Old Federal Road of Georgia Submitted by Bill Woodward wwoodward@nc.rr.com ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Retracing the Old Federal Road, pp. 349-360, in Placenames of Georgia: Essays of John H. Goff, Edited by Francis Lee Utley and Marion R. Hemperley, University of Georgia Press, Athens About a mile north of Flowery Branch, Georgia, where U.S. Highway 23 veers from the Southern Railway, is a place known locally as the Federal Crossing. At this spot a country road leads from the pavement over the railroad tracks and disappears in the hills and woods to the west. This nondescript little byway is a remnant of the Old Federal Road, an historic highway that once joined Georgia and Tennessee across the Cherokee Nation.1 Eastward from the Federal Crossing, on the eastern boundary of the Cherokees, now the Hall-Jackson county me it joined roads that in turn had connections leading from many parts of upper and lower Georgia via Jefferson and Athens. Westward across the Chattahoochee, this former thoroughfare was the first white mans road of northwest Georgia, a route for reaching such widely separated places as Knoxville and Nashville. The road owes its name to the fact that the federal government took the initiative in securing from the Cherokees the right of passageway across their lands to facilitate communication and travel between Tennessee and the lower Southeast. The Indians were much opposed to granting such privileges when first approached about the matter in 1801. But the governments chief representative among the Cherokees Colonel Return J. Meigs, by intrigue and persistent per-suasion continued to press for rights to establish a road, and in l8O3-1804 an informal agreement was reached with certain influential Indian leaders to open that part of the road which runs from east Tennesee to Georgia. In 1805 the see to Georgia. At the Treaty of Tellico, Tennessee, in 1805, the Cherokees ceded important lands to the whites and granted the right to lay out another prong of the trace from the direction of Nashville to intersect the first road in Georgia. Some of the tribe, however, were so incensed at the concessions in this agreement that they assassinated Doublehead, one of the principal chiefs who negotiated it. But the road was never a federal thoroughfare as we today would understand that term. After gaining the privilege of establishing a road, the government left actual selection of a route and development of the highway to Tennessee and Georgia. And later, when the interest of these states flagged, the Cherokees apparently took over parts of the old route and allotted them to different persons to operate as toll roads. The attitude of the federal government toward this thoroughfare is in direct contrast to its position on the rights which it gained from the Creek Indians in 1805 to open a trace across their nation from what is now Macon, Georgia, to a point on the Alabama River not far above Mobile. In the latter case the government selected the route and used federal troops to cut the road. But however the Old Federal Road across the Cherokee lands was opened and operated, it fulfilled well the functions for which it was planned. Very early it became an immigrant artery for reaching west Tennessee and the rich lands of the Tennessee River valley in northern Alabama. Its value & this respect caused it in time to be-come one of the so-called Alabama Roads. It developed military importance too, and in the war with the Creeks in 1813-1814, the Tennessee and Georgia authorities sent couriers by this route to exchange information on their plans for attacking the Indians. And later, in 1818, when Jackson passed through Georgia to fight the Seminoles in Florida, he went this way. As time passed, the old road became a noted stage route and a way over which Kentucky and Tennessee stockmen drove their animals to markets in Georgia and South Carolina. It became an important post route, with the earliest post offices in northwest Geo rgia being established along its course, the first at Rossville in 1819 and the second at Spring Place in 1819. With the aid of an ordinary highway map it is easy to locate the key points served by the Old Federal Road. Beginning at the Federal Crossing on U.S. 23, it led to a ferry site on the Chattahoochee. The ferry, which has long since ceased operating, was first known as Vanns, later as Winns and finally as Williams Ferry. Today where the old road now dead-ends on the east bank of the river, it is hard to believe that such a spot could ever have been of significance. But in frontier times the community bustled, with a stream of wayfarers funneling through the place. Over the hill from the site of the ferrymans house, in Booger Hollow, gold stampede took place. And on the trail itself, just to the east of the ferry, a dubious legend says that the first diamond found in Georgia was picked up. To pursue the Federal Road farther one must now detour several miles via Browns Bridge and Oscarville in Forsyth County to the old ferrying point on the west bank of the Chattahoochee. From here, with the exception of a few missing sections which will be noted, the road runs its Y-shaped course unbroken toward Knoxville and Nashville. There is scant evidence of the Federal Road at the ferry landing on the west side of the river, but a sunken stretch across the bottomlands indicates its former course. Several hundred yards from the bank, however it takes up again beyond the old Vann house This structure, now the James F. Boyd residence, once served as a tavern and inn for the Cherokee or eastern end of the trace. It must be one of the rarest buildings in Georgia, because it is possibly the best-preserved example of an Indian-country hostelry remaining in the state. Originally constructed of logs, the house is now weatherboarded and painted and appears outwardly to be much like other pretty, well-kept farm homes. Inside, however, one quickly notes the frontier influence in the huge fireplaces of the kitchen, and in the former public room which now serves as a parlor. In the corner of the latter is a cubicle which was a dram shop in the old days. Mr. Boyd, whose family has owned the place since 1851, says that originally there was a hole cut through the logs for passing out drinks to travellers on the mad, but this opening was covered when the house was remodeled. By narrow little stairs one ascends to the upper story, where cell-like sleeping quarters were provided for the guests. This part of the interesting old lodging has been left as it was when the inn was constructed nearly a century and a half ago. At the top of the hill going westward from the tavern a small stretch of the Federal Road is missing, but a short ride back through Oscarville brings one around to Two Mile Creek, where it takes up again as present Georgia Highway 141 to Coal Mountain. There it passes over U.S. 19 and continues to the northwest corner of Forsyth County, where it originally crossed the Etowah River, just beyond Hightower Crossroads at the Frogtown Ford. From here the route bears northwestward toward McConnell's Crossroads in northeast Cherokee County. At the top of the hill beyond the Frogtown Ford, people living thereabouts say that in Cherokee days one of the Vann Indians was killed. This point brings out a human trait that often crops up in answers to inquiries along old roads. Instead of forgetting a killing or murder, people are prone to remember such an incident and will mention it years or even generations after it occurred. The recollection of such a tragedy tends to cling to a spot like some evil taint that not even time will dissipate. The old trace passes Shiloh Church and on through Mica into Pickens County, following a fine high course that provides a magnificent the highway leads past the noted old Four Mile Church, and a little panorama of the surrounding country. Shortly after entering Pickens, farther on, Federal School, one of the few remaining places bearing a name which is derived from the former thoroughfare. Along here, too, is a well-preserved two-story log dwelling that must have witnessed much in the years it has stood on the federal trail. The road next steeply ascends a high dome-shaped hill, from the top of which there is a splendid view of Sharptop, Grassy Knob (Mt. Oglethorpe), and other mountains of the Blue Ridge that stand out sharply to the north and east. For the early lowcountry visitor who was eager to view the mountains, this was the place. The Federal Road drops from the crest of this hill in sharp curves to strike the Tate-Dawsonville Highway just to the east of the bridge over Long Swamp Creek. Here in pioneer times was Daniels and across the creek was Harnages or Harnageville. Bath places were stage stops. Harnages in time became Tate, the noted marble-producing center. From there the old road bears northward and, as Georgia Highway 5, passes through Jasper to Talking Rock. About a half-mile beyond this point the federal trace turns left from the Ellijay road. Here was the site of Sanderstown, home of George Sanders, a prominent mixed-blood Indian leader. Here too was the site of Taloney or Carmel Missionary Station, where missionaries labored to carry out the Great Command among the Cherokees. They and others of their calling were ill-treated by the local whites, but that is a skeleton which might well be stored far back in the closet. At this fork from the Ellijay road is one of the rare public markers which commemorate the old trace. It notes that the Federal Road follows the course of a trail that connected the ancient Indian town of Cisca in Tennessee with St. Augustine, Florida. The Federal Road led on to Blaine, but today's highway does not entirely follow its route. It is easy to trace the latter, however, as one approaches the vill age, because it runs as a tree-bordered depression in a pasture to the left of the modem road. Beyond Blaine the Federal Road coincides closely with Georgia 156, which has been under construction in the last year or two. It leads northwestward through a rugged, sparsely settled country, passing over Talking Rock Creek by a bridge, where there used to be a crossing called the Ball Creek Ford, and on toward Clipper Cross-roads. From there it runs toward Berean School in southwest Gilmer County. At a white house on the left, the original route deserts No. 156 and cuts to the left directly across a mountain on a course that is difficult to follow in an ordinary car. This trying stretch is probably more like the original trail than other still-travelled sections. It leaves the impression that the thoroughfare was a road by courtesy only, when viewed with modern eyes. By riding around near Berean School, the old road can be re-joined. Farther on at the foot of the mountain it suddenly comes out into the Coosawattee River Valley, near Carters Quarters, one of the loveliest parts of Georgia. The Federal Road does not cross Talking Rock Creek as does Georgia 156,2 but turns right along the foot of the mountain and soon passes the edge of a great corn field, a notable spot because it contains the site of Coosawattee Old Town, a Cherokee settlement. Along the edge of the field by the road is a remarkable stone fence, the likes of which can rarely be seen in Georgia. An inquiry of an old Negro as to its origin brought the response that it was built way befo my time in the dark days of slavery. Farther along, the road crosses the Coosawattee on a narrow, old-fashioned concrete bridge. Travelers on the original federal trace forded the river just above, where the stream widens into swift but shallow shoals. Standing on the bridge gazing at the sparkling riffles, one could not avoid speculating on and trying to visualize the interesting characters and cavalcades that once splashed these waters: roistering frontier riflemen with bobbing coonskin caps, strings of packhorses, hurrying couriers, Old Hickory and his troopwagons of hopeful immigrants, and shouting drovers, urging their reluctant animals into the swift stream. But this spot is a natural crossing, and even before there were drovers and emigrants, bands of painted savages must have forded here; perhaps, too, furtive English agents seeking to stir up trouble among the Cherokees against the revolting colonists slipped along here; and perhaps also, DeSoto and his army crossed at this spot, because he is thought to have visited this section. At Coniston, two miles farther on, the old road strikes U.S. 4 11. Near here, in pioneer days, dwelt the long-lived and beloved preacher, Reverend William J. Cotter. In his My Autobiography he left one of the few writings which mention the Federal Road. Near this place also, not far from a present large dairy barn, in frontier days was an interesting place named Bloodtown. Origin of the name is obscure, but the site was a noted spot where south-bound cattle drovers penned their stock at night for feeding and resting while en route to markets. Traces of Bloodtown have long since disappeared, but tales of the reveling and brawling which took place there persisted long. Up the road a little farther, in front of a filling station which now marks Ramhurst, Georgia, on U.S. 411, the Old Federal Road branched. One fork, which will be followed later, turned left toward Chattanooga and Nashville. The other continued straight ahead, approximately along the course of U.S. 411, via present-day Chatsworth, Eton, and Cisco to Tennga on the Georgia-Tennessee line. Just beyond Tennga, on a slight rise, to the left of and opposite the point where a road turns from U.S. 411, or Tennessee 33, to go into the village of Conasauga, are some metal-covered farm buildings The Old Federal Road ran behind the se structures through what is now a cotton patch. Out in the field, on the edge of the depression, which marks the course of the trace, is a tiny cemetery sur rounded by a stone wall and surmounted by several small peach trees. Inside are buried David McNair, a prominent Indian countryman who married into the Cherok ee tribe, and his wife Delilah. The marble slab which covers their graves is th e most poignant object along the Federal Road. Its lettering is chipped and blu rred, but the inscription reads: Sacred To the memory of David and Delilah McNair who departed this life the former on the 15 of August 1836 the latter on the 31 of November 1838. Their children being natives of the Cherokee Nation, and having to go with their people to the West, leave this monument not only to tell their regard for their Parents [but?] to guard their sacred ashes [against?] the unhallowed intrusion of the white man. This section is a beautiful region; little wonder that the Cherokees hated to l eave it. The McNair children, being mixed bloods and apparently literate, were able to grave on stone the harsh feelings which hundreds of their less learned tribesmen must have felt but had to carry away to the West in their hearts. From the site of McNairs, the Old Federal Road closely parallels U.S. 411 for a distance and then begins to pull eastward from it as a present-day backcountry road. It crossed the Ocoee River at Cates Old Ford and continued into Benton, Tennessee, where, in the words of one elderly informant, It whupped by the Cour thouse Square and kept a-going north, straight as an arr'r." And along here it does go nearly as straight as an arrow. From the beginning at Ramhurst to its n orthern end, this eastern fork of the Federal Road follows a remarkably straigh t course. Its directness is the more unusual because as it goes farther into Te nnessee, it passes through a country that becomes more and more rugged. The roa d takes skillful advantage of little valleys, however, running between rows of serrated knobs along a level course which seems especially provided for it by n ature. The old trace crossed to the west of No. 411 at Benton and passed over the Hiwa ssee River near Columbus, below the mouth of Conasauga Creek. From there it lea ds on to Good Springs to the west of Etowah. Above this point a stretch of it i s now missing, but the road takes up again at Mecky Pike, the first crossroads above Etowah, where it now runs to the east of U.S. 411, and then, as a poorly maintained crushed rock road, it leads past Nonaburg (or "Nonny-burg) to the ea st of Englewood. It continues still as a present-day route into Monroe County, Tennessee, past Nochee Creek and Rocky Spring to a little crossroads two miles east of Madisonville. This road junctio n is Old Tellico, county seat before the coming of the railroad. It was once a prominent intersection point for early thoroughfares, with various trails fanni ng out to the notable towns of the Overhill Cherokees along the Little Tennesse e river to the north. The main stem of the Federal trace, however, led on to Ni les Ferry on the Little Tennessee, just below the bridge where U.S. 411 now spa ns that stream. Here the Old Federal Road ends. By ferry it connected over the river with the noted Old Maryville Road and from there to Knoxville. Across the river and up a bit was the famous Tellico Block House which the Americans main tained for awhile among the Cherokees.3 Upstream, just a short distance from wh ere the old road ends, in a pretty wooded bend is the site of tragic Fort Loudo n, where nearly two hundred years ago a besieged British garrison surrendered t o the Cherokees with the understanding that it could withdraw to Carolina. Many of the soldiers were slaughtered, however, a day or two later while on the ret urn home. A little farther up, the river valley widens into an area of beautifu l pastures and meadows surrounded by rolling grassy hills. This section was the heart of the Overhill Cherokee country. Each pretty bend of the Little Tenness ee here was the site of a Cherokee town or village. Chief among them all, sever al miles up from Niles Ferry, was Chota, the noted old capital of these Indians . Back at Ramhurst, Georgia, the left branch of the Federal Road leads northwest by historic Spring Place in Murray County toward: Chattanooga. No one living al ong its course now seems to remember it as a federal route; generally it is ref erred to as the Old Chattanoogee Road4 although in rare instances a few old-tim ers recall it as the Georgia Road. The last is its oldest name, under which the government first sought a passageway through the Cherokee country. At Spring Place the road bore to the left of the village and the majestic old V ann house that stands just north of that place. This was the home site of James Vann, an Indian country white man who was influential on the Indian side in op ening the trace. The original ferry and the old inn back on the Chattahoochee w ere established and operated by him. A stretch of the early trail is missing along here, but it takes up again at Fr ee Hope Church Crossroads, northwest of Spring Place, and runs straight north t o the Old Chattanooga Ford below the mouth of Mill Creek on Conasauga River. Th e ford is no longer used, but the former trace is still there. It leads northwa rd through Whitfield County by Dawnville and on toward. Prater Mill, where todays highway crosses Co ahulla Creek. A mile or two below the mill, however, the Federal Road turned we st to cross the Coahulla back of the Thompson place at lots 267 and 274 of the 11th District 3d Section of the original Cherokee County. At the top of the hill beyond Prater Mill on the old Manis place, it rejoins th e present-day road, Georgia 201. To retrace the dim former trace from this inte rsection back to its ford on Coahulla was a long jaunt afoot for a hot day, and the round trip called for rest. Then an old man happened along, and his curios ity, coupled with the attraction of another fellow comfortably stretched in the enticing shade, tempted him to sit and talk. He was kindly and intelligent and remembered much about the route. Near us, bac k a bit on the original trace, he said, was a log house, a public stop, whur tr avelling folks putt up at. He had helped tear down the structure and had found some long-hidden gold pieces in the chinking between the logs. The incident rem inded him of a rich old man who had once lived up the road, who was fond of wea ring a longtail coat ornamented with five-dollar gold pieces for buttons. When the man died he was buried in this coat, but some ghouls disinterred the body o ne night shortly after the burial and made off with the buttons. He rambled alo ng from one tale to another and finally came to the incident of the stagecoach falling in the hole. (That was the third time this one had cropped out in the e xcursion along the old trace!) Many years ago, he recounted, a stagecoach trave lling the Federal Road passed over a cavernous stretch that collapsed, plunging the vehicle, passengers, driver, and horses into a chasm. This incident made a great impression, and some old-timers on the route can relate the incident wit h as much vividness as though it had happened last year. Their knowledge of the event, however, must be at the very least third-hand, because the accident too k place as early as 1829. The old mans recountings pointed up the fact that a reservoir of stories, tall tales, and backwoodsy anecdotes surround the notable early roads and trails of this region. They seem to float over the old thoroughfares, waiting for some in quisitor to pluck them from the air and commit them to print. But the last gene ration to plod the roads in the days of the horse, and which had time on the re latively slow trips of those days to absorb these stories from older people, is going fast and there is not much time left to capture what they know. From the Manis place the Federal Road runs with Georgia 201 to Varnell, Red Hil l in pioneer days, and from there led west over Cohutta Ridge on a course so st eep that the modem road was relocated to get a better grade. It continues westw ard into Catoosa County, and just to the east of Ringgold Gap joins U.S. 41. Al ong here in Indian days was Taylors, a noted public stop. Taylors Ridge, runnin g to the southwest from the gap, commemorates the name. The old highway passed a little below todays Ringgold, but soon falls into U.S. 41 again and turns nor thwestward. At Pine Grove Church Crossroads beyond Peavine Creek, it turns left from 41 and in the fashion of Roman military roads went straight over a steep ridge, leaving a person of nowadays wondering how old-timers and their draft an imals had the wind power and stamina to use such a trail. On the far side of th is hill the trace ran down a draw, locally known as the Narrrs, and came out by what is now the Scruggs farm. Superficial evidence of the road now ends, and i t is necessary to search afoot from here on to the Tennessee line for signs of its course. In front of the Scruggs residence, it ran through a bottom and past ure to West Chickamauga Creek, where it crossed at the Red House Ford, which wa s named for a distillery that used to be located on the west bank. During the W ar Between the States sharp fighting took place at this passage which today at a casual glance seems nothing more than a depression by which stock go down to drink. Closer examination of the area, however, will disclose that it is the on ly natural crossing for a considerable distance up and down the stream, because at the ford a little island has choked the steep-banked and miry creek into a shoal. A short distance beyond the creek the former trace passed in front of the old M ack Smith home. Viewed from a present-day nearby road the house sits at an odd angle. Actually it was built to face the Federal Road. This fact can be verifie d by lining up the gentle, grassy depression in front of the home with the Red House Ford and it will be seen that the declivity is the old highway. The Federal Road led on across Spring Creek bottoms in what is now a large dair y pasture and mounted Missionary Ridge beyond, passing the Stancell place above Lake Winnepesaukat. It is now right at the Tennessee line, in the outskirts of Rossville. It is lost, however, in a maze of yards, alleys, and streets. But f rom here it went on to Rosss Landing, now Chattanooga, and from there around the tip of Lookout Mounta in, over Raccoon Mountain and along the south side of the Tennessee River, to a crossing successively known as Lowreys or Belchers Ferry at the mouth of Battl e Creek above South Pittsburg in Marion County, Tennessee. From there an early road turned down the west side of the Tennessee into Alabama, and this trail wa s the route, followed by early emigrants from Georgia and the Carolinas into th e area around Huntsville, which became Alabama's first capital. The main course of the Old Federal Road, however, continued northwestward in Tennessee, passin g Monteagle, the head of Stones River, and Murfreesboro, to Nashville. In reconsidering the route of the Federal Road familiarity with the present hig hway maze may make it difficult to understand why the old trace followed the co urse which it used. At first glance it appears to follow a circuitous path. As a matter of fact, however, it was a remarkably straight thoroughfare considerin g the days in which it was laid out, and this can be verified by laying a rule across a map between Chattanooga and Athens, Georgia. It will be men that the e dge of the rule coincides closely with the route followed by the western leg of the old trail. The branch from east Tennessee is not so direct because of the necessity of by-passing the rugged Blue Ridge. As noted, though, this fork, fro m Niles ferry to Ramhurst, is unusual for its directness considering the countr y traversed. On the whole, the route of the old road was selected with skill. It was planne d to avoid excessive fordings, which early travellers dreaded because of the de lays or dangers of high waters. When such passages were necessary, the road in nearly every instance led to spots where geological structures changed, in ord er to take advantage of the shoals which often characterize such locations. Wh en the trace went straight over steep hills or followed high ridges, presumably such a course was followed to save distance or to stick to elevated, well-drai ned areas. Following 1805, the road served as a leading thoroughfare for about 30 years. After the 1830s it gradually declined in importance as a through route, when ne w towns sprung up and the highway system grew and reshaped itself in other dire ctions. Possibly some of the old roads decline, however, may be attributed, as one informant opined, to a desire of travellers to git shet of them lung-busti n hills. Even though the Federal Road lost its arterial character a century ag o, it was never completely abandoned, since large segments yet serve the commun ities along its old course. -- GMNL 10(1957): 150-157, reprinted from EUQ 6 (1950) NOTES 1 The author first travelled a part of the Old Federal Road many years ago. He is grateful, however, to the Research Committee at Emory for a grant-in-aid which enabled him to trace this former thoroughfare and a number of other historic trails and highways across the South. 2 On the original surveys of Cherokee County, the early trail is shown crossing Talking Rock Creek and then crossing back before continuing as depicted in the text. 3 Negotiations with the Cherokees to establish the Federal road were carried on here. Also the original Indian route which the Federal Road followed forded the Little Tennessee near the Block House. 4 One may smile at this pronounciation [sic] of Chattanooga, but the people who use this form say the word exactly as it was handed down to them as an Indian name. ++++++++++++ eugenia@nexon.com.au Eugenia NOTES: With construction at last beginning in 1811, the "Old Federal Road," was built from west to east connecting Fort Stoddert, Alabama, to Fort Wilkinson, Georgia. (Several spelling variations include Stoddert, Stoddart, etc.). Constructed in 1799, Fort Stoddert was named for the Acting Secretary of War Benjamin Stoddert. Fort Stoddert was located at the Mount Vernon Landing on the Mobile River in Mobile County east of current day Mount Vernon. Located at the Federal Road's other end, Fort Wilkinson was near Milledgeville on the Oconee River in Baldwin County, Georgia. At that time, Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia. The Old Federal Road successfully connected Fort Stoddert to the Chattahoochee River. At that point, the Federal Road merged with the earlier postal riders' horse path that linked Athens, Georgia, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Unlike the old horse path, the Federal Road went eastward making a connection with lands ripe for the recruitment of soldiers and obtaining supplies for the military. This path quickly became a major travel route for pioneers to the area once known as the Old Southwest. >From its start as a narrow horse path used to carry the mails, the Old Federal Road underwent great development and became a major military road connecting early American forts in the Creek Lands and the Mississippi Territory. Acting as the interstate highway of its day, when "Alabama Fever" raged through the Carolinas and Georgia, the Old Federal Road carried thousands of pioneers to the Old Southwest. As such, the Federal Road directly contributed to the dramatic increase in Alabama's population between 1810 and 1820 - with Alabama's population growing far faster than that of either Mississippi or Louisiana during this time. Alabama continued out-distancing both Mississippi and Louisiana in population growth through 1850-2 The Federal Road became a well traveled stagecoach route for those going through Alabama.