FLAG DAY, JUNE 14, 1777

 

I think of myself as a patriot. I believe the United States is the greatest country in the world. We have a lot of problems, but if we can get back to the way the Founding Fathers meant for it to be, we’ll be in better shape. We fly our flag year-round and when June gets here, I bring out the Americana decorations. I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance at school and celebrating Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays. With Flag Day being earlier this month, I decided to find out the history. How it began and how long it took for the United States to honor it.

                              

In 1777, the Continental Congress decided our country needed a flag. They made a resolution on June 14, 1777 that stated, “The flag of the United Stated shall be of thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white on a field of blue, representing the new constellation.” The new flag was carried into the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777.

 It’s generally believed that Betsy Ross made that first flag, although it can’t be proved with documentation, according to the US Flag Store. They said there were around fifty flag makers and upholsterers in Philadelphia at that time. The Philadelphia Incorporated tells a different story. Apparently, Betsy had receipts for a large sum of money paid to her in May 1777 to make flags. It’s possible the first American flag was one she made. She continued in her career for fifty years.

On June 14, 1861, it was reported that Hartford, Conneticut held a Flag Day celebration. Almost three decades later, a New York City Professor George Bloch, principal of a free kindergarten for the poor, had his school hold patriotic ceremonies to celebrate the Flag Day resolution. The State Department of Education noticed and had all public schools observe the day from then on.

 

Late 1800s

The state legislature soon passed a law saying public schools should hold observances of Lincoln’s birthday, Washington’s birthday, Memorial Day and Flag Day. In 1897, New York’s governor passed a resolution mandating all public buildings to display the flag.

After earlier attempts failed, on May 7,1937, Pennsylvania became the first state to declare June 14 a legal holiday. Now it’s celebrated nationwide, but it's only legal in Pennsylvania. Looking back a little bit, we can see that President Wilson, in 1916, and President Coolidge in 1927, issued a proclamation to make June 14 officially Flag Day. Finally, on August 3, 1949, Congress approved the observance of National Flag Day. President Truman signed it into law. 

I thought it was interesting to see how quickly states were added.

1861, 34 States 

1889, 42 States

1897, 45 States

1959, 50 States

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University, where she learned that the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.

Linda has been writing since childhood, but her publishing career started with writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a full-time author in her home office. She writes not only to entertain but to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.

You are invited to visit her website, Linda Hoover Books, to learn more about her and her books. You can stay in touch when you subscribe to her newsletter, and as a thank you, you’ll receive a novella, Joel & Ella.

LINDA HOOVER BOOKS

 

Knitting and Spying by Nancy J. Farrier

 Do you like to knit? Do you have the nerve to knit in the middle of an enemy stronghold and work messages into your knitting to pass on to your country’s armed forces? That is what the women featured in today’s blog did during war time. I salute them for their bravery and determination. Let’s take a look at what they accomplished and how they alerted their forces using their needlework.

Knit/Purl Stitches by WillowW
Wikimedia Commons

First, keep in mind how knitting is done. There are two basic stitches. The knit stitch looks like a “v” and the purl stitch makes a small bump. Also, dropped stitches were used to make a hole. That means these patterns could have been read by feel in low light if needed. Plus, women were encouraged to knit and make items to help soldiers, so nothing was thought about a woman sitting in her window or in public with her knitting needles clicking away. Little did the opposition realize that she didn’t have to focus on her work, but could be watching and listening to later report conversations and movements. A perfect spy!

Phyllis Latour Doyle

Phyllis joined the RAF in 1941 after a friend was killed by Nazi soldiers. She planned to train to be an airplane mechanic but others noted her potential. Because her father was French, Phyllis grew up speaking fluent French and would be valuable as a spy behind lines. She agreed to become a spy and was trained by a cat burglar to do things like cross a roof top undetected.

1904 Picture of
Woman Knitting

At the end of her training, Phyllis parachuted into Normandy. She pretended to be a teenager to throw off suspicion. She traveled by bicycle and chatted with German soldiers. She would then go someplace secret, bring out her knitting and use one of her 2,000 codes to send a message. She would hide the knitted message by winding the strip around a knitting needle and inserting it in a hair tie. Each time she used one of the codes she’d been given she would mark the code, so she wouldn’t use it again.

Phyllis had to keep on the move. She would send her message and then go quickly before the Germans could trace the source of the message. They did not catch her. She often had to sleep on the forest floor unless she found some Allied sympathizers. She ate what food she could find and was often hungry, but she always had her knitting and her silk thread she used for her patterns.

In 2014, Phyllis was awarded the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration. She did not want to get this award but did it for her family. She was 93 at the time. Her family found out about her spy work in the late 1900’s when one of her sons read about her on the internet. She did not want to brag about the service she’d done for her country.

Madame Lavengle

WWI Ad for Knitting
By Marguerite Martyn
Wikimedia Commons

During WWI the Germans occupied her home putting her and her children at risk. Madame Lavengle did not quake in fear. Instead, she joined the resistance and used her knitting and her children to send coded messages right under the noses of the Germans in her home.

In an upper room, Lavengle sat at a window knitting. Every day she would sit there and knit. Such an innocent pastime, right? Meanwhile, she would tap her foot on the floor and her children below her would copy down the code she signaled with the tapping. The German Marshall in her home never suspected she was gathering and passing on information. Amazing.

Molly “Mom” Rinker

Molly Rinker owned a tavern during the Revolutionary War. She often had British soldiers in her town and in her tavern. She wanted to do something to help the Revolution, so she would go to the park and sit on a high hill or rock and knit. As she watched and listened, she would tie knots in her ball of yarn as a code. Then she would drop the yarn at a certain place for the Revolutionary soldiers to find. In this way, a woman in a lowly occupation, helped out her fledgling country. Thank you, Molly.

Binary Pattern by Kurt Pippen Fowler

Many people enjoy the art of knitting. With the onset of computer coding and languages, knitters learned to do patterns in binary language. When Morse code was invented, they used a variation of stitches to make the dot and dash for Morse code and sent messages that way. Knitting is so much more than making a pretty garment.

Do you knit? Do you do another type of needlework? Would you have been brave enough to be a spy? To be dropped behind enemy lines and send coded messages? Or to gather information right under the enemy’s noses? What a challenge and what amazing women.

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

Thomas Brown: Georgia's Rev War Villian

by Denise Weimer

We’ve all seen movies depicting the French and Indian War and the Revolution in America that make us wonder if Hollywood isn’t sensationalizing the violence. When researching the Revolution in the South for my Scouts of the Georgia Frontier Series, I found that not only would the Colonial back country be the last place we’d want to live, but the heroes and the villains are often hard to tell apart. Case in point: Thomas Brown. Brown made trouble from South Carolina to Florida and is such a bad dude that he shows up in A Courageous Betrothal, A Cherished Betrothal, and A Calculated Betrothal!

The son of a Yorkshire shipping company owner, Brown settled Brownsborough northeast of Augusta, Georgia, with plans to become a gentleman farmer. But by September 1780, he’s a lieutenant colonel commanding British loyalists who attempt to hold Augusta against militia Colonel Elijah Clarke. Wounded in both thighs, Brown refuses to give up under siege. Upon learning five hundred British from South Carolina march to his aid, he (or another lieutenant colonel) orders thirteen prisoners hanged from the porch of the Mackay Trading Post. One biography specifies he requested them hung from the stairway banister so he could watch them die from his bed. The other prisoners are turned over to Indian allies to be tortured.

But let’s rewind to August 2, 1775. Thomas Brown has attended a Sons of Liberty meeting, where he’s refused to sign their Continental Association document. He’s followed home by an angry mob, tied to a tree, partially scalped (and not by Indians), tarred and feathered. A blow to his head fractures his skull and leaves him with lifelong headaches and a dependency on laudanum. A fire lit under his feet claims two of his toes and leaves him with the lifelong nickname “Burntfoot Brown.”

A revenge-bent Brown wants to rally Loyalists in South Carolina, but the governor advises him to wait on the arrival of British troops. Under threat of arrest, Brown flees to Florida, where he plies Governor Patrick Tonyn with his master plan to harass Georgia and South Carolina militia with a company of rangers supported by Indians. He’s commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Florida Rangers in 1776 and proceeds to bring havoc to the back country throughout the war.

When we examine our villains, we often discover that a villainous act created them. What about you? Do you know of a local Rev War example where one side created its own enemy?

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 young adult daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

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Alexander Hamilton ~ Founding Father, Anonymous Author, Doomed Duelist

Note ~ The Florida Artists, Architects, and Authors Series will continue next month.

A FOUNDING FATHER

 

Though Alexander Hamilton is considered a Founding Father, he is one of four in that historic group who didn’t sign America’s Declaration of Independence from the British on July 4, 1776.

The other three are George Washington, James Madison, and John Jay. 

 

General Washington was too busy actually fighting for that independence. However, he read the newly-signed document to the Continental Army on July 9th. Alexander Hamilton was only 19 years old at the time.

Or maybe he was twenty-one. His birthday is January 11th, but historians disagree on whether he was born in 1755 or 1757.

Here are a few details historians accept as fact:

• Hamilton was born out-of-wedlock in the West Indies and orphaned in 1768. His father had abandoned the family before then.
• From 1777 to 1781, he served as George Washington's trusted aide-de-camp.
• He was an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War and fought in the Siege of Yorktown (1781).
• After the war, he was a lawyer and founded the Bank of New York.
• As a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, he was involved in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
• As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he served in President Washington's first cabinet.

 

AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

 

Along with all his many historical political achievements, Hamilton also bequeathed a tremendous literary legacy…many written under a pen name.

 

Let’s take a look at a few of his better-known works.

 

The Revolutionary Versus the Loyalist

 

In 1774, Loyalist Samuel Seabury, a Church of England clergyman, published pamphlets intended to scare the American colonists from rebelling against the king. He wrote under the pseudonym of A. W. Farmer, an abbreviation for A Westchester Farmer.

 

In response, Hamilton anonymously published A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress. Seabury published another pamphlet in response to Hamilton and then Hamilton responded with The Farmer Refuted.

 

Pen Name ~ Publius

In 1778, Hamilton signed three accusatory letters with the pseudonym Publius. The name came from a book titled Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. The original Publius Valerius, better known as Publicola or “friend of the people,” helped to found the ancient republic of Rome. 

The three letters accused Samuel Chase—who is a signer of the Declaration of Independence and, in 1787, represented Maryland in the Continental Congress—of using insider knowledge to benefit from the flour market.

The Reynolds Pamphlet

To defend his own integrity, Hamilton wrote a ninety-five-page pamphlet confessing to an affair he’d had during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. 

 

While not excusing Hamilton’s behavior, it’s widely believed Mrs. Reynolds and her husband conspired to set Hamilton up so they could blackmail him. 

 

In the pamphlet, published in 1797, Hamilton admitted he was guilty of adultery but vehemently insisted he was not guilty of corruption.

 

The Federalist Papers

Hamilton is most well-known for writing fifty-one of the eight-five installments of The Federalist Papers. The remaining essays and articles were written by James Madison and John Jay, but each one appeared under the pseudonym of Publius—the same pen name that Hamilton used for his letters attacking Samuel Chase.

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers to encourage public support for the proposed U.S. Constitution. The vast majority of the essays were published between October 1787 and August 1788 in New York newspapers and sometimes reprinted in other states' newspapers.

 

The collected Federalist Papers
in one volume and
an advertisement for the book.

 

Poetry

 

Before embarking on his political writing career—remember that his first anonymous pamphlets were written in 1774—Hamilton wrote a few poems and a hymn that appeared in the Royal Danish American Gazette, a St. Croix (Virgin Islands) newspaper.

 

The first two published poems were printed with Hamilton’s query letter. He wrote:

 

“I am a youth about seventeen, and consequently such an attempt as this must be presumptuous; but if, upon perusal, you think the following piece worthy of a place in your paper, by inserting it you’ll much oblige Your obedient servant, A.H.”

 

Another poem, “The Melancholy Hour,” was published on October 11, 1772 under the pseudonym Juvenis.

 

“This brooding work,” writes Ron Chernow in his biography of Hamilton, “reprises the theme of the hurricane as heavenly retribution upon a fallen world.” He quotes the following two lines:

 

Why hangs this gloomy damp upon my mind 

Why heaves my bosom with the struggling sigh?

 

An unsigned four-stanza hymn, “The Soul Ascending Into Bliss,” appeared in the Gazette on October 17, 1772. Chernow calls this “a lovely, mystical meditation in which Hamilton envisions his soul soaring heavenward.”

 

Here’s an excerpt:

 

Hark! Hark! A voice from yonder sky

Methinks I hear my Savior cry…

I come oh Lord, I mount, I fly

On rapid wings I cleave the sky.”

 

The Gazette published another poem, “A Character” by A.H., on February 3, 1773.

 

“In this short, disillusioned work,” Chernow writes, “Hamilton evokes a sharp-witted fellow named Eugenio who manages inadvertently to antagonize all his friends.” 

 

Here are the final two lines of the poem: 

 

Wit not well govern’d rankles into vice

He to his Jest his friend he will sacrifice.

 

A DOOMED DUELIST

 

On July 11, 1804, Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought a duel. 

 

Though Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson held opposing political views, Hamilton supported Jefferson for the presidency over Burr who was considered to be power-hungry and unprincipled scoundrel by his contemporaries. 

Burr accused Hamilton of impugning his honor and challenged him to a duel after Hamilton refused to apologize for disparaging remarks he’d made.

 

Hamilton told his second that he would purposely miss Burr and may have expected his opponent to do the same. 

 

However, Burr aimed at Hamilton and wounded him. 

 

Hamilton died the next day.

 

Whether born in 1755 or 1757, he wasn’t yet 50 years old.

 

HONORING HAMILTON

 

“…he was first on the $5, then the $2, $20, $50, $500, $1000 (those larger denominations were only used to move money among banks or between banks and the Federal Reserve). Since the currency was redesigned and given a standard size in 1928, Hamilton has been on the $10” (Brian Phillips Murphy).

 

RE-IMAGINING HAMILTON

 

The highly-acclaimed Broadway production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 including Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations. The script was based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton.

 

Your Turn ~ Which of Hamilton’s writings impress you the most?

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

 

Sources

 

Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press (2004). https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/38/mode/2up. (Accessed on June 29, 2025.)

 

Murphy, Brian Phillips. “Alexander Hamilton on the $10 Bill: How He Got There and Why It Matters.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/alexander-hamilton-10-bill-how-he-got-there-and-why-it-matters (Accessed on June 30, 2025.)

 

https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2017/09/a-look-at-alexander-hamiltons-saucy-religious-sentimental-poetry/

 

https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/faq/founding-fathers-not-signers

 

https://historythings.com/the-many-written-works-of-alexander-hamilton/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_(musical)

 

Photos ~ All photos are in public domain except the Hamilton poster which is categorized as “Fair Use." 

"Alexander Hamilton" ~ Portrait by John Trumbull. 

 

"Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery" ~ Portrait by Alonzo Chappel.

Portrait of Hamilton authoring the first draft of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

A 1901 illustration of Aaron Burr fatally wounding Alexander Hamilton in their 1804 duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. 

The Federalist Papers.

An advertisement for the book edition of The Federalist. 

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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Heroines of the Frontier, Part 2 – Women Who Dared / Hannah Hendee

Welcome to the second installment of my series featuring Heroines of the Frontier. America was built upon courage. Courage to come, settle, form government, and fight to keep it. Courage to simply survive. Many brave women—wives and daughters—carried that banner of courage and freedom, often alone. My current novel work-in-progress is based upon just such a woman. But for today, lets look at a few of those courageous women in the context of the Revolutionary War and Hannah Hendee in particular.

Frontier Raids

In the early days of colonization and settlement, men were often called away, whether to hunt for food, garner supplies, or to heed the call for military duty. Such was the case for Mrs. Hannah Hendee whose husband had been called away for military duty during the early days of settlement at Royalton, Vermont, while the young country was caught in the throes of revolution.

Royalton, situated near the Vermont–New Hampshire border, became the target of a raid in 1780, near the latter part of the Revolutionary War. Worried that the American colonists would push on into Canada with their ideas of independence, British forces along with 300 Mohawk and Wabanaki allies came down the White River raiding towns and farms along the way. After ravaging Royalton and burning houses, they continued on to destroy most of the homes in Sharon and Tunbridge.

Mrs. Hannah Hunter Hendee 

The British had offered their native allies a reward—payment for men and boys captured and taken to Canada. Over thirty men and boys were thus carried off in the raids, Mrs. Hannah Hendee’s son Michael among them. (Note: some historians say her name was spelled Handy, not Hendee.)

There is some conflicting history here. It’s noted in some sources that Hannah was working alone in the field when the attack occurred, and returned to find her child(ren) taken. Other, more recent updates of the story say that Hannah had taken her two children to hide in the woods, but that the Indians found them and carried off her son Michael. Whichever the case, Michael was indeed taken by the Indians, and Hannah was deeply grieved.

There was one British officer and six soldiers who led the Indian raid. When the American militia planned to attack and retrieve the hostages, the British warned that, should they attempt it, all of the captives would be killed. Thus, the militia backed down.

Hannah, however, would not be dissuaded. She turned her grief and fury into brave action. Rather than remain behind to mourn Michael’s loss, she gave lone pursuit.

The river near the place the raiders crossed was some one hundred yards wide and fairly deep. It is believed that Hannah waded that river.

The Handy (Hendee) Memorial in South Royalton

Let’s imagine for a moment. . .this momma, forging into the swirling waters, skirts sucking at her legs as she struggled for footing against the current. Her eyes like wildfire, her sobs turned to anger, her determination making her as fearless as a lioness. Her body shivers, but she doesn’t even notice as she pushes onward to face her foes so that she might gather Michael into her arms again.

Can you picture her climbing to the opposite bank, her soggy dress slapping against her shaking legs, her face white and jaw set, yet striding undaunted into the Indian encampment?

Around their campfire, warriors lurch to their feet brandishing weapons, and perhaps some of them even stride forward to seize her.

Then Hannah’s face pales further as she sees the many other children held captive, some bound beside their fathers and older brothers, some without anyone to comfort them, haunted by vivid memories of the slaughter and destruction from which they were carried.

Hannah raises her chin as she is taken to the commanding officer at the camp, one Lt. Richard Houghton—or perhaps he himself hears the ruckus and comes forward. Straightening her shoulders, she demands Michael’s return.

“He cannot survive a march to Canada,” she tells him. And then she sweeps a glance among the others with a cry. “His blood will be on your hands!”

Whatever else she tells him is lost to history, but her continual upbraiding is finally enough to convince the Lieutenant to free her son, and not her son only, but eventually nine children. (Another source says fifteen.)

Hannah grasps Michael and returns with him across the river. However, not content to save him alone, it is reported that she then returns for the other children, going back again and again, until by twos and threes, she has gained their freedom.

One telling says that on her final trip to the camp, a native man was so struck by her bravery that he offered to return her across the water on his back and that she accepted. Whether or not that happened, when she returned, Hannah took the recovered children back to their families.

The Hannah Hunter Hendee Medal

Throughout the course of history, women labored alone in all manner of conditions, and undertook the protection of home and children when attacked. Here's another account:

A man well in his eighties, whose father was in the army the entirety of the Revolutionary War, recounted his own experience as a child at home with his mother during the war. He said they lived far from neighbors, and they were poor. Winters were terrible, the snow lying so long and deep, it was difficult to cut or draw fuel from the woods or to get the corn to the mill when they had any. He recalled that his mother had a coffee mill in which she ground wheat for making course bread, for which they were thankful. At times, they went to bed with only a drink of molasses mixed in water for their supper.

He never heard his mother complain, but she toiled lovingly through the duration to keep them as fed and warm as her resources allowed.

When his father was permitted to return home for brief durations, he had little to leave for them. Yet, his mother would bid him a cheerful farewell and encouragement to not be anxious about them, for she would watch over the children day and night and would take care of the them. She didn’t mention the cold days or short meals, nor her hard work or concerns that the children would be clothed or fed. For she did not want to weaken his heart, reminding the children that a soldier’s life was hardest of all.

Such incidents and way of life as this man experienced occurred regularly during the America's colonial days and in the many contests and courses of history that followed. Some women forged alone with their children across the wilderness. Others strove for freedom on their own terms, which we shall see in a moment. Still others gave sons to served the cause, and shed their tears in private.

Here is a brief listing of some of the other heroines of the American Revolution who dared to stand against the odds:

Anne Bailey, who lived on the Virginia frontier and not only recruited volunteers for the militia, but became, herself, a scout and messenger, using wilderness skills to deliver important messages to outposts.

Margaret Cochran Corbin, Pennsylvanian, whose husband was a gunner – she cooked, washed, and mended for the soldiers. When her husband was killed, she took his place, was wounded, taken prisoner, and eventually released. She later received a pension from the U.S. government for her service.

Deborah Sampson Gannett, from Massachusetts, dressed as a man, enlisted, and served three years in the Colonial army. She performed scouts and raids, was eventually wounded, and thereupon her secret was discovered by a doctor. Deborah was given an honorable discharge.

Emily Geiger, only eighteen years old, was the daughter of a wealthy South Carolina farmer. She once rode fifty miles on horseback to deliver a message of warning to an American general. When she was stopped by the British to be searched, she swallowed the message, yet did succeed in her endeavor and helped save South Carolina from a British attack.

Nancy Morgan Hart, mother of one, was a no-nonsense woman in Georgia who spied on the British, captured a Tory, and when other Tories sought a meal at her home, she killed them. 

Lydia Barrington Darraugh was the cousin of a British officer, but her son fought for the Patriot cause. Lydia saved the American army after overhearing their plans to attack. She slipped away and trudged several miles through the snow to warn the army and save their lives.

Elizabeth (Betty) Zane lived at Fort Henry, Virginia which ran short of gunpowder when the British and Indians attacked. Under siege, and seeing their was little hope of rescue, she volunteered to leave the fort and procure more gunpowder. In her flight, she was shot at repeatedly, but finally escaped and was able to retrieve the gunpowder and save the fort.

Heroism of Miss Elizabeth Zane, Lithograph by Nagel and Weingaertner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The greatness of brave women such as these became part of the ever-moving drama of our country that cannot be underestimated.

If you missed last month’s Heroines of the Frontier post, you can find it here: Women of the Mayflower / Mary Brewster.  Come back next month on the 29th for part three of Heroines of the Frontier.

____________________________________

A Tender Siege tells of the bravery of a Scottish man and Native American woman on the frontier during the French and Indian War. The story is part of The Highlanders collection. 

A Tender Siege

Pontiac’s War, August 1763: “I beg Ye to take me.” Wounded in battle in the American wilderness, Lachlan McRea of His Majesty’s 42nd Highlanders pleads with God, yearning to be reunited with his lost wife and child. As death hovers near, he is discovered by Wenonah, a native widow doing all she can to survive alone, while avoiding the attentions of a dangerous Shawnee warrior. In aiding one another, their perils increase. If Lachlan can let go of the woman he once loved, he might find healing for both body and soul.