Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin County - Forts 1925 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 5, 2004, 11:45 am p. 21 Forts In White's Historical Collections of Georgia we have short accounts of treaties with the lower Creeks, embracing a period of nearly a hundred years. One treaty after another was made with the Indians by commissioners from the State and the United States government. The death of Alexander McGillivray left the Creeks disorganized, unfriendly, and indisposed to yield any more of their land. In all the treaties, right was reserved by the United States government to establish Trading Posts and Forts. Ft. Wilkinson, on a bluff of the Oconee River, was built ------------------------ p. 22 early in the century, as the condition of the country left the settlers exposed to attacks from the Indians. The treaty of limits between the United States and the Creek Nation, as mentioned before, was held there June 16, 1802, and was ratified January 11, 1803. The commissioners from the United States were: Gen. James Wilkinson from Maryland, Benjamin Hawkins from North Carolina, and Andrew Pickens, South Carolina. In 1807, Benjamin Hawkins selected the site on the Ocmulgee River near Macon for Ft. Hawkins. One hundred acres were reserved for the fort. Within the stockade were fourteen acres where was built the block house, twenty feet square and thirty-four feet high. It was surrounded by watch towers, and consisted of two stories and a basement. The basement was built of stone eighteen inches thick and ten feet high. The second story projected over the first story for three feet on all sides. There were holes in the floors so that if the Indians reached the house and attempted to scale the stone basement in order to set fire to the wooden part they could be shot down from the projecting floors. Block houses of this type were used for soldiers' quarters, and for storing provisions and factory goods to be sold to the Indians, for which peltries were received in turn. The ninety-six acres surrounding the Fort were cleared so that in case of attack the Indians could not find protection behind trees. In 1807, Ft. Hawkins was garrisoned by the removal of the troops from Ft. Wilkinson. In March 1807, Aaron Burr while under guard crossed the river near Ft. Hawkins. Burr and his guard were drenched and chilled by freezing rains when they reached the river. He had been captured below the Tombigbee River in Alabama. The guards with their prisoners crossed all the rivers in canoes in which their camp equipage was placed. Their horses swam until they reached the Oconee River, where at Ft. Wilkinson they ------------------------ p. 23 crossed in the first ferry boat they had seen on the whole route. A few miles beyond the Oconee they were sheltered by the first roof, a house of entertainment, kept by Mr. Bivins. Burr and his party remained a day and night at Ft. Wilkinson before proceeding on their way to Washington. There was no serious trouble with the Indians until the war of 1812 with England, when the Indians were induced to take part against the Americans. The British sought and obtained a powerful ally in the renowned Indian warrior Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chief. From Canada to Florida, he, with his brother, the prophet Francis, exhorted the Indian tribes to reclaim their original lands. It is not in the scope of this history to give an account of the terrible Indian wars that followed. Tecumseh was slain in the battle of the Thames fought by Gen. Harrison. His death was unknown by the southern tribes and a fearful massacre occurred at Ft. Mims, Alabama, where three hundred women and children were killed. There is a reference to Tecumseh as a boy in a sketch by Col. Samuel Davis Irvin, uncle of Mr. S. A. Cook. He says: "My great grandfather and mother were slain by the Shawnee Indians in one of their forays into the newly settled territory of Kentucky. Their children were taken captive and carried back to Indian territory near the Great Lakes. My grandfather, Samuel Davis, then a boy of fourteen years, (who was born in Scotland) ran the gauntlet and fell in the allotment of captives to a squaw, the mother of Tecumseh. He and Tecumseh were thrown in constant companionship for three years. At the end of that time a treaty of peace was made with the Indians by which they agreed to surrender all captive whites held by them. Samuel Davis was returned to Kentucky, an older brother made his escape from the Indians a year before, but the sisters of the family were never heard from. Samuel Davis lived to a great age, a well preserved old man, giving recitals to children ------------------------ p. 24 and grandchildren of his life of privation and hardship among the Indians, and showing them the hole in his nose between the nostrils where hung a gold ring, the custom of that tribe. The ring had to be fiP^d off when he was released." To return to Ft. Wilkinson. After the removal of the garrison to Ft. Hawkins, Ft. Wilkinson was garrisoned by militia under Maj. Samuel Beekham, a revolutionary soldier, until all danger from Indian forays had ceased. The Creek Nation had yielded step by step to the encroachment of the white man, and by treaties dimly understood had been forced to surrender their hunting grounds, until within half a century there remained no Indians in this section of the state. However, there were some descendants of the Indians left. Among them, Judge Iverson Harris, first cousin to William Mclntosh, the noble half breed, who was martyr to his loyalty at the Indian Springs Treaty. The latter's son, Chilly McIntosh, was educated in Milledgeville in the school of Dr. William Green. The fort was abandoned, going into decay. The level site furnished dancing ground for the young people of the country for miles around. It was the rendevouz for picnicers and pleasure seekers. Before the days of automobiles, wagons taking large crowds of young men and maidens and matrons to its groves brilliant with dogwood and fragrant with crab apple, honey suckle, and sweet shrub. The couples of young people ran down the steep hillsides to the bold spring under the beeches on which were carved the names of sweethearts, and their pulses quickened with other emotions than fear of some silent, grim Indian warrior appearing suddenly from the dense woods. Additional Comments: From: Part I HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK ILLUSTRATED ANDERSON. S. C. Keys-Hearn Printing Co. -1925— File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/baldwin/history/other/gms228historyo.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.0 Kb