© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

“G” is for Geiger, Emily (ca. 1762)

South Carolina A to Z larger logo

“G” is for Geiger, Emily (ca. 1762). Revolutionary War heroine. Geiger was the daughter of John Geiger, a German farmer. Little I known of her early life. In June 1781 Emily Geiger volunteered to be a courier for General Nathanael Greene, who needed an urgent message delivered to General Thomas Sumter. She was stopped by the British. While waiting for a woman to search her, she read and memorized Greene’s message and then ate it. Finding no incriminating message, the British released her. Geiger found her way to Sumter’s camp and delivered the message she had memorized. As a result of her persistence and bravery, Sumter’s forces met with other patriot groups at British-held Orangeburg to carry out Greene’s plan of attack. After the war, Emily Geiger married John Threewitts and settled down near Granby.

Stay Connected
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.