National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution

“Arrest of Emily Geiger, The Pictorial Fieldbook of the Revolution”

Emily Geiger Chapter, NSDAR
Bluffton, South Carolina

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR or DAR) is a non-profit women’s service organization promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Click here for more information about the NSDAR.

About our chapter

Our chapter is named after Emily Geiger and is located in Bluffton, South Carolina. We would love to talk with you about becoming a member of NSDAR and our chapter. If you would like more information on how you can join DAR and our chapter, including membership requirements, please email us!

The Emily Geiger Chapter, NSDAR, is the third in South Carolina history to carry the Emily Geiger name. A member of the Captain William Hilton Chapter, NSDAR, Hilton Head Island, agreed to form a new chapter in Bluffton to accommodate the growing population in Bluffton. She recruited 23 members who created the structure and decided on chapter and committee leadership roles. The organizing meeting and the installation of officers was held on September 18, 2005.

About Emily Geiger

In June of 1781, an 18-year-old Emily Geiger was living with her invalid father in upcountry South Carolina when the American Revolutionary War broke out. Although South Carolina was largely occupied by the British at the time, General Nathaniel Greene was camped near the Geiger homestead. General Greene needed to get an urgent message to General Thomas Sumter. Emily, the daughter of John Geiger who was a fervent patriot, volunteered to carry the message.

Riding through enemy territory, Emily was intercepted and taken to Fort Granby for questioning. To conceal the message from the British, Emily ate the message after memorizing its contents. With no physical evidence, Emily was released and continued on her trip under the guise of visiting a relative and was able to deliver the verbal message to General Greene. (Sumpter Papers-Draper Manuscripts, South Carolina, Series VV-Vol. 11-13-Military Events, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Sumpter MSS, 11-13 VV, Volume11, Sumpter MMS, Letters to Mr. L.C.Draper.)

After the war, Emily Geiger married John Threewitts and was buried in 1825 in an unmarked grave in the Threewitts Cemetery in Lexington County, South Carolina, several miles away from her memorial headstone in the Herman Geiger Family Cemetery.

Emily Geiger Chapter, NSDAR, Projects:

A few of the projects on the drawing board for this upcoming year 2022-23 include: ·       Filling Christmas stockings, made by the Maye River Quilt Guild, with personal items for veterans ·       Signing Christmas cards in cooperation with the Sun City Veterans Association ·       Collecting empty prescription bottles for patients in underdeveloped countries ·       Historic preservation of a grave ·       Collecting pop can and soup can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Savannah ·       Workshop on supplemental applications ·       Collecting school supplies for area schools in January ·       Collecting new baby clothes for babies ages newborn to five for military families stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort ·       And of course, supporting Wreaths Across America