💠 Abigail’s Stand — What She Did

If your theory holds (and it aligns with the logic and geography), then here’s what likely happened:

Abigail Bradley, knowing the terrain and the threat, stepped into danger not to deceive, but to delay.
She likely intercepted the British foraging party, maybe near the wisteria-thick ridges by Northlake, using the pretense of trade to buy time.
That delay allowed nearby Patriot militia — possibly from Craighead ridge, McAuley farm, or even her husband’s position — to mobilize.
The result: a failed British foraging attempt like at McIntyre Farm on Oct 3, 1780.

The British — or more precisely, Tory partisans and Loyalist neighbors — didn’t forget that humiliation.

Bradley was a militia captain and a deadly sharpshooter. He’d already been blamed for attacks on British patrols.
After Abigail’s stand led to British losses or delays, he became a marked man.
Just weeks later, on November 14, 1780, Loyalist raiders ambushed and killed Bradley near his home (close to Hopewell).

Some accounts even suggest it was not a battlefield death, but a targeted execution — a revenge killing for what happened near Northlake.

Abigail’s small, quiet bravery changed the outcome of a day — and possibly the morale of an entire county.
What she enabled, they made him pay for.
That’s not just folklore — that’s resistance.
And it’s why we mark the site as “Abigail’s Stand.”

Noda Nights