Dr. Tim Drake of Clemson University will be the featured speaker at the Washington-Wilkes Historical Foundation quarterly meeting at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, November 4, at the Robert Toombs House. Dr. Drake is well-known in the Washington-Wilkes community as an excellent speaker and authority on Southern history and antiquities. His lectures are always entertaining and filled with intriguing facts.

Topic for Sunday's talk is "Manson Sherrill Jolly, The Robin Hood of Reconstruction." Manse Jolly, native of Anderson, S.C., returned from Confederate service to a   desolated state that was under harsh Federal military rule, and subject to the whims of an unscrupulous political regime. He came to the aid of many citizens in the upper piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia who had no legal recourse following frequent acts of theft, vandalism, and harassment by the occupational troops. He was hunted as a criminal and murderer by the Federal government, but was praised as super-hero and local savior by the southern people. He depended upon the support of his extended family and many supporters and friends to evade capture. He was known to hide out in and around Washington, Georgia, and surrounding areas when it was too risky to return to South Carolina. When the reward offered by the Federal government for

his capture became too great, he fled

to Texas, got married, and became a

November 9, 2006

farmer. He died near Belton, Texas,

while crossing a rain-swollen river in 1869.

Historical Foundation president Stephanie Macchia cordially invites the public to come enjoy this fineprogram and to join with the Washington Wilkes Historical Foundation in supporting its many projects which benefit our community.