Although no photos of Sallie seem to exist, a monument to commemorate her heroic acts stands in Elizabethtown today.
Courtesy of HMbd.org
How a female spy left her mark
ELIZABETHTOWN — It was particularly fitting that Elizabethtown celebrated the first event of its 250th Anniversary during Women’s History Month given the impact that women had on the founding of this area.
Elizabethtown staged a key Revolutionary War battle in 1781, becoming one of many communities in the area to play a role in the formation of America as an independent country separate from England.
The Battle of Elizabethtown took place on Aug. 27, 1781 and though it might be assumed that women in those days kept their distance from the unpleasantries of war, local resident Sallie Salter was more concerned with lending a hand.
According to an account of the battle published by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Sallie entered the Tory (loyal to England) camp to sell eggs, but unbeknownst to the loyalists, Salter was a Patriot spy.
She reported to Colonels Thomas Robeson Jr., and Thomas Brown, commanders of a band of Bladen County militiamen that had withdrawn to Duplin County. Her information led to a decision to attack Colonel John Slingsby.
Two weeks earlier, Loyalist forces under Slingsby captured several Whig (Patriot) supporters in what is now Fayetteville. “Slingsby brought his prisoners to Elizabethtown, in Bladen County,” according to the NCDNCR publication.
“This was a considerable gamble, as the Patriot command numbered between 60 and 70 men, while Slingsby’s forces totaled between 300 and 400,” according to the report.
“After a night march, the militiamen launched a surprise attack on Slingsby’s camp,” the report states. “The resulting confusion was amplified by the successful efforts of the Whigs to make the Tories think that there were far more Patriots present than there actually were.”
The ensuing victory by Patriot forces which retreated to a nearby ravine (referred to later as “Tory Hole” took a toll on the Tory forces “permanently” weakening fighters in the Cape Fear region.
Although Sallie may not have been involved in the actual battle herself, her willingness to risk her own safety to gather information was the catalyst for the victory during the Battle of Elizabethtown. It is impossible to know how things would be different had Sallie not been so daring, but that is something we will never find out.
This Women’s History Month, make an effort to learn about the ways women have and still do contribute to the Bladen community, to North Carolina, to the nation, and to the world.