RECOLLECTIONS OF A GEORGIA LOYALIST: Edited by Rev. Arthur Wentworth Eaton

Orig. pub. New York 1901. Reprinted 1972, 1974. Print on Demand Edition 2021. (ii), 224 pp. + illus.

In this classic of Loyalist literature, Elizabeth Lichtenstein Johnson (1764-1848) describes her life as daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother in Savannah, Canada, Britain, and the West Indies during the period 1764 -1837. Born near Savannah, she was the daugher of Russian emigrant John Lichtenstein. She married Dr. William Martin Johnston in Savannah. He was a member of one of Georgia's most prominent Loyalist families. In the early days of the Revolution, they left Georgia for British Halifax. He had fought for the King in New York and returned to Georgia with the British invasion of 1778. He and his men were involved in many of the battles of the Southern campaign and two of his brothers were killed in the war. Their father, Dr. Lewis Johnson, had been treasurer of the colony of Georgia and served on the Governor's Council. Surviving the siege of Savannah in 1779, Elizabeth Johnston spent many of her early married years facing long separations, the terrors of war, and the life of a banished Loyalist. She and her expanding family of ten children lived variously in New York, St. Augustine, Scotland, Jamaica, and ultimately Nova Scotia. Her entertaining memoir tells not just of war but touches on travel experiences, family, and the life of an 18th Century woman. The book closes with a collection of family letters which give much information on the war and events surrounding it in that part of Georgia.