07/02/2026
In celebration of the Fourth of July holiday and our nation's 250th birthday, we are sharing a recent article by Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO Wright Mitchell - Why Georgia’s Revolutionary Story Matters: Rediscovering Georgia’s Overlooked Revolutionary War Legacy. The article was featured in the most recent edition of the Georgia Trust's newsletter, The Rambler (Summer 2026).
"Most Georgians are taught about the American Revolution in school. But the stories they learn tend to come from the northern colonies. The Revolutionary War in the southern colonies, especially Georgia, is often overlooked or ignored in textbooks. Rather, students read about a midnight rider galloping through Massachusetts towns, redcoats marching across New York fields, or cannons thundering at Yorktown. Rarely, if ever, are students encouraged to conjure up equally compelling Georgia images such as smoke rising over Kettle Creek Battlefield near Washington, the sturdy brick walls of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Ebenezer, the Puritan meetinghouse at Midway, or the small cottage in Savannah that survived weeks of bombardment. But they should."
As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the Georgia Trust is telling the little-known story of Georgia’s revolutionary period through the historic places that still exist from that era. The following is a small sample of the places and stories.
For the full History Spotlight, click here: https://buff.ly/X3Jq9YK
IMAGES: Midway Congregational Church (Midway, GA), John Adam Treutlen (Georgia's first elected Governor), Austin Dabney (served in the Patriot militia and following the war was the only enslaved man to be granted his freedom and a pension), Jerusalem Lutheran Church (Rincon, GA), Meadow Garden (Augusta), and Christian Camphor Cottage (Savannah).
