would — keeping only what someone in 1848 could actually know.
Elizabeth F. Ellet, The Women of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (New York, 1848), ch. XLIII · See the source