The Rev War’s Trio of Villains in the South Georgia Swamps

by Denise Weimer

My November book release, the fifth novel in my Scouts of the Georgia Frontier, A Calculated Betrothal, took me to an entirely different setting—the South Georgia swamps. I’ve never written a novel set among the snakes and gators, and during the Revolutionary War, South Georgia was a strange place, indeed…a sort of no-man’s land between the Georgia Colony and East Florida, which was controlled by Great Britain. Few settlers bode in those flat pinewoods and murky bogs. Instead, planters north of the Altamaha River, where my story takes place, allowed criollo cattle (cattle of European origin born in the New World, like the Pineywoods Spanish breed) to roam and forage, herded by using brands and a series of wilderness pens.

As you can imagine, the East Florida Rangers with their Seminole allies coveted a stronghold from which they could launch invasions into the more populated coastal, middle, and northern portions of the state, starting with the settlements at Darien (Scots-Irish) and Savannah. That made Fort McIntosh on the Satilla River and Fort Barrington/Fort Howe (Barrington when under British hands, Howe when under Patriot) of great value. Multiple attempts were made on these forts by both sides, and the East Florida Rangers frequently raided cattle as well as goods and slaves from plantations along the border.

Among the leaders of the East Florida Rangers were three men with fearsome reputations—Colonels Thomas “Burntfoot” Brown, William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham, and Daniel McGirth. All were involved in the attack on Fort McIntosh on February 17, 1777, as depicted in A Calculated Betrothal.

Thomas Brown – In August, 1775, Brown refused to sign the Patriot Association and was abused, tarred, and feathered by the Sons of Liberty. The fracture to his skull gave him chronic headaches, and the roasting of his feet over a fire gave him his nickname, “Burntfoot.” He rallied Loyalists in the South Carolina backcountry but fled arrest, convincing East Florida Governor Patrick Tonyn of his “Southern strategy” to use rangers and Indian allies to subjugate Georgia and Carolina.

William Cunningham – A native of Ninety Six, South Carolina, William had not yet earned his “Bloody Bill” moniker by 1777. In fact, he started out on the Patriot side, opposing his cousins, Robert and Patrick Cunningham. But a misunderstanding when he attempted to resign led to him being hunted until he fled to Florida.

McGirth's flight - Joel Chandler Harris book

Daniel McGirth – Another South Carolinian who came to Florida with a burning zeal for revenge, like Cunningham, McGirth started out as a Patriot. As the story goes, an officer ordered him to give up his (very fast!) horse, Grey Goose. When he refused, he was court martialed, whipped, and imprisoned. He escaped on Grey Goose. The Patriots told the story differently, and theirs included words such as horse thieving and desertion.

All three of the men went on wreak havoc in the backcountry from Georgia to South Carolina, earning reputations as villainous and barbarous as any movie portrayal could be. While they bring some serious pressure to bear on my hero and heroine, Tabitha and Edmond also face much more personal enemies in the guises of Loyalist father and son landowners...

 

The death of her titled husband abandons Tabitha Gage on an isolated South Georgia plantation on the eve of revolution, left with only a log cabin on unsettled timber land.

Sergeant Edmond Lassiter comes to the aid of the dark-haired beauty fending off cattle rustlers. The Patriot scout and Loyalist widow are surprised by their shared values. When Edmond learns the same man who ruined his family is after what little Tabitha has left, he convinces her they should work together to make her land profitable—all while fighting off the British from East Florida and her greedy neighbor, who sabotages their every effort to succeed.

Releases tomorrow! https://www.amazon.com/Calculated-Betrothal-Scouts-Georgia-Frontier-ebook/dp/B0D577ZJ1B/

Denise Weimer writes historical and contemporary romance from her home in North Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A mother of two wonderful young adult daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

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