HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: Fort Rutledge Version 1.0, 7-Jan-2003, H-22.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING 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. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 HISTORY WRITE-UP : EMORY WASHINGTON, Clemson Univ. Tiger Newspaper, 4-Dec-1952 Fort Rutledge! Mention the name to a Clemson student and chances are he will tell you he has never heard it before. Located less than a mile from the main body of the Clemson campus, the old fort is one of the many points of historical interest which surrounds the college. Probably fewer than one hundred students even know of its existence, fewer still, its interesting history. Sitting in a pasture on the college farm in the Seneca River bottoms, is the old fort. Of gray stone construction, and in actuality more of a monument than a fort, the roofless building looks sadly out of place among the peaceful surroundings of rolling pastures, green trees, and the ever-muddy Seneca River nearby. History and legend seem to agree quite closely on the origin Fort Rutledge. When it became apparent that war with the Colonies was inevitable the leaders of Great Britain immediately sought aid from any source which would help subdue the rebellious colonies. In the various Indian tribes inhabiting all the land from the narrow fringe of settled land along the coast to the Mississippi River, they found the help they were looking for. The English, plan was to incite the Cherokee and Creek Indians against the southern colonies. With their harbors blockaded by the British navy and their troops engaged in fighting the Indians, the colonies of the southeast would be unable to help the middle-Atlantic and northern colonies. Then the British would be free to concentrate their efforts against the more populous, and more important from a military standpoint, North. A Scout by the name of John Stuart, who was Superintendent of His Majesty's Indian affairs, was originally opposed to turning the savages against the white settlers. However, Cameron, an Indian agent, and many South Carolinians still loyal to the king urged him on. When news came July 1, 1776, that the British navy was in the Charleston harbor, the Indians struck. Within a few days several hundred settlers were massacred by the war-like Cherokees who killed without regard for age or sex. This act of violence , drove many previous Loyalist to the cause of the colonies. Upon knowledge of the outbreak, Major Andrew Williamson gathered a force, of over one thousand volunteers. Much jealousy existed in Williamson's staff as he had been appointed commander-in-chief by the President of South Carolina, Rutledge, and had the authority to pass on commands through the colonels who out-ranked him. This situation was hurriedly remedied by Williamson's' promotion to colonel. Leading his hungry, ill-clad, and poorly equipped force, Williamson marched on the larger Cherokee Villages, burning the natives huts and destroying thousands of acres of Indian crops. On August 16, 1776 work was on a fort situated on the site of Essenecca, one of the vanquished Indian towns. This fort was to be later, named Fort Rutledge in honor of President Rutledge.. Its existence, with its permanent garrison of three hundred troops, substantially removed the Indian threat from northwestern Carolina for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. A peace treaty signed May 20, 1777, ceded the present counties of Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, and Pickens to South Carolina. In the three months of bitterest fighting two thousand natives were slain, although only ninety-nine colonists were lost. The old fort has long disappeared, crumbled through the years to dust. In 1908 the Andrew Pickens Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution had erected a miniature fort in the pasture southwest of "Lovers Lane" in the Seneca River bottoms. Few students ever see this small gray stone building now as the pasture is enclosed by a fence. When constructed, the replica was thought to be on the site of the original fort. However, evidence today seems to indicate that the old Fort Rutledge was on a high bluff overlooking the river a mile away.