Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution: The Story of the Growth of A Tradition

This content is available through online browsing (free) program dependent on page scan. Screen readers can not currently scan, so please contact JSTOR user support for access. We will provide PDF copy of your screen reader

Nancy Morgan Heart (1735 - 1830) was a rebellious actress of the American Revolutionary War and was known for attacking royalists at the northeastern border of Georgia. She features a woman of strong, witty borders who murdered several people over and over conservative soldiers. Most of her story is not supported by contemporary literature and researchers can not completely distinguish between facts and folklore. Clear details about the majority of her life are not clear, but Nancy Am Morgan Hart is believed to be born around 1735 in the Yadkin River Basin in North Carolina. (Some researchers think they were born in Pennsylvania). She married Benjamin Heart in the area. His relatives' descendants include Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Kentucky Senator Henry Clay and other well-known politicians.

Nancy Heart's lifetime and legend (circa 1735 - 1830) embodies the fierce struggle between patriots and faithful neighbors, distant Georgia's American Revolutionary War. In the early 1770s, Heart and her family left North Carolina, her hometown, went to Georgia and settled in the western Kadland of Augusta. This 19th century color lithograph celebrates the legendary story of the group of Nancy Hart and faithfulists who stayed at her house in the Whig attack against remote areas. As a bold and enthusiastic patriot, Heart killed two of them, grabbed others and hanged them.