Continental Army General Nathaniel Greene was camped near the Geiger home in upcountry South Carolina. He needed to get an urgent message to General Thomas Sumter (for whom the Civil War’s Fort Sumter was named). Young Emily, whose father was a strong supporter of the patriot cause, volunteered to carry the message. She carefully committed the note to memory and set off.
Riding on horseback through enemy territory, Emily was captured by the Redcoats and taken to Fort Granby. After being interrogated by British General Lord Francis Rawdon himself, she was ordered jailed. While waiting to be searched by a female loyalist, Emily ate General Greene’s message. With the written message gone, no incriminating evidence was found. After she told the British she was just traveling to her uncle’s house, Lord Rawdon was honor-bound to let her go.
Reaching General Sumter’s camp, Emily dutifully recounted her memorized message from General Greene. The two Continental Army units were then joined together for an assault that eventually rid South Carolina of British troops.
Abagail Adams famously advised her husband John Adams to “remember the Ladies” of the Revolution. We, too, should remember and be thankful for young Emily Geiger.