Women's History Month 2022 - Emily Geiger

[Mrs. Smith]

Good morning, and welcome to this week's installment in honor of Women's History Month!

While we find many stories of men performing heroic deeds throughout history of America, we find very few records of women serving their country. This, however, does not mean that women did not serve their country. There are accounts of women who have nobly performed their patriotic duty. One of those women was Emily Geiger. The bearing of important dispatches through an enemy's country is an enterprise that always requires both courage and address. Miss Emily Geiger performed such a feat during the American Revolution, under difficult circumstances.



During the Revolutionary War, the Carolina colonies were invaded by the British in 1781. Patriot Generals Nathanael Greene, Thomas Sumter, Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and Francis Marion were waging an all-out campaign to rid South Carolina of the British.
General Greene had spent 28 days trying to capture the fort at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, but had been forced to retreat when he discovered that British General Lord Francis Rawdon was coming with reinforcements. General Greene felt that Rawdon's men were vulnerable to attack, but knew he lacked the manpower to win the skirmish.

If General Greene could get a message to General Sumter, the two units could join forces and attack General Rawdon en masse. Two things made getting such a message to General Sumter very difficult. Seventy miles of difficult terrain - some of it a dense marsh - separated the two armies, and the area was a hotbed of British sympathizers.

General Greene hesitated to order any of his men - who were exhausted and weak from lack of proper food - to undertake such a ride. So he called for a civilian volunteer to carry the message. But no one could be found willing to run the risk of traversing a section of country that was infested with revengeful Tories.

About two miles from where General Greene had camped with his weary and disheartened troops, stood the residence of a well-to-do farmer named John Geiger, a loyal and outspoken patriot, but an invalid and unable to bear arms for his country. His eighteen-year-old daughter Emily was an ardent patriot as well.

Emily Geiger overheard her father and one of his friends discussing Greene's dilemma and his call for a courier. Without saying anything to her father, she left the house and went to General Greene's camp, asking to speak to the general personally. She bravely offered to carry his message to General Sumter.



Greene was understandably leery about sending a young woman on such a long and dangerous trip. Emily also stated that she was well acquainted with the route to be traveled, as she had been over it more than once. Desperate, Greene finally consented to let Emily go.  He wrote his message and sent her on her way.

   Emily pursued her journey on horseback on a sidesaddle.  She traveled under the guise of being on her way to her Uncle Jacob's house many miles away.  But on the second day of her journey, Lord Rawdon's scouts intercepted her.  Coming from the direction of Green's army and not being able to tell an untruth without blushing, Emily was suspected and detained.  As Geiger was a woman, the soldiers waited on a female Loyalists to arrive in order to search her. 

Emily agonized over what to do next. She found herself in a precarious situation; being found with a message would mean she would be tried and probably hanged as a spy.  Then she had an idea. As soon as the door was closed, she tore the letter up into small pieces and ate it, but not before, she managed to memorize the message.  When the woman Loyalist arrived, she carefully searched Emily, but found nothing of a suspicious nature and Emily would disclose nothing. Suspicion being then relieved, the officer commanding the scouts apologized for the error and allowed her to leave, providing her an escort to her uncle's home.

She rode on steadily, hot as it was, until 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the third day, she suddenly came upon a file of soldiers, whom from their dress she knew to be friends. They took Emily to General Sumter; hungry, weary, and almost fainting, she clearly and succinctly delivered her message. In an hour General Sumter was ready to march to meet General Greene.
After a few days of rest, Emily returned home to her father.



Emily Geiger: 2022EnglishWikipedia contributors Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Geiger#:%7E:text=Emily%20Geiger%20(1765%E2%80%931825),the%20letter%20to%20its%20recipient.


Emily Geiger. (1999). History's Women. https://historyswomen.com/early-america/emily-geiger/

M. (2017, April 2). Emily Geiger. History of American Women. https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2010/10/emily-geiger.html