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Edward Hagin, a Refugee SoldierEdward Hagin, Revolutionary War Soldier, was born ca 1755 in the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina and was certified by Colonel Elijah Clarke as a Refugee Soldier.Here is how the Refugee Soldier came into being:All of South Carolina and Georgia fell to the British in 1780. After the fall of Charleston, British columns spread into the southern backcountry. All of Georgia was occupied. In late June the prominent militia leaders of the Ninety-Six District in South Carolina took parole along with most of their men. when Colonel Elijah Clarke and his backcountry men arrived in Augusta, Georgia where loyalists were taking revenge against patriots. Colonel John Dooly had been killed in his own home by the Tories. That left Lt. Colonel Clarke in command of the Wilkes County Militia, and he took some of the South Carolina paroles into the fight. They became known as " Georgia Refugees"The first move of Colonel Clarke was to furlough the men for three weeks in order to secure their farms while he sent messengers across the backcountry in search of allies and information on the state of the resistance. At this point, the refugees remained disorganized and a different group of about 40 Georgians had the first major skirmish with the British near Prince Fort. They skirmished with a Loyalist officer named James Dunlap of the Queen's Rangers. The Georgia rebels surprised Dunlop, killing one soldier, and taking the remainder as prisoners. Elijah Clarke arrived in South Carolina in early August and assumed command of the regiment; his refugee soldiers camped near Wofford Iron Works. They engaged the Loyalist soldiers under command of Alexander Innes who attempted to draw the Georgians into an open battle. He was unsuccessful and both armies withdrew while claiming victory. Apparently, Edward Hagin moved to Wrightsboro Georgia before the onset of the war, as this is where he signed a petition on August 30, 1774, a petition along with other residents, as follows: " We, the inhabitants of the Town of Wrightsboro and places adjacent, understanding that fourteen persons have drawn up several resolutions respecting the dispute between Great Britain and the Town of Boston, concerning the destroying of a quantity of tea, the property of the East India Company, and have published them each the Act of Province, and which we look upon as a great imposition, having no knowledge of them till they passed; Therefore, we do, in this public manner, deny passing any concerning them, and disapprove of them altogether, such proceeding as a few actions for the whole without the knowledge, we apprehend being contrary to the rights and privileges of every British subject, 30 August 1774" Edward Hagin received two land grants for his service of 287 1/2 acres each in Washington County, Georgia. Apparently, he was settled in Wilkes County, Georgia, before 1782, where his first son was born. He resided in Clarke County, Georgia dated 1805 where he made a Last Will and Testament naming his wife, Hannah, and all of their children. |
Issue of Edward and Hannah Hagin, viz:
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Issue of Edward Hagin (1782-1850) and Sally Youngblood:
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