Most people in this country have probably never heard of Rebecca Motte and those who have heard of her know her only as a great patriot who was ready to sacrifice her home to further the American cause during the Revolutionary War. However, Rebecca was more than just an ardent patriot, she was also a successful and innovative rice planter who, after the war, was able to support herself and pay off her deceased husband’s debts ensuring a substantial, unencumbered inheritance for her children.
Rebecca left no diaries and only a few letters; therefore, this account of her life is based primarily on period documents, the correspondence of her contemporaries and family history carefully researched to separate fact from myth.
The biography of Rebecca Brewton Motte includes her activities during the American Revolution, with emphasis on the Siege of Fort Motte and her achievements after the war in paying her husband's debts and establishing herself as an independent rice planter. It also contains a section at the end of the legacy of the Siege of Fort Motte - which Steve Smith, former director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology has called "an archetypal battle of the Revolution in South Carolina." Paperback.