Elizabeth Maxwell Steele

Elizabeth Maxwell Steele — born 1733 (Pennsylvania or NC — disputed); died November 22, 1790 in Salisbury, NC. 🇺🇸

Legend says that when Nathanael Greene passed through Salisbury in 1781, broke and desperate, Elizabeth pressed two bags of gold into his hands. Historians can’t prove it — but the documented truth is nearly as fine: she ran Steele’s Tavern as a Patriot hub, raised a fiercely Whig family, and in 1780 wrote of “our” army and the British “enemies.” Whether or not the gold changed hands, her house and her heart were always with the cause.

#America250 #WomenOfTheRevolution #RevolutionaryWar #SalisburyNC #NCHistory #CarolinaAfterDeadline