Nancy Hart Nancy Morgan Hart ( c . 1735 – 1830 ) was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War whose exploits against Loyalists in the Georgia backcountry are the stuff of legend . Because stories about her are mostly unsupported by contemporary documentation , it is impossible to entirely distinguish fact from folklore . Although explicit details concerning most of her life are unknown , it is widely assumed that Nancy Ann Morgan Hart was born in North Carolina , in the Yadkin River valley ( although some believe that she was born in Pennsylvania ) , around 1735 ( some say 1747 ) . She died in 1830 in Henderson County , Kentucky , where she was buried . During the early 1770s , Hart and her family left North Carolina and made their way into Georgia , eventually settling in the fertile Broad River valley . Hart was well connected through family ties to many prominent figures in early American history . She was a cousin to Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan , who commanded victorious American forces at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina on January 17 , 1781 . Her husband , Benjamin Hart , came from a distinguished family that later produced such famous political figures as Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton and Kentucky senator Henry Clay . According to contemporary accounts , " Aunt Nancy , " as she was often called , was a tall , gangly girl . She was rough - hewn and rawboned , with red hair and a smallpox - scarred face . One early account pointed out that Hart had " no share of beauty — a fact she herself would have readily acknowledged , had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking into a mirror " . Hart ' s physical appearance was matched by a feisty personal demeanor characterized by a hotheaded temper , a fearless spirit , and a penchant for exacting vengeance upon those who offended her or harmed her family and friends . Local Native Americans soon began to refer to her as " Wahatche " , which may have meant " war woman " . She was also a domineering wife . Many remembered that she , rather than her husband , ran the Hart household , which eventually included six sons and two daughters . Although she was illiterate , Hart was amply blessed with the skills and knowledge necessary for frontier survival ; she was an expert herbalist , a skilled hunter and killer , and an excellent shot . Capturing British soldiers . According to the most famous story about her during the Revolution , a group of " Tory " soldiers ( 5 or 6 ) came by her house either looking for food or a Whig they were pursuing . The soldiers demanded that she cook them one of the turkeys in her yard before they left . She sent her daughter to the well for water . She agreed to feed the Tory soldiers . As they entered the cabin , they placed their guns by the door and sat down at her table to eat . As they were drinking and eating , she was pushing their guns through a hole in the wall of her log cabin . After they had been drinking a sufficient time , she grabbed one of the remaining guns and threatened the men not to move . One ignored her threats , so she killed him . Another made a move toward the weapons and was also killed by Hart . The remaining Tories were held captive until her husband , Benjamin Hart , and neighbors arrived . According to legend , her husband wanted to shoot the soldiers , but she demanded that they be hanged . They were hanged on a nearby tree . There exist various versions of this story , all of which agree in general , but provide different details . McIntosh quotes two such stories . Cook provides another version from an 1825 newspaper . Construction crews working on the Elberton and Eastern Railroad in the area in 1912 seemed to have validated this story . While grading a railroad site less than a mile from the old Hart Cabin , the workers found five or six skeletons buried neatly in a row . A few of the skeletons ' necks were broken which hinted of hanging . They were declared to have been buried for at least near to 100 years . Other stories about Nancy Hart . Mrs . Louisa H . Kendall , whose uncle was John Hart , son of Nancy Hart , wrote a letter in 1872 recalling some of the stories her mother had heard from Nancy Hart . According to this letter , once when she was taking a bag of grain to the mill , a band of Tories forced her off her horse and threw the grain on the ground . Undaunted , the muscular , six - foot Nancy picked up the heavy bag and walked the rest of the way to the mill . The letter also tells about Nancy acting as an unofficial Revolutionary War sniper , killing Tories as they came across the river . McIntosh also quotes a Mr . Snead , who was related to the Harts , about a time when Nancy was cooking lye soap in her cabin when her daughter discovered a spy looking through a crack in the wall . Hart then threw a ladle of the boiling soap into the Tories eyes , then went outside and tied him up to turn him into Patriot militia . There are two stories about Nancy dressing as a man ( and perhaps acting “ crazy ” ) , entering Tory camps and gaining information of military value . According to folklore , the local Native Americans referred to her " Wahatche " which could have meant " War Woman " , and named a creek for her . However , Mooney disputes this , and notes that there are records of the creek ' s name as early as 1775 , and “ Several cases of women acting the part of warriors are on record among the Cherokee . ” Life after the war . Broad River settlement for several years after the Revolution . In 1790 the area was cut from Wilkes County and incorporated into a new county , called Elbert . By then Nancy Hart had found religion through a new Methodist society that had formed in her neighborhood . According to former Georgia governor George Rockingham Gilmer , who knew Hart , tells a story about Nancy becoming “ religious ” after the War . “ A Methodist society was formed in her neighborhood . She went to the house of worship in search of relief . She found the good people assembled in class meeting , and the door closed against intruders . She took out her knife , cut the fastening and stalked in . She heard how the wicked might work out their salvation ; became a shouting Christian , fought the devil as manfully as she fought the Tories . . . ” The indomitable woman " went to the house of worship in search of relief . She . . became a shouting Christian , [ and ] fought the Devil as manfully as she had [ once ] fought the Tories . " During the late 1780s , the Harts moved to Brunswick . ( Some accounts suggest that they may have spent time in Alabama and South Carolina as well ) . Benjamin Hart died shortly thereafter . Nancy Hart then moved back to the Broad River settlement , only to find that a flood had washed away the cabin . Eventually she settled with her son , John , along the Oconee River in Clarke County near Athens . Around 1803 John Hart took his mother and family to Henderson County , Kentucky , to live near relatives . Hart spent the remaining years of her life there . She was buried in the Hart family cemetery a few miles outside of Henderson . Legacy . On the approximate site of Hart ' s frontier cabin along River Road in Elbert County , the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a replica cabin , using chimney stones from the original cabin , which had stood on the crest of a large hill overlooking Wahatche Creek . Georgians have memorialized Nancy Hart in a number of ways . Hart County , Elbert County ' s neighbor to the north , was named for her , as was its county seat , Hartwell . In the same general area , Lake Hartwell and the Nancy Hart Highway ( Georgia Route 77 ) commemorate the legendary woman . During the Civil War ( 1861 – 65 ) , a group of women in LaGrange founded a militia company named the Nancy Harts to defend the town from the Union army . In 1997 Hart was inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement . Various things in Georgia named after Nancy Hart include : Nancy Hart is also confused with Nancy Hart Douglas of Civil War Fame .