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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1870, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia Vol. IV —No. 14. Written for Burke’s Weekly. NANCY HART AND THE TORIES. you know, children, Tories were ? They were .$7 viA people living in the Unflfjff States, or the Colonies as they were then called, who took sides with the British government in the Revolutionary war. Asa general rule, these Tories were much more cruel in their treatment of those who fell into their hands than the British soldiers; and they were consequently more dreaded by the women and children in unpro tected districts. I could tell youm uch of their cruelties to unoffending prisoners, and the vast amount of damage done to the country in which they operated. Houses were burned, helpless women and children were rendered home less in the depth of win ter, and whole sections of country were rava ged, and everything in them that could sup port life was either car ried off or destroyed. There were vast num bers of Tories in South Carolina and Georgia, and a volume could be filled with an account of their diabolical cruel- ties ; but I propose now to tell you of what happened to a party of Tories in one of the counties of Georgia. One of the staunchest Whigs in the county of Elbert —which your geogra phies will show you is in the north eastern part of Georgia was Nancy Hart. She seems to have been a native of North Carolina, but with her hus band had settled in Elbert county, near Broad River, some years before the beginning of the Revolutionary war. She is said to have been a very large woman, rather sour in disposition, and horribly cross-eyed, as well as cross grained. Her husband appears to have for he ran away and hid HSRf in the cane-brake, for fear of JMrifb'fies. But Nancy was just the opposite. She did not fear the Tories, mnd on several occasions she got deci dedly the best of them. “One evening,” says White, “she was at home with her children, sitting around the log fire, with a large pot of f '*"'. - ' - mtk'Ju ftflMpT' i&~- - y ' ‘*^L / rJftfe ' -_ : ‘" =r " f = * ijr 'Quiff l - wmmflnimK' -i^‘^JS£ ?ais:g^^:Si^S^^^fr;=ag^^f,:^rrg^::^l^-qßH|ff^^^i~ yjM^T^^^^SasSg^^yb.'J^B^SSlS^^M' soap boiling over the fire. Nancy was busy stirring the soap, and entertaining her family with the latest news of the war. “The houses, as well as the chim neys, in those days were all built of logs. While they were thus employed, one of the family discovered someone from the outside peeping through the crevices of the chimney, and gave a silent intimation of it to Nancy. She rattled away with more and more spirit, now giving exaggerated accounts of the MACON, GEORGIA, OCTOBER i, 1870. discomfiture of the Tories, and again stirring the boiling soap, and watching the place indicated for a re-appear ance of the spy. Suddenly, with the quickness of lightning, she dashed the ladle of boiling soap through the cre vice full in the face of the eavesdrop per, who, taken by surprise, and blind ed by the hot soap, screamed and roared at a tremendous rate ; whilst the indomitable Nancy went out, amused herself at his expense, and, with gibes and taunts, bound him fast as her pri soner.” On another occasion, a party of five Tories, from the British camp at Au gusta, concluded to pay Aunt Nancy a visit. Reaching her cabin, they entered without ceremony, receiving, as you may imagine, no very cordial welcome. They totd her that they had come to know if it was true that she had se creted a noted rebel from a company of the King’s men, who would otherwise have captured him. Whole No. 170. “Yes, I did,” was her reply. “I heard the tramp of a horse coming this way, and when I looked out of the front door, I knowed it was a Whig flying from the Tories. I went out and let down the bars, and made him ride right through the cabin—in at the front door and out at the back door—and told him to take the swamp, and keep close. Pretty soon some of your crowd rode up and hallooed. I made believe I was sick, and asked ’em what they wanted to disturb a poor, lone> sick woman for; and when they asked me about the Whig, I put ’em on the wrong scent, and sent ’em off in an opposite course to that of my Whig boy. If they hadn’t been so lofty-minded,” contin ued Nancy, “but had looked on the ground, they could have seen his horse’s tracks up to my very door.” This story did not please the Tories, but they only ordered her to give them something to eat. “ I never feed King’s men if I can help it,” she replied. “ The vil lains have put it out of my power to feed even my own family and friends, by stealing all of my pigs and poultry, except that old gobbler you see in the yard.” “ Well, you shall cook that for us,” said one of the party, raising his gun, and shooting down the turkey, which another brought in and gave to Nancy to clean and cook for them. Nancy stormed and swore a little —for I am sorry to say that she was guilty of thi3 bad habit—but at last, seeming to make a merit of necessity, she set about the work, assisted by her daughter, a little girl ten or twelve years old, and occa sionally by one of the Tories. Just at the edge of the swamp was