Georgia Revolutionary War Patriots

This project is for Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots who primarily fought elsewhere and settled in Georgia after the war.

Columbia County

(Columbia County was created from Richmond County on December 10th, 1790. Columbia is Georgia’s 12th county and from her original boundaries were formed parts of Warren and McDuffie counties.)

• Captain Thomas [Addison] Cobb (1722-1832), aged 110. He was a native of Buckingham County, Virginia. he removed to Georgia about the year 1783. (See also Columbia Centinel, Nov. 7, 1832).
• Captain Leonard Marbury, aged 93. He left three sons, three daughters, and 96 other descendants.
• Mr. David Hodge (1734-1836), aged 102, another hero of the Revolution, married at age 102 years and 2 months to Miss Elisabeth Baily, aged 40 years, both of Columbia County, in 1836. Mr. Hodge was at Braddock's defeat, and served throughout the Revolutionary War. (Augusta Chronicle; Christian Secretary, 25 Jun 1836).
• Captain Ignatius Few died at age of 60. He was an ardent patriot of the Revolution.
• David Bushnell ( - ), in 1795 or 96, as a teacher in the County of Columbia. He had been an officer in the Revolutionary army --a captain of a corps of sappers amd miners. He contrived a submarine engine for the purpose of destroying the British fleet, then lying in the Delaware Bay, below Philadelphia. After the close of the revolutionary war, he travelled in Europe.

An extract from Adiel Sherwood's Gazetteer of 1837 reads: "In this town [Warrenton] lived for a number of years, Dr. Bushnell, formerly of Saybrook, Connecticut, inventor of a submarine vessel called the Turtle.' By this instrument great damage was done to British ships during the Revolutionary War."

• Colonel William Few was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, on June 8, 1748.
• The Crawford plantation. The Crawford house, known as Oak Hall, was said to be the oldest house in Columbia County before it burned down in 1968.

According to local lore, Charles Crawford, a captain in a militia company, came to the area from Virginia and built the house during or just after the Revolutionary War.

It was a two-story pine structure with six columns and an iron balcony. It had eight rooms, some with imported stained-glass windows. Washington Road likely ran between Oak Hall and the cotton gin.

Crawford family members and descendants came to be among the most influential figures in the state.

The dynasty includes George W. Crawford, a state attorney general, U.S. congressman and Georgia governor, fourth son of Revolutionary War soldier, Peter Crawford, and cousin to William H. Crawford, a U.S. congressman, secretary of war, secretary of the treasury and an unsuccessful candidate to become sixth president of the United States; Nathan Crawford, who helped found Augusta Medical College (Founded in 1828); and Peter Crawford, a Columbia County sheriff.

George LaVarnway's home on Crawford Place Road is built over the site of Oak Hall. Trees in his yard still bear scorch marks from the 1968 fire.

Columbia County was created from Richmond County on December 10th, 1790. Columbia is Georgia’s 12th county and from her original boundaries were formed parts of Warren and McDuffie counties. Shortly after its creation, Peter Crawford was commissioned the first Clerk of the Superior and Inferior Courts of Columbia County.

Glascock County

Hancock County

• General Henry T. Mitchell, Sr. (c. 1756-c.1836), died at 79. Spouse: Elizabeth Whitehurst. Slaveholder. Cemetery: Smyrna United Methodist Church Cemetery.
• Captain James Reese, Sr. (c.1751-c.1836), died at 84. ?
• John Hamilton, Esq., (c. 1757-c.1836), died at 78. Residence: 1812.
• Mr. Amos Brantley (1763-c.1828), died at 70? Born: Edgecombe, North Carolina.
• Dr. Edward, 71.

McDuffie County

Warren County

• Captain Hill, aged 87 years. ?
• Henry R. Bonner (1724-January 1, 1822), aged 98 years. he was an officer in the Revolutionary War.
• Jonas Shivers (c.1749 -November 12, 1826), aged 77, a soldier of the Revolution.
• James Draper (c. 1747-c. 1830), died in the 83rd year of his age. Fought the British from 16 years old, for something like 3 years.

Washington County

(Washington County has at different times furnished soldiers for six wars.)

• Mr. John Jourdon, a Revolutionary soldier, at a very advanced age.
• Major Nicholas Curry died aged 67. He entered the Revolutionary army a private soldier, and left it with the rank of Captain of Dragoons, after a hard service of five years. During that period he shared in many of the perils and hardships of the war, and was always active and efficient upon the field of battle.

Wilkes County

• In the section Tour 8, p. 298: Right from Smyrna Church on the Old Augusta Road to a point at 1 mile; Right from the road about 0.3 mile in the woods to the GRAVE OF ABRAHAM SIMONS, a Jewish Revolutionary soldier. In 1827 his widow, Nancy Mills Simons, married the Reverend Jesse Mercer and used the Simons' fortune to establish Mercer University, a Baptist institution in Macon. (Rebok reprint of "Georgia: A Guide to Its Towns and Countryside, revised and extended by George G. Leckie).

About the turn of the 19th century, settlers of Washington Ga., had begun hiring wagoners to make the week long run to Augusta for goods and supplies. A man named Abram Simons, lived on a hill located just outside of town on the old Washington/ Augusta Road, which is now called South Smyrna Church Road. Although much of the tale surrounding Mr. Simons has been passed down
as local folklore, much of the story has been proven through court records, as some of Mr. Simons victims apparently reported him to the authorities.

A Revolutionary War veteran, Capt. Abraham Simons had a legitimate business as a cotton farmer. He lived in a two-story house about 150 feet off the Augusta Road. When Mr. Simons told people that he was going to open an Inn, few believed that it would be successful. It wasn’t long, before they were proven wrong.

Mr. Simons died in 1825. In his will he left $5,000 to each of his stepchildren, signifying great wealth for that era. The house has since been taken down, but Mr. Simons' grave remains, surrounded by a moss-covered stone wall with an iron gate. It is on a dirt road at State Routes 12 & 47, near Smyrna Church, and would be difficult to find without a guide. (Abram Simons).

References

• East Central Georgia, including the Counties of Columbia, Hancock, Washington, McDuffie, Warren, Glascock. Compiled from historical writings of Rev. George White, George G. Leckie and the WPA Writers.
• Lore abounds along old Washington Road.
• Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts