The Revolutionary War officially began on April 19, 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. It lasted until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.
The 13 American Colonies united as the Continental Army, and fought against the British Army in many battles. Bostonian Paul Revere famously rode his horse through the night on April 18, 1775, to alert Patriot soldiers that “the British [were] coming” from Boston to Lexington and Concord.
But he wasn’t the only Patriot to heroically help his countryman during the Revolutionary War. A teenager from South Carolina named Laodicea “Dicey” Langston achieved a similar feat, and was recently honored with a statue for her bravery.
Who was Dicey Langston?
Dicey Langston was born in 1766 in Laurens County, South Carolina, where an important colonial road brought many Loyalists into her area. Her family was full of Patriots, including her father, Solomon Langston, and her brothers, James and Solomon, who were Patriot soldiers.
In 1781, she caught word that a group of Loyalists led by a man named William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham, aptly called the “Bloody Scouts” were planning to attack a nearby Patriot soldier foothold called Elder Settlement at Little Eden. Dicey’s brothers were stationed there.
Rather than sit back and let the attack happen, she bravely chose to do a miles-long trek through the night on horseback through cold conditions and icy waters to alert the Patriots of the impending attack. The soldiers fled, with Dicey receiving credit for saving countless lives.
John Nolan a historian with Greenville History Tours, told FOX Carolina, “Dicey was a teenager. So, in the hierarchy at the time, she should’ve been pretty meek, humble and behind the scenes. She really rose up to the occasion and saw the needs…for her family, for the cause. She stepped up and did some very bold things, especially for a woman at the time. It’s amazing.”
Dicey’s second heroic act
Her espionage got back to the British soldiers. They confronted her father Solomon at their home with a gun, threatening to kill him.
But Dicey intervened.
Country Hawkins, one of Dicey’s descendants, recalled to WYFF 4, “He pulled a gun and raised it up to shoot him…and she plunged herself between the officer and her daddy and said, ‘if you shoot him, the bullet must pass through me.’”
He continued, “I don’t think they weren’t real happy about that. I don’t reckon, you know, one of them actually pulled a gun on her this time it was going to shoot her, and she just throwed her shawl back. She said just go ahead, kill me. Said I’m not going to tell you nothing,” Hawkins said.
Dicey Langston’s statue
On June 26, 2026, in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, a life-size statue of Dicey was unveiled to honor her legacy. Created by artist Nick Ring, he told FOX Carolina wanted her statue to portray “movement, courage and determination.”
Ring added, “I like how it’s a force of nature. And that was the initial intention. That Dicey would be a force of nature, on the move, and like the wind.”
Langston settled in Travelers Rest after she married Thomas Springfield in 1783. The couple had 22 children, according to The State.
