(gentle music) - Woman or no woman, if you are a spy, you will be hanged.

- This is where Emily Geiger fought the British.

Emily Geiger was a woman of determination.

She was born into a well-to-do farming family in Newberry County, South Carolina.

She was often heard to say, "Oh, if I were a man that could help fight for my country."

In June 1781, she finally got the chance to help the Patriots.

She volunteered to do a task that no man attempted to do, and in doing so, she became known as a heroine of the American Revolution.

(patriotic music) - The Battle of Eutaw Springs was won because of a woman.

Emily Geiger, a child really not fully grown.

Oh, I remember the day we first met.

Oh, so well.

Madam, you are proposing to do what none of my soldiers can.

The very idea is preposterous.

What you want to do cannot be done by a woman.

- General, I respectfully disagree.

- Oh, she was polite but firm.

I did not want to send a woman as courier, but I had a quandary.

The time was right to strike Lord Rawdon, the commander of the British forces in South Carolina.

He had divided his army.

Half were in Charleston, and half in the interior.

He was expecting reinforcement, but what he did not expect was for me to capture one of his couriers.

I knew before he did.

His reinforcements had turned back, but a successful attack required that I be reinforced.

I needed to get a message to General Sumter and Colonel Marion.

Our camps were a hundred miles apart, but it might as well have been all the way across the world.

I had no one to send.

My army was battle-weary.

If I sent a man with a message, I had no doubt that he would be detected and probably captured.

Yet without reinforcement, if I attacked Lord Rawdon, it was not possible.

It was probable that my army would be destroyed.

It would be the Battle of Camden all over again.

- All the more reason to send a woman.

- It is not a country ride.

- I'm an excellent rider.

- It is not your riding skill I question; it's your gender.

There she was, standing before me, saying she could accomplish what I knew only a man could do.

I tried to explain very patiently because I know the female mind is inferior to the male's.

This was a dangerous mission, unsuited for the female gender, which I know possess dainty constitutions, but she couldn't grasp that between our camps were two rivers, countless streams, and an army of British soldiers.

She was trying my patience.

I did not have time to devote to this wisp of a girl.

Time was running out.

What to do, what to do.

- Sir, do you have a choice other than myself?

Is there a man you can send?

As I entered your camp, I could not help but notice your men are weary.

- You're right.

None of my men is ready to take flight, and to send one of them on such a long trip now would be... - Defeating.

- She was right.

I didn't want to admit it to her.

My men were too battle-weary to attempt such a long trip.

Tried my patience even more.

- Sir, my patience is wearing thin.

- Your patience?

What about mine?

I have taken time to talk to you.

Time I do not have.

- Time is of the essence.

I agree.

First, it was hard to convince General Greene that I could do this job.

- You are not a man.

- He said.

"No," I agreed.

Still, I can ride a horse as well as any man.

- But you are a woman.

Really?

Only a young girl.

- He continued to argue.

"Yes," I continued to agree, for I could not deny it, (birds chirping) but I was raised on the frontier.

I know this land, and I've traveled the route many times.

- What?

A woman doing a man's job.

- He began to protest.

I interrupted, giving reason for my argument.

I can pass where a man cannot.

No one will suspect a woman carrying such an important message.

He interrupted.

- That is why this is a man's job.

The ride is unsafe.

There's danger around every bend.

I cannot ask a woman to do a man's job.

You should be at home taking care of the house and cooking and cleaning.

- And he gave all sorts of reasons.

And what each one amounted to was that the only reason I couldn't do this job was because I was a woman.

Finally, with no man to help, no soldier to carry the message, and victory so close at hand and so needed, the general finally relented.

I'm afraid he had no choice.

- All right.

You shall have your attempt, though I fear you will fail.

But be advised, madam, the king will hang a woman as high as he will a man.

- Sir, I will not fail.

- Youth is so sure, so determined, and so young to send on such an errand.

But as you so eloquently stated, I have no choice.

Commit this to your memory.

Vital you do so, or if the British find that piece of paper on your person, nothing you say and nothing will convince the British that you are not a spy.

So if you are captured, if you are caught, you must destroy this piece of paper.

- He didn't seem to think too much of a woman's memory.

He must have made me repeat it 20 times before he finally said: - Godspeed, madam.

You're doing what no man will volunteer to do.

- I'll never forget how misty his eyes became.

Maybe he had a daughter, or maybe he was thinking of his wife, but he seemed to hesitate as if changing his mind about allowing me to be his courier as I started to leave.

- Emily.

- I froze.

It was his voice, so worried, so determined, stopping me as if he grabbed my arm.

(birds chirping) I said quickly, I must go.

The hour's going late, and it's important for this message to arrive in time to win the battle.

Then, without giving him another moment for another word, I left, hurrying to prevent him from stopping me again.

(birds chirping) I rode like the devil himself was chasing me, knowing very well it's hot, it would be the devil that I faced.

And very soon I did face that devil that I feared: General Rawdon himself.

(patriotic music) - You wake me in the middle of the night.

What business do you have that needs immediate attention?

- Sir, this girl.

- Girl?

What is this?

You woke me to introduce me to a girl.

Are my men so foolish that they would do it?"

- Sir, we believe she's a spy.

- A spy?

(chuckles) A girl?

More foolishness.

Even the Patriots are not so desperate that they would send their women to do a man's job.

Tell me, miss, why are you going so late at night, traveling by yourself?

Do you not know that the roads are not safe for a man, and you, but a young girl traveling alone?

What foolishness is this?

Speak, girl.

What say you?

She blushed.

- To my uncle's house.

- This late?

Her blush deepened.

Sir, she came from the direction of Greene's camp.

Her eyes dodged mine as her face turned fiery red.

She was not used to lying.

Yet as I studied her, I wondered, how could she be a danger to the British army?

Yet her face seemed to indicate she was not all she said.

I had feared an attack from General Greene before being reinforced by my own troops, for if Greene joined forces with Sumter and Marion's Manuel, then he would be a force to be reckoned with.

Had Greene learned I was short of men?

Was he sending for reinforcements for his own army?

Was an attack imminent?

First, I assumed I was making a terrible mistake, suspecting that a woman, a mere girl, would be used as a messenger.

A girl not much older than a child, but she blushed much, much too often.

- I must see my uncle.

I got delayed, a late start.

I know I shouldn't have.

- What urgent business has you traveling at night instead of waiting for daylight at a much safer passage?

- My father is sick.

- So sick that you could leave him?

- I left him with a neighbor.

- Why did this neighbor not come?

Why send a girl?

- She is a woman too.

- Ah.

I couldn't help but smile, for she looked insulted.

So, you can yourself, but tell me, is there no help between you?

Is there no servant you can send?

The more her answers became evasive, the more I knew she was on a mission.

Madam, are you aware of the penalty for helping the rebels, having no loyalty to your king?

- His words were angry, but then he had been awakened from a restful sleep.

I tried to explain, but my answers didn't satisfy him.

So he became angrier; he began threatening.

- Do you know what happens to people who commit treason?

The rope knows no gender.

- Finally, I could take his threats no longer.

"The charge is false," I screamed at him.

He smiled, and his smile irritated me more than his anger.

If you doubt me, search me.

I was playing a game, hoping he would not allow his man to search a woman, knowing a gentleman would not.

I was being bold.

Surely, if I asked, he would think I was innocent.

He stared at me and I him, who it seemed like hours.

Finally, he said: - I will.

She paled.

Her face turned white as snow.

I thought for a moment she'd faint.

I even reached out my hands to catch her.

- But sir!

- You have no need for concern.

I'll send for a woman.

- A woman?

- Yes, we do have several in the camp.

One will be here shortly She paled even more, yet she did not faint.

I give her credit for that.

Yet still her legs quivered so much that I asked her, Do you need to sit?

- Thank you.

I could barely get the words out.

I did not destroy my message, and I knew a woman would find it quickly.

- Sir, laundress will be here shortly.

She gives her apologies, but she cannot come immediately.

- Very well.

As she walked by me, her head held high, every bit the lady.

We both knew the truth.

It was only a matter of time.

If she had a message, then it would be hidden in her clothes.

Oh, she thought she was clever, but no woman is clever enough to trick a man, and she was doomed to learn this lesson.

And yet, my, I felt remorse that one so young could be led down the path of destruction.

To pay the price of helping the rebels is a sentence no man would want, and for the culprit to be a woman, my heart ached that, before my turn today, she would find out the penalty of treason.

May God help her because her rebel friends could not.

Yes, it was only a matter of time before she and the hangman met.

Madam?

- It was only a matter of time until my clothes no longer offered a safe haven for the message that I carried.

I cannot describe the fear I felt.

I actually trembled, thinking of my plight.

I had no one to blame.

I'd been warned I could not do a man's job, and there I sat waiting to be discovered, failing at what I had bragged I could do.

General Rawdon had already sentenced me and, therefore, gave me every indication that I was guilty.

Once searched, I could only hope I would be courageous of what would follow.

General Rawdon had been clever, leaving a guard at the open door.

I knew he was watching my every movement.

Through might as well have been bare for under watchful eyes.

There was no haven for my message, leaving me holding the only bit of evidence that could seal my fate.

The general had made one mistake.

He thought women were inferior to men, but I have a mind, and that he cannot take away from me.

I knew that I didn't have much time.

I had one choice, not a pleasant choice, but still a choice.

It was the only way I could survive and convince this British commander that I was innocent of his charges.

But first I had to convince myself that I was dining on the finest cuisine.

I tried to remember, with every bite that I gagged, that I did so to save the lives of myself and our soldiers.

But... gulping down, the evidence of my disloyalty to the king was bitter with every bite.

You could not hurry, for to do so was to gag and not to swallow.

So I wet the paper with my tongue, forcing myself to taste, then to eat.

(Emily whimpers) Yet I was not quick enough.

For after several bites, the laundress entered, ready to begin the search.

(Emily sobs) - When I entered to search her clothes, she had such a consumption that she turned her back, sobbing like she almost gagged on her sobs.

I know she was scared, being accused of treason by the British, especially the general himself.

I tried to console the child, but she turned her back, constantly crying.

Finally, I decided I needed to seek advice from General Rawdon, but suddenly she turned, and now smiling, her tears gone, vanished as if they'd never streaked her face.

- I'd almost been caught.

When the laundress entered, I turned my back, pretending to sob as I choked down the last bite.

(Emily whimpers) Search me!

- Though the meal was ill-tasting, the British could not detect any message, and without proof, the British general was forced to send Emily Geiger on her way.

Weary with hunger, almost faint from lack of sleep, Emily finally reached the camp of General Sumter, where she delivered her message, saying clearly what she had memorized.

General Sumter never doubted the message which Emily Geiger delivered.

Within an hour, his troops were headed to meet General Greene's army, while a courier had been sent to alert Marion's men to the fight.

Though doubt after doubt was cast, Emily Geiger proved to be a woman of courage, determination, and quick thinking.

So heroic was her flight that day that she became honored on the South Carolina state seal.

The woman holding the branch of the laurel has been long recognized as Emily Geiger, one of South Carolina's heroes.

- South Carolina women have played an important role throughout history.

I'm Idella Bodie.

I hope you enjoyed the story you just saw of a South Carolina heroine.

If you'd like to find out more about the heroines of South Carolina, you can read "South Carolina Women."

♪ Call on thy ♪ children of the hill ♪ ♪ Wake swamp and ♪ river, coast and rill ♪ ♪ Rouse all thy strength ♪ and all thy skill ♪ ♪ Carolina!

♪ ♪ Carolina!

♪ (patriotic music) (patriotic music continues)