The Tory's Wife: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America

by Cynthia A. Kierner

Overview

Finalist for the 2024 George Washington Prize

The Spurgin family of North Carolina experienced the cataclysm of the American Revolution in the most dramatic ways—and from different sides. This engrossing book tells the story of Jane Welborn Spurgin, a patriot who welcomed General Nathanael Greene to her home and aided Continental forces while her loyalist husband was fighting for the king as an officer in the Tory militia. By focusing on the wife of a middling backcountry farmer, esteemed historian Cynthia Kierner shows how the Revolution not only toppled long-established political hierarchies but also strained family ties and drew women into the public sphere to claim both citizenship and rights—as Jane Spurgin did with a dramatic series of petitions to the North Carolina state legislature when she fought to reclaim her family’s lost property after the war was over.

While providing readers with stories of battles, horse-stealing, bigamy, and exile that bring the Revolutionary era vividly to life, this book also serves as an invaluable examination of the potentially transformative effects of war and revolution, both personally and politically.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813949918
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	09/01/2023
Series:	The Revolutionary Age
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cynthia A. Kierner is Professor of History at George Mason University and the author of Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson’s America.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Woman on the Verge
1. Settling the Backcountry
2. An Enemy to His Country
3. William's War
4. Jane's World
5. The Tory's Wife
6. The Common Rights of Other Citizens
Postscript: Remembering the Revolution

What People are Saying About This

Woody Holton

Cynthia Kierner gives us the mesmerizing story of Jane Spurgin, an abandoned wife in the Carolina backcountry who could have appealed for sympathy but instead defied centuries of patriarchal precedent by demanding the 'common rights of other citizens.' More broadly, The Tory’s Wife persuades even a skeptic like me that the American Revolution’s influence on nominally-free women was positive and powerful.

Mary Beth Norton

Can focusing on an obscure North Carolina woman provide novel insights into the American Revolution? In a study of Jane Welborn Spurgin and her family, Cynthia Kierner answers that question with an emphatic yes! Thoroughly researched and well written, this engaging narrative brings to life the Spurgins' experiences amid the chaos of backcountry warfare—and reveals the untiring efforts of the indomitable Jane to claim her rights as a citizen of the new republic.

Editorial Reviews

The Revolutionary War liberated Americans from the oppressive colonial rule of the British, but as the postwar era began, it wasn’t clear how much women benefited from the hard-won freedoms accorded to men. . . . Had the Revolution changed anything? Cynthia Kierner, a professor of history at George Mason University, examines this question in “The Tory’s Wife.” Her short, readable volume recounts the story of Jane Welborn Spurgin. . . .providing often fascinating details about life in rural North Carolina—especially about women who struggled to survive the upheavals of war.

Melanie Kirkpatrick

That Cynthia Kierner provides a palpable sense of the world Jane Welborn Spurgin inhabited in early America is a triumph, restoring to history a woman otherwise overlooked.

New York Sun

A compelling account of how competing political loyalties led to the dissolution of a marriage and sparked protracted legal struggles over property rights . . . [Spurgin's] story can be found in only a handful of surviving sources, including her legal petitions, grave marker, and brief mentions in family and local histories. Kierner skillfully weaves together these fragments to reconstruct a family drama that underscores how contested loyalties led to personal and political revolutions. 

The Journal of American History

Can focusing on an obscure North Carolina woman provide novel insights into the American Revolution? In a study of Jane Welborn Spurgin and her family, Cynthia Kierner answers that question with an emphatic yes! Thoroughly researched and well written, this engaging narrative brings to life the Spurgins' experiences amid the chaos of backcountry warfare—and reveals the untiring efforts of the indomitable Jane to claim her rights as a citizen of the new republic.

Mary Beth Norton

Kierner's engaging microhistorical narrative and easy-to-comprehend descriptions of complex legal concepts make this work a welcome case study for undergraduate classes on the American Revolution or more specialized classes on American legal history or the history of early American women.

H-Early-America

Cynthia Kierner gives us the mesmerizing story of Jane Spurgin, an abandoned wife in the Carolina backcountry who could have appealed for sympathy but instead defied centuries of patriarchal precedent by demanding the 'common rights of other citizens.' More broadly, The Tory’s Wife persuades even a skeptic like me that the American Revolution’s influence on nominally-free women was positive and powerful.

Woody Holton

Jane Spurgin’s story is a worthwhile and enjoyable read for anyone interested in women’s history, the Revolutionary era, or the early South. Kierner adroitly touches on several topics that would prompt further discussion in a classroom, such as divorce in early America, collective memory, and changing perceptions of women throughout time. As such, it would make an excellent assigned work in undergraduate classrooms.

North Carolina Historical Review

Kierner’s biography of Jane Welborn Spurgin captures the story and, more important, the voice of a woman whose life was fundamentally altered by the American Revolution . . . Because few sources describe Spurgin’s life, Kierner contextualizes the evidence with a vast knowledge of life in early America. The result is the recovery of a woman whose story resonates with the experiences of others in her time and place . . . This elegantly written volume captures both Jane Spurgin’s unique voice and the world she lived in. It is a welcome addition to a growing body of work exploring the lives of ordinary women in eighteenth-century America.

Journal of Southern History

Cynthia Kierner gives us the mesmerizing story of Jane Spurgin, an abandoned wife in the Carolina backcountry who could have appealed for sympathy but instead defied centuries of patriarchal precedent by demanding the 'common rights of other citizens.' More broadly, The Tory’s Wife persuades even a skeptic like me that the American Revolution’s influence on nominally-free women was positive and powerful.

—Woody Holton, University of South Carolina, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution

Can focusing on an obscure North Carolina woman provide novel insights into the American Revolution? In a study of Jane Welborn Spurgin and her family, Cynthia Kierner answers that question with an emphatic yes! Thoroughly researched and well written, this engaging narrative brings to life the Spurgins' experiences amid the chaos of backcountry warfare—and reveals the untiring efforts of the indomitable Jane to claim her rights as a citizen of the new republic.

—Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University, author of Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women

Jane Spurgin’s story is a worthwhile and enjoyable read for anyone interested in women’s history, the Revolutionary era, or the early South. Kierner adroitly touches on several topics that would prompt further discussion in a classroom, such as divorce in early America, collective memory, and changing perceptions of women throughout time. As such, it would make an excellent assigned work in undergraduate classrooms.—North Carolina Historical Review

“The Revolutionary War liberated Americans from the oppressive colonial rule of the British, but as the postwar era began, it wasn’t clear how much women benefited from the hard-won freedoms accorded to men. . . . Had the Revolution changed anything? Cynthia Kierner, a professor of history at George Mason University, examines this question in “The Tory’s Wife.” Her short, readable volume recounts the story of Jane Welborn Spurgin. . . .providing often fascinating details about life in rural North Carolina—especially about women who struggled to survive the upheavals of war.”—Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal

Kierner's engaging microhistorical narrative and easy-to-comprehend descriptions of complex legal concepts make this work a welcome case study for undergraduate classes on the American Revolution or more specialized classes on American legal history or the history of early American women.—H-Early-America

That Cynthia Kierner provides a palpable sense of the world Jane Welborn Spurgin inhabited in early America is a triumph, restoring to history a woman otherwise overlooked.—New York Sun

Kierner’s biography of Jane Welborn Spurgin captures the story and, more important, the voice of a woman whose life was fundamentally altered by the American Revolution . . . Because few sources describe Spurgin’s life, Kierner contextualizes the evidence with a vast knowledge of life in early America. The result is the recovery of a woman whose story resonates with the experiences of others in her time and place . . . This elegantly written volume captures both Jane Spurgin’s unique voice and the world she lived in. It is a welcome addition to a growing body of work exploring the lives of ordinary women in eighteenth-century America.—Journal of Southern History

A compelling account of how competing political loyalties led to the dissolution of a marriage and sparked protracted legal struggles over property rights . . . [Spurgin's] story can be found in only a handful of surviving sources, including her legal petitions, grave marker, and brief mentions in family and local histories. Kierner skillfully weaves together these fragments to reconstruct a family drama that underscores how contested loyalties led to personal and political revolutions. —The Journal of American History

A highly readable and engaging text that will prove valuable for undergraduate and graduate students and seasoned historians of revolutionary women alike. 

—H-War

From the Publisher