Women's History Month 1995:  Promises to Keep

(Back Row L-R) Colonial Georgia's "Mammy Kate" (portrayed by SSG Iris Bennett) and "Nancy Hart" (portrayed by SFC Jacquie Haynes); Civil War "Pvt Bill Thompson--aka Lucy Matilda Thompson" (portrayed by CW3 Beverly Pack) and "Capt Nancy Morgan of the Nancy Harts" (portrayed by SSG Sharen Smith); 1LT Margie Dell Pitts--First Army Guard Nurse sworn in June 25, 1958; 1970's WAC (portrayed by SGT Tabitha Reese)
(Front Row L-R) 1980's Soldier (portrayed by SGT Donna Kelley); 1990's Soldier CW2 Linda Carter;
Desert Storm Soldier, SGT November Graves.

TORY SOLDIER REPLICA REVOLUTIONARY UNIFORM (On Loan from the Hart County Chamber of Commerce) and other household items of the time

NANCY ANN MORGAN HART

"AUNT NANCY HART" REPLICA REVOLUTIONARY COSTUME (On Loan from the Hart County Chamber of Commerce) "Aunt Nancy Ann Morgan Hart" portrayed by Sergeant First Class Jacquie Haynes

The Harts came to upper Georgia around 1773 with Colonel Elijah Clark and others from North Carolina. They settled in the northeast corner of Georgia along the banks of the Broad River. Even though Benjamin was a Tory, Nancy was loyal to the new State of Georgia and the emerging colonies.

Nancy was a rifle-toting frontier woman standing over six feet tall and she had many contrasts. She was a deadly shot with a musket. She was rough, uncouth, hot-tempered, unmanageable, uneducated, impolite, ugly, sharp-tongued, and very muscular--the result of hard work. Nancy also had a coolness which would have literally cut steel; had a warmth which could melt the coldest heart; and was a kind and devoted mother and wife and a compassionate friend to those near her. She had red hair and blue eyes, and conflicting stories say she was cross-eyed. During the Revolutionary struggle, the Liberty Boys called her "Aunt Nancy". The Indians, struck by her wonderful feats in behalf of her country, called her "War Woman".

One summer day in 1780, five or six Tories from a British camp came to her cabin after murdering militia Colonel John Dooly in his bed. They shot Nancy's last turkey gobbler and ordered her to cook it. Upon overhearing the men brag of Colonel Dooly's murder, she now turned to guile. While pretending to cooperate with them, she sent her young daughter Sukey to fetch spring water, but with a whispered aside to blow the conch shell down by the stream to summon her father and the neighbors who were with him.

Meantime, as the invaders grew jovial over flowing liquor, Nancy slipped two of their stacked guns through a wall chink. Caught in the act, she seized another gun. None of the men had any idea whom she was looking at, so finally one made his move. Her aim was deadly and shot the advancing man dead. Nancy's other daughter handed her another musket and she held it in readiness to fire again. Another Tory made one last desperate attempt and she leveled him. Nancy stationed herself in the door, calling on the three remaining to surrender their "damned Tory carcasses to a Whig woman."

About that time Benjamin and his friends arrived and captured the Tories. They proposed shooting them, but Nancy argued that such a death was too good for Dooly's murderers. The men were hanged in the Harts' backyard to a great red-oak tree.

After the Revolution ended, the Harts sold their home and lands and headed for the frontier town of Brunswick in the year 1790. After Benjamin died in 1802, she moved in with her son John and his family in Clarke County near Athens.

Around 1803, the Harts joined other families on the wagon trail and moved to Henderson County, Kentucky. They settled on a farm seven miles south of Henderson on the old Frog Island road. At the age of 95 years old, Nancy died in 1830 and she is buried in the family plot together with John, his wife, and several descendants on a hillside just below the old family log house. A simple tombstone now marks her grave.

The County of Hart was created in 1853 and was named for Nancy Hart. It is the only county in Georgia named for a woman.

"Mammy Kate" portrayed by Staff Sergeant Iris Bennett

On War Hill at Kettle Creek, 8 miles from Washington, Georgia on February 14, 1779, Governor Heard was one of 23 Americans wounded and captured by the Tories. Colonel Moore took him and the other prisoners to Fort Cornwallis at Augusta, Georgia. When Mammy Kate learned of the news that Governor Heard was in prison in Augusta, she was determined that her master should be free. She mounted Lightfoot (an Arabian horse belonging to Stephen Heard) and rode to Augusta, which was about 50 miles from Fort Heard (Wilkes County where the town of Washington now stands) where the Heards made their home.

She stopped just outside the town and found a safe place for keeping the horse. Then she procured a clothes basket and went to the fort, offering to take in washing for the British officers. After a while, she asked permission to do Governor Heard's washing. "He won't need them. We will soon hang that rebel," said the jailer. "Let him hang in clean clothes," begged Kate. This request was granted. It was about dusk when she returned with the clothes basket on her head, and made some saucy remark as she passed the guard. That was the last ever seen of Mammy Kate and Governor Heard at Fort Cornwallis. Instead of soiled linen, the governor of Georgia was tucked away under the sheet that covered the basket. Stephen Heard was not a large man, though distinguished and handsome. On her way out she passed the unsuspicious sentry and several British and Tory officers without question.

But as soon as out of sight she carefully lowered the basket, and she and her master ran as fast as they could to the thicket where the horses were tied. She had stolen Silverheels, the Governor's Arabian horse, from the enemy's stables, and he and Lightfoot were waiting to take them out of danger of British bullets.

On the way to Fort Heard, Stephen turned to Mammy Kate and said, "Kate, you have this day saved my life, and I shall set you free." "Na, Marse Stephen," she replied, "You may set me free, but I ain't 'gwiner set you free."Stephen Heard not only gave her her freedom but he also gave her a small tract of land and a comfortable four-roomed home in which she lived until death. Daddy Jack, the gardener, was her husband, and they had nine children. She faithfully remained with the Heard family until she died an old woman. Mammy Kate made a will leaving each of her nine children to one of Governor Heard's children--of whom there were nine. Mammy Kate and Daddy Jack lie buried in the corner of the Heard, Allen, McIntosh, Mattox burial ground at 'Heardmont,' near Elberton in Elbert County, at the feet of the master and mistress they served so faithfully. No marker shows the resting place of this heroine.

"Like old time plantation darkies, Mammy Kate was good natured and witty." (source: "Grandmother Stories from the Land of Used-To-Be," by Howard Meriwether Lovett; Spartanburg, SC; The Reprint Co., 1913.)

Read more about GEORGIA'S COLONIAL HEROINES: Mary Musgrove Matthews Bosomworth (Coosaponakesee), Mammy Kate, Nancy Ann Morgan Hart, and Hannah Clark

"PVT BILL THOMPSON--aka Lucy Matilda Thompson Gauss Kenney" portrayed by CW3 Beverly L. Pack. Read more about "Private Bill Thompson," A Woman In a Man's Army.

"CAPT NANCY ANN MORGAN of The Nancy Harts" portrayed by Staff Sergeant Sharen Smith. Read more about "The Nancy Harts"--Personal Recollections of the War Girl Confederate Soldiers

Perhaps the greatest challenge for Georgia's white women was the awful loneliness in isolated rural areas. They tried to resist this by working hard and writing long letters to loved ones at the front. These letters powerfully affected army morale, the positive ones encouraging renewed optimism and the negative ones encouraging a host of deserters. In the later stages of the war some rural areas were harassed by deserters and bushwhackers and then overrun by Union forces that sent great hordes of men, women and children, black and white, 'refugeeing' into more secure regions like southwest Georgia." (source: "A History of Georgia, by Kenneth Coleman; Athens, GA; University of Georgia Press, 1977.)

She taught school in Covington until she married widower Thomas Burge, also from Covington, in 1850 and took charge of his plantation household, including five children. Dolly had a daughter named Sarah, referred to as "Sadai" in the Journal; she had two children who had also died. Thomas died in 1858 and left Dolly to manage a large estate.

Dolly managed Thomas' cotton plantation through the war. Her attitude toward the conflict was more annoyance than patriotism. In November 1864, when Sherman approached her plantation, Sadai was only nine years old. Dolly hid her silver and some food in order that the Yankees would not forage everything she had. But the Yankees destroyed everything, leaving her nothing to put in young Sadai's Christmas stocking.

Dolly's diaries give an account of the passage over a Georgia plantation of Sherman's Army on the March to the Sea. That she was brought up in New England, in the heart of the abolitionist movement, and that she was a relative of Charles Sumner, consistent foe of the South, lends peculiar interest to the sentiments on slavery expressed in her Journal.

In 1866 she married the Reverend William J. Parks, a Methodist minister, and moved with her one surviving child to Oxford. Here they lived until the minister's death in 1873, when Dolly moved back to the Burge plantation, where she spent the rest of her life. Dolly died in 1891.

MARY GAY (source: "Grandmother Stories from the Land of Used-To-Be," by Howard Meriwether Lovett; Spartanburg, SC; The Reprint Company, 1974.)

Mary and her mother lived at Decatur, a town near Atlanta in a quaint old home of antebellum days when the war broke out. In the year 1864, this home had been the headquarters of Garrard's Cavalry. Mary still lived there forty years after the war.

One day Miss Mary's mother came to her greatly distressed, and told her of a young mother named Maggie with three little children, who had nothing. She cooked a pot of mush and baked hoe-cakes and went in search of the mother and children. Learning that Maggie's husband was away fighting the war, Mary managed to secure a home-made wagon from an old negro in the village, named Uncle Mack, and she selected an old horse from the 'cane brake'--where worn-out horses of the Federal soldiers had been turned loose.

She picked up Maggie and the children at the home of Doctor Holmes. Gathering the rope reins in her hands, Mary led the old horse on their way with the mother and children nestled away in the wagon. On the third day they reached Social Circle--a point on the Georgia Railroad beyond the reach of raiders' destruction. Here the mother and children took the train for Madison to stay with relatives.

On her return to Decatur, Mary encountered a group of women and children, with tin cans picked up from Federal camping grounds, begging Miss Mary for something to eat. Mary had purchased a few supplies in Social Circle as her own home was low on food. However, she gave them just enough to keep them from starving; not one was turned away. This was not the only trip she made to succor provisions for the destitute people of Decatur. On this return trip from Social Circle, Miss Mary and her old horse friend, 'Johnny Reb,' came very near being captured by Yankees. She was halted by a party of Federal soldiers; Mary waved her bonnet as a flag of truce. The Federals asked her where she got the horse branded "U.S.' on each side of his hindquarters. Then she told the soldiers how she got 'Johnny Reb.'

Read about Georgia's Zora Fair in "A 'Fair' Woman's Love Almost foiled Sherman's Georgia March"

We were honored to have as our special guest FIRST LIEUTENANT MARGIE DELL PITTS to discusses her experiences with our visitors. Here she is seen talking with Chief Warrant Officer Two Linda Carter and Sergeant Tabitha Reese.

Read more about Lieutenants Pitts and Chapman in "1958, the year in which women officially entered the Georgia Guard"

White Hospital Duty Uniform on the left (On Loan from the U. S. Army Medical Department Museum) and Summer Field Uniform on the right (On Loan from the U. S. Army Medical Department Museum)

Hospital dress, white, cotton poplin. Became mandatory wear 1 July 1951. Same design as the 1949 Hospital Duty Uniform with an additional false breast pocket added on the right side of the bodice. One-piece, open-front style with shoulder yoke, false breast pockets on left and right side, 7 gore skirt, two pockets set into skirt panels, removable pearl buttons. Made in both long sleeve and short sleeve styles. Turned back cuffs fastened with plain gold or pearl cuff links. Separate belt with two button-holes.

Cap, white, cotton poplin, shaped bias oblong piece of double ply material made into cap by lacing the two ends together to form back, self-material lacing. Same as the 1949 cap except method of tying the back revised.

Shoes, white, leather or patent, oxford dress tie of a tailored commerical design, closed toe and heel, minimum heel of 1" and a maximum of 2", white heels, minimum of 3 eyelets.

Stockings, white, sheer or semisheer, nylon or silk, with or without seams.

Shirt, herringbone twill, olive drab shade No. 7. Worn tucked inside the slacks or outside (coat style) with the collar either open or closed.

Slacks, herringbone twill, olive drab shade No. 7. Worn loose or buttoned tight at the ankle.

Shoes, high, leather, Army russet.

Field cap.

Scarf, maroon, worn with shirt when authorized.

On May 17, 1973 Gail Wagner was sworn in to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Georgia Army National Guard by The Adjutant General, Major General Joel B. Paris, III. By year's end, there were about 13 women in the Army National Guard statewide. One of our early enlistments is hostess Chief Warrant Officer Two Linda Carter.

The enlistment of women in the 1970's in the Guard also saw them being enlisted into the Women's Army Corps (WAC). The WAC became a component rather than an auxiliary of the Army on July 1, 1943. However, with the signing of Public Law 90-130, the colors of the WAC was retired on October 20, 1978 as a separate corps of the Army and the final integration of women occurred into the TOTAL ARMY.

Through the years, integration of women has occurred throughout the Guard. Women have broken the barriers or rank, command, and job specialty. No longer are women confined to the traditional jobs of clerks, nurses, and administrative support. We have seen our first Master Sergeant and First Sergeant, Lieutenant Colonel, company commander, Georgia Military Institute graduate, and Operation Desert Storm participant. Women are performing duty as pilots, mechanics, military police, and numerous other non-traditional jobs.

Today there are over 700 women in the Georgia Army National Guard.

Read more about Gail Wagner and the early enlistments in "May 1973, an historic step for women and the Georgia National Guard"

Chief Carter talks with visitors about those early days in the 1970's. Shown in the background are uniforms from the 1970's and 1980's such as the Physical Training Uniform, Women's Fatigues, Class A Pantsuit Uniform, and other items particular for the era. Linda wears the current day Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) worn by both men and women soldiers.

An interesting display of uniforms, arifacts, and photographs tell the story
of Georgia Guardsmen activated in Operation Desert Storm.

Sergeant November Graves, a soldier activated in Operation Desert Storm,
greets visitors and answers questions about her experiences.

U. S. Army Retired Colonel Ruby Sellers, Geoergia State Coordinator, provided information on the Women In Military Service for America (WIMSA) Memorial Project.