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290 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
about his person. He expired early in the night; and his requests of Colonel Pickens
were faithfully complied with.'' * From the standpoint of an eyewitness, Captain
McCall further informs us in regard to this battle that Clarke and Dooly, who com
manded the two wings, had 100 men each and that Colonel Piekens, who led the
center, had 250 men, thus making the odds four to seven in favor of the British;
but it was nevertheless ordained that victory should perch upon the American arms.—
"Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," L. L. Knight, Vol. I.
We are indebted to the thorough and exhaustive researches of Mrs. T. M. Green,
of Washington, Georgia, for the most complete list which exists today of those who
took part in the battle of Kettle Creek. It is a work of priceless historical value
because it contains the names of Revolutionary ancestors from whom thousands of
people today prominent throughout the South have sprung. Mrs. Gi'eene has put
under tribute every source of information within her reach, including the official
records of Wilkes County, the "Historial Collections and Statistics of Georgia" by
White, the old newspaper files of the state, together with manuscripts, letters,
scrap-books and diaries preserved by families in Wilkes County since the earliest
times. The list is as follows:
Elijah Clarke, John Dooly, Mieajah Williamson, Hugh McCall, George Dooly,
Thomas Dooly, John Freeman, Daniel Freeman, Coldrop Freeman, Stephen Heard,
Hallman Freeman, James Freeman, William Freeman, Barnard Heard, John Heard,
JesSe Heard, Austin Dabney, James Williams, Samuel Whatley, Benjamin Wilkinson,
Benjamin Hart, Morgan Hart, Nancy Hart, Nancy Darker, Elisha Wilkinson, John
Nelson, —— Staples, Joe Phillips, Zaehariah Phillips, James Little, Andrew Pickens
of South Carolina, Joseph Pickens, John Clarke, Owen Fluker, John Fluker, Will
Pinker, R. Sntton, Wylie Pope, William Pope, Henry Pope, Burwell Pope, Richard
Tyner, Absalom Bedell, Benjamin Catchings, William Downs, Henry Manadne, Scott
Redden, Joseph Scott Redden, George Redden, Jacob McLendon, George Walton,
a cousin of the Signers, Jesse Walton, John Walton, Nathaniel Walton, Robert
Walton, Daniel Burnett, Ichabod Burnett, John Burnett, Richard Ayeock, Robert
Day, Joseph Day, John Grorham, Dionysins Oliver, Daniel Coleman, John Coleman,
Thomas Stroud, James McLean, Jacob Ferrington, William Bailey, John Glass,
Thomas Glass, Charles Beddingfleld, William Harper, Robert Harper, John Crutch-
field, Francis Triplett, James Alexander, John Candler, ——— Cade, ——— Bridges,
Captain Anderson, Ambrose Beasley, Jeter Stubblefield, John Larnar, James Lamar,
Zachariah Lamar, Basil Lamar, L. Williamson, ——— SaSold, ——— Finley, ——— John
Hill, John Liudsey, William Morgan, William Terrell, John Colley, Nathan Smith,
—— Marbury, —— Walker, ——— Combs, Stephen Evans, William Evans, John Evans,
—— Cosby, ——— Foster, ——— Montgomery, James White, ——— Arnold, —— Truitt,
—— Snow, John Chandler.—Ibid. Vol. I.
ELIJAH CLARKE: THE BEDFORD FOKREST OF THE REVOLUTION.—Stern and relent
less—a besom of destruction to the foes of liberty—Elijah Clarke was the most
colossal figure of the Revolutionary war period in Georgia. He was only an un
lettered man of the frontier; but he possessed the rugged elements of strength which
made him a leader in times of great stress. When the tocsin of war sounded, the
genius of command arose within him; and, without waiting to receive a commission,
he gathered about him a band of sturdy woodsmen, like himself, whom he trained
for combat in the verdant arenas of the forest. During the dark days of the struggle
for independence when Toryism, drunk with power, unloosed the furies of war upon
the state, it was to this singular man of destiny that the whole of the up-country
turned for deliverance as if by a sort of common instinct; and he became' literally a
pillar of fire in the wilderness. He gave the Tories no quarter; and backwoodsman
though he was, his burly arm of strength was felt across the seas, where it planted
the challenge of the Georgia forest on the very steps of the English throne.
Little is known of the early life of Elijah Clarke. Beyond the fact that he was
born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in 1733, there is nothing definite to be
gleaned from the records. Equally silent is the voice of history in regard to his
lineage, though he is supposed to have been of Scotch-Irish extraction. The family
located in what is now Wilkes, on the lands purchased by Governor Wright, in 1773,
' "History of Georgia," Vol. II, p. 399, reprinted, Atlanta, 1909.