Revolutionary War militia re-enactors will play the good guys in the 228th anniversary observance of the Battle of Kettle Creek on Feb. 10. Participants are in town this week to prepare for the "Revolutionary Days" celebration to be held Saturday, February 10, honoring the 228th anniversary of the Revolutionary War Battle of Kettle Creek.

Members of the Sons of the Revolution and other organizations toured the site of the battle with city and county leaders in preparation for the anniversary commemoration in two weeks.

On Saturday, February 10, activities will kick off with a video on the battle at the Mary Willis Library at 9 a.m., followed by a parade and living history demonstration on The Square. U.S. Army historians will give walking tours of the battleground throughout the day, and at 2 p.m. descendants and others will take part in the memorial ceremony in which wreaths are laid in memory of those who fought there. The ceremony is sponsored by the Georgia Society and Samuel Elbert Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, along with support from the Kettle Creek Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution

The February 14, 1779, battle was decisive in the war against the British, said George Thurmond of the Georgia Society Sons of the American Revolution. "For it was here that a small group of Georgia and South Carolina Militia took on a British unit twice their size and prevailed by sheer courage and determination."

The battle checked the British attack and subsequent domination of Georgia. Sons of the American Revolution Georgia Historic Sites Committee Chairman Bob Galer said last year that "Kettle Creek was significant because, early in the Revolutionary War in the South, it demonstrated that several hundred patriots could challenge a larger British-sponsored Loyalist force in a pitched battle, and through superior strategy, tactics, intelligence, and organization for battle, defeat them. This carried great weight in the small colony of Georgia because most of the population was neutral or supported the British colonial rule."