relate.

A GROUP OF CHARACTERS

The Revolutionary War in Georgia developed some very romantic figures,
which are known to us rather by tradition than by recorded history.
First among them, on the side of the patriots, was Robert Sallette.
Neither history nor tradition gives us the place of his birth or the
date of his death; yet it is known that he played a more important part
in the struggle in the Colony than any man who had no troops at his
command. He seems to have slipped mysteriously on the scene at the
beginning of the war. He fought bravely, even fiercely, to the end,
and then, having nothing else to do, slipped away as mysteriously as
he came. "In Liberty County," says history, "there lived during the
Revolution a man by the name of Robert Sallette, distinguished for
his opposition to the Tories. It is not known with certainty to what
particular command he was attached. He appears to have been a sort of
roving character, doing things in his own way." Here is the mystery of
romance to begin with. Here is the wanderer,--the character so dear to
the imagination of youth.

"The Tories," says history further, "stood very much in dread of him;
and well they might, for never had they a more, formidable foe." Here,
then, is the hero and the wanderer combined in one person, and
that person fighting for the holiest cause in which man can take up
arms,--the rights and liberties of the people. What more could be asked?

Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert
Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French
twist to his name makes it probable that he was a descendant of those
unfortunate Acadians who, years before, had been stripped of their lands
and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, their houses and barns
burned, and they themselves transported away from their homes. They were
scattered at various points along the American coast. Some were landed
at Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were
sent to Georgia. The British had many acts of cruelty to answer for in
those days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and
helpless Acadians. It stands in history to-day a stain upon the British
name.

Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a
descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he
pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about
him makes it cert