State Activities

The British seized Savannah, Georgia on December 29, 1778. Colonists feared redcoats would advance into the backcountry of Georgia and the Carolinas and that Loyalist sympathizers would join the war. On February 14, 1779, those fears were crushed when Patriot forces overwhelmed the British at the Battle of Kettle Creek. Amid pageantry, cannons, and musket volley salutes, State Regent Helen Robertson Powell gave greetings at the Georgia Society Sons of the American Revolution celebration of the 247th anniversary of the Battle of Kettle Creek near Washington, Georgia. Members of SAR, DAR, and the Children of the American Revolution along with public officials, students, and community members honored the “Heroes of the Hornet’s Nest.”

The Georgia backcountry was called “the Hornet’s Nest” because of Patriots’ stinging attacks. Two of Georgia’s Revolution heroes — Colonels Elijah Clarke and John Dooly — joined South Carolina’s Col. Andrew Pickens and together “stung like hornets” the British and their sympathizers. The 220-acre battlefield encircles a 500-foot-high hill and features a monument the War Department erected in 1930. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, the Kettle Creek Battlefield is now officially recognized as an affiliated site within the National Park System.