Hancock County (Georgia) Cemeteries
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Henry Mitchell
Section A, Lot 15, Grave 3
-- See section's Lot Layout map on the Sparta Cemetery website.
Inscription and Notes:
Native of Sussex County, Va. Died in 79th year of his age.
Military Service: American Revolution
Wounded at Burfoot's defeat. "General".
Burfoot is probably Buford's Defeat (aka
Waxhaws) May 29, 1780 [Editors].
Henry Mitchell
His "stone placed by his bereaved consort. Animated by the same love of liberty which inspired the tongue of Henry and the sword of Washington, he cheerfully exposed himself to the hazards of war and poured out his blood like water at Burfoot's defeat where he was cloven down by a British sabre while gallantly bearing the standard of his country. Within a few years after the establishment of American Independence, he became a citizen of Georgia, and in the course of a long life filled various offices of trust and dignity with honor to himself, and usefulness to the State. In his character and deportment he united the simplicity of Republican manners with the sternness of Republican principles. Embalmed in the memory of noble deeds, his name will live when this frail monument shall have crumbled into dust."
On his vault is an hourglass and a star.
From "Sacred Relics Unfurled for Auction: Revolutionary War Flags Fetch more than $17,000,000" by Scott A. Miskimon, in Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Vol 3, Nos 6-8, June-Aug, 2006, http://www.southerncampaign.org/newsletter/v3n678.pdf, pp. 3-6:
Among the battle flags that were among those sold at a recent auction at Southeby's was the battle flag of Buford's Defeat. Buford's Defeat occurred in 1780 as Buford's regiment, which was the only Continental regiment not trapped within Charleston, tried to outrun Tarleton's dragoons as the regiment retreated toward Salisbury, NC. Buford's flag is the first flag made with five-pointed stars and may even have been made by Betsy Ross. The capture of this flag "is well documented. At the start of the battle (with Tarleton's forces), Sergeant Henry Mitchell was in the center of Buford's line, holding the staff flying the regiment's battle flag. As the dragoons charged through the line, a Legionnaire cut Mitchell down and broke the staff. Despite his wounds, Mitchell would not release his grip on the top part of the staff that held the flag, even after he had been dragged fifteen yards by a cavalryman. Enraged dragoons surrounded Mitchell and were about to finish him off when Captain Kinloch of the Legion arrived, dismounted, and came to Mitchell's rescue. Kinloch was impressed by Mitchell's determined protection of his flag and told the dragoons that so gallant a soldier, even if an enemy, should not be killed. (ref: Alexander Garden, Anecdotes of the American Revolution, Illustrative of the Talents and Virtues of the Heroes and Patirots Who Acted the Most Conspicous Parts Therein, p. 139, Charleston, 1828). Thanks to Kinloch's intervention, Mitchell survived the battle and the war, but carried the scars of Buford's Defeat with him for the rest of his life. After the War, Mitchell moved to Georgia, where he became a prominent military and political figure. A number of years after his death, the State of Georgia named Mitchell County in his honor" (p. 4).
ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE, AT A SESSION OF THE SAME, IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1857. COMPILED AND ANNOTATED BY EDWIN N. BROYLES.
PART I.----PUBLIC LAWS.
TITLE IX. COUNTIES.
1857 Vol. 1 -- Page: 38
Law Number: (No. 22.)
Full Title: An Act to lay off and organize a new County from the County of Baker, and for other purposes therein specified.
34. SECTION I. Be it enacted, That there shall be a new county laid out and formed from the county of Baker, to-wit: All that portion of Baker county on the east side of Flint River shall form a new county to be called the county of Mitchell, in honor of General Henry Mitchell, and the same shall be attached to the Judicial and Congressional District and Military Brigade to which said territory now belongs.
See: http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/legis-idx.pl?sessionid=7f000001&type=law&byte=31348138
See others in this cemetery lot.
