Diary: Sean Hill, (1) This Land Is My Land

Oconee River, Georgia, photograph by the author

Sometime around 1765, a man named Austin Dabney was born in the British colony known as the Province of North Carolina—a decade or so before that colony and its twelve siblings, which would become our union of states, declared their independence and entered the violent birth throes of this nation—before later moving to what would become Wilkes County, Georgia. During the war, those British colonists (both Tories/Loyalists and Whigs/Patriots) fought to determine their fate in this land: the story of this country. And under the command of Colonel Elijah Clark, Dabney, barely into his teen years, joined them, fighting valiantly for the colonies’ independence, for the recognition of their sovereignty. Austin Dabney fought in one of the war’s important battles—the Battle of Kettle Creek—a major victory for the Patriots. On August 14, 1786, Georgia granted Dabney 250 acres, as was due all Revolutionary War veterans in recognition of their military service. When the state granted Dabney land, the legislature also appropriated seventy pounds to pay for his freedom. There is a document—a petition of manumission—recording that transaction as well.