History Spotlight: Why Georgia's Revolutionary Story Matters

In celebration of the Fourth of July holiday and our nation's 250th birthday, we are sharing a recent article by Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO Wright Mitchell - Why Georgia’s Revolutionary Story Matters: Rediscovering Georgia’s Overlooked Revolutionary War Legacy. The article was featured in the most recent addition of the Georgia Trust's newsletter, The Rambler (Summer 2026).

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Most Georgians are taught about the American Revolution in school. But the stories they learn tend to come from the northern colonies. The Revolutionary War in the southern colonies, especially Georgia, is often overlooked or ignored in textbooks. Rather, students read about a midnight rider galloping through Massachusetts towns, redcoats marching across New York fields, or cannons thundering at Yorktown. Rarely, if ever, are students encouraged to conjure up equally compelling Georgia images such as smoke rising over Kettle Creek Battlefield near Washington, the sturdy brick walls of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Ebenezer, the Puritan meetinghouse at Midway, or the small cottage in Savannah that survived weeks of bombardment. But they should.

Georgia’s Revolutionary War story is one of the most dramatic, and least understood, chapters in America’s history. It is the tale of a small proprietary colony that was established as a utopia for the “worthy poor” of England in 1733 by James Oglethorpe and the Georgia Trustees, who originally banned slavery, rum, Catholics, and lawyers. After the colony struggled economically for many years, the founders lifted the ban on slavery and large plantations began to proliferate. In 1752, the British crown took control of the province, making it the 13th and final royal colony in America. Under royal rule, Georgia prospered in the same manner as its wealthy neighbor, South Carolina, which had permitted slavery since its inception.

As Georgia grew in strength and population, tensions with Britain increased in the northern colonies over various taxation schemes. Georgia would somewhat reluctantly join its sister colonies in declaring independence from Britain in 1776 ushering in the revolutionary period of the state’s existence.

As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the Georgia Trust is telling the little-known story of Georgia’s revolutionary period through the historic places that still exist from that era. The following is a small sample of the places and stories.

Competing Loyalties

The fervent desire for freedom is perhaps no better felt in Georgia than beneath the oaks of Midway Congregational Church (pictured below) in Liberty County. Built by Puritan settlers from Dorchester, South Carolina, who themselves traced their lineage to New England, Midway embodied a community deeply rooted in education, faith, and civic responsibility. The patriot sentiment ran deep in Midway and, in many ways, represented a radical ideology that was rare in Georgia until the eve of the war. The British considered Midway a hotbed of rebellion and burned the original church in retaliation. Yet the people of Midway rebuilt the sanctuary and sent Lyman Hall to serve in the Continental Congress and sign the Declaration of Independence.

Travel up the Savannah River to Ebenezer, and the story shifts. Here the German-speaking Salzburgers built a thriving town anchored by Jerusalem Lutheran Church (pictured below), whose sturdy brick walls still stand as one of the most significant colonial structures in Georgia. During the Revolution, the British occupied Ebenezer and used the church as a field hospital. The town became a battleground of divided loyalties with some residents leaning Loyalist and others Patriot. Yet all were drawn into the storm and would have to eventually pick sides. The debates that took place in the church are a reminder that the Revolution was not a simple contest between Patriots and Redcoats. Rather, it was a conflict that violently fractured communities from within.

Bloody Fighting in the Backcountry

No figure embodies this chaos more poignantly than John Adam Treutlen, Georgia’s first elected governor. A former indentured servant from Germany, Treutlen was educated in Ebenezer and eventually rose to Georgia’s highest office through determination and political acumen. But he was also a victim of Georgia’s bloody backcountry civil war. As Patriot and Loyalist militias raided farms, burned settlements, and settled long-standing scores beneath the banner of political loyalty, Treutlen was branded for death by the British. After fleeing Georgia, he was seized by Loyalists near the Orangeburg, South Carolina and murdered in 1782.

The Battle That Turned the Tide

Yet among the chaos of warring factions of Loyalists and Patriots emerged moments where the ultimate outcome of the internecine fighting would become clear. In February 1779, Patriot militia under Elijah Clarke, John Dooly, and Andrew Pickens attacked a Loyalist force camped along Kettle Creek in Wilkes County. What followed was one of the most important Patriot victories in the southern campaign, and it demonstrated to the British that the hopes for a Loyalist led takeover of the Georgia backcountry were fruitless. Preserved through the efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, you can still trace the ravines and slopes that shaped the battle.

Augusta: Building a State in the Midst of War

Creating a functioning revolutionary government during the war was a challenging task. Forced out of Savannah when the town was captured, the rebel government fled to Augusta but similarly found that town besieged. Augusta changed hands multiple times during the war, making it one of the most contested towns in the South. During the Siege of Augusta in 1781, Patriot forces under Elijah Clarke and Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee surrounded the British-held fortifications and forced their surrender, bringing the city back under American control. Today at Meadow Garden, the home of George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, visitors can step back into this world of fragile governance and nation building.

Nearby, in Thomson, the Rock House stands as a monument to early Georgia resilience. Built of stone in the late 18th century, it is one of the oldest remaining stone residences in the state and sits near the site of Wrightsboro, a frontier Quaker settlement central to backcountry life that was roiled by Loyalist and Patriot fighting during the war. Although built after the fighting ceased, structures like the Rock House remind us that the revolution was not only about battles, it was also about families forging an existence in the uncertainty that existed on the Georgia frontier following the war. Constantly threatened by the possibility of attacks from indigenous tribes, the Rock House is Georgia’s only surviving example of the type of fortified residential structures that provided protection to Georgia’s early frontier settlers.

Savannah: A City Under Siege

Perhaps nowhere did the drama of war unfold more dramatically than in Savannah. The British captured the city in 1778 and held it for nearly four years, transforming it into a key Loyalist stronghold. During the failed Franco-American assault in 1779, the Spring Hill Redoubt became the focal point of one of the bloodiest engagements of the war. The earthen fortifications that remain today are among the most important Revolutionary War archaeological sites in the nation. Not many residential structures survived the Siege of Savannah, but the plucky Camphor Cottage is a rare example of Georgia’s Pre-Revolutionary War architecture that still stands proudly on East Oglethorpe Avenue.

Enslaved Men Who Fought for Both Sides

Georgia’s Revolutionary War story is incomplete without acknowledging the contributions of the enslaved individuals Meadow Garden, Augusta who fought for both the Patriots and the British, often in hopes of gaining freedom that was rarely granted. Some, like Austin Dabney (pictured below), fought with extraordinary courage. Dabney served in the Patriot militia and was seriously wounded. Following the war, he was granted his freedom and a pension by the state, the only enslaved or formerly enslaved man in Georgia known to have received such recognition. Others fought for the British, lured by proclamations promising freedom for military service. Their stories reflect both the hypocrisy and the hope of the founding era.

Why Preservation Matters

Georgia’s revolutionary sites survive today only because generations of Georgians fought to protect them. As the 250th Anniversary of America’s founding approaches, I encourage you to personally experience these places. Walk the grounds of Midway as the sun filters through the oaks. Step into Ebenezer’s brick sanctuary where wounded soldiers once lay. Stand atop the ridge at Kettle Creek where musket smoke drifted among the pines. Explore Meadow Garden and imagine the weight of early statehood. View the Rock House near Wrightsboro or trace the outlines of the Spring Hill Redoubt. Walk the streets of Savannah and imagine what the Camphor Cottage endured during a hail of fire and cannon balls. Most importantly, do not forget the human stories of the revolution such as Austin Dabney and John Adam Treutlen.

Georgia’s Revolutionary War story is important not just to Georgia history, but it is vital to understanding how a young country of farmers and merchants could overthrow the most powerful empire in the world.