A Revolutionary Book From Georgia Trend’s Former Publisher

Longtime readers of Georgia Trend may remember Neely Young as the magazine’s owner and publisher from 1999 to 2017, and father of current publisher Ben Young. Since retiring, he has written a few books – the most recent of which is In Their Footsteps: Georgia’s Heroes of the Revolutionary War. Young says he wanted to show a different viewpoint from many of the other books written about that time period.

History Lesson: Neely Young’s book tells Georgia’s stories of the American Revolution.

“Most Revolutionary War history books tell what happened in the Northeast,” he says. “I want to tell the story of the war down South – in Georgia.”

The book looks at war heroes, politicians and other well-known leaders. But it also shines a light on some people who aren’t commonly recognizable names.

“For example, Nancy Hart took on the British Tories while spying for the Patriots,” says Young. “She was 6 feet tall and was known as a ‘devil of a woman.’ When Tories tried to kill her, she captured the whole group and hanged them to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Young acknowledges the state was a bit slow in joining the revolution.

“Georgia was a little conflicted at first about the first Constitutional meeting,” he says. “Many colonial residents were loyal to the King and even agreed with the Stamp Act. But it didn’t take long before Georgians fell in line with the other colonies and attended the Second Continental Congress.”

One of the people who attended that meeting is known not only for signing the Declaration of Independence, but for having Georgia’s second-most populous county named after him. Still, Button Gwinnett had such a checkered past that Lachlan McIntosh, brigadier general of the Continental troops in Georgia, called him “a scoundrel and a lying rascal” – a sentiment that was shared by several others.

“Button Gwinnett was a difficult person,” says Young. “Many local leaders thought it was a good idea to send him to Philadelphia, just to get him out of the way. Little did they realize he would be tasked with signing the Declaration of Independence.”

In Their Footsteps: Georgia’s Heroes of the Revolutionary War is available on Amazon.