"But you were telling about the portrait," interposed Mary. "Is she Agnes Hobson?"
"Yes, Agnes Hobson, born July 4th, 1740, and wife of William Bacon, born January 29, 1732, who was a Revolutionary soldier, and a member of the Provincial Congress 1775, as was also his brother John Bacon. Agnes had sisters Elizabeth, Sarah, Obedience, Mary and Margaret, and brothers Matthew, William, Nicholas and John Hobson. Ten children in the Hobson family, in the home in Lunenburg County, Virginia. My! what fine men and women, with the love of country, and the sacredness of the cause of freedom instilled in their hearts from infancy."
"Well, what did Agnes Hobson do?" questioned Mary.
"I was just about to tell you Mary, men and women are great and are heroic when they can rise to meet the occasion which necessity presents. So at this particular crisis in the affairs during the war of the Revolution, it became necessary to convey a message from Colonel Clark, in Georgia, to General Nathaniel Greene, who was then in South Carolina. In 1781, the British being in possession of Augusta, General Greene determined to march into South Carolina, and Colonel Clark and McCall proceeded to co-operate by annoying the British posts in Georgia. General Clark determined in May to attack. This information must be conveyed to General Greene at once. As the enemy's line would have to be crossed, it would not be possible to send the despatch by a man with the hope that he would ever reach General Greene alive. He would not only be held as a prisoner, but searched and probably hung. In those days petticoats were flags of truce. So, here was a woman's opportunity. But what woman would? In those days the country's affairs were freely and intelligently discussed by men and women, and there were no braver women than the Hobsons. Nothing daunted, Agnes volunteered to convey the despatch. Her brother-in-law, Nathaniel Bacon, had gone to South Carolina to assist Colonel Pickens who was maneuvering between Augusta and Ninety Six. Nathaniel was a Captain in Pickens' Brigade. She would reach him and through him convey this message to General Greene's headquarters. With the papers safely folded in her bosom she plunged into the swollen current of the Savannah River, and borne by her trusty horse, reached the Carolina shore in safety. Reaching her destination and fulfilling her mission, she recrossed the enemy's line, performing the act of a courier, swimming on horse back the Savannah River, and riding many, many miles unattended, because a woman's service was needed at this crisis in the war for American Independence."