2020 Georgia - part 17: Fort Yargo State Park's history - the beginnings of forts in America - Travel With Us

This park takes us back in time to after the Revolutionary War and before the turn of the century (1800) as the colonists started to become a new nation and farmers wanted to expand westward. At first, relationships with Native Americans in Georgia were peaceful, but eventually the westward push put a strain on their interactions, and the farmers needed to protect themselves when they were attacked; hence the need for a fort. But the fort we’re seeing today is nothing like the forts we remember from the Westerns we grew up with!

If you’re not into history or want to skip all the reading, scroll down until you start seeing pictures again. But hold on; I think you might find this information interesting.

history

But even before the time period highlighted in this park, Native Americans fought on both sides of the conflict between the British and the French during the French and Indian War (or as it was known elsewhere, the Seven Years War). (We touched on this when we were visiting the Maritime Provinces in Canada on a previous trip.)

In 1763 when the British defeated the French all over the world, the British began expanding their influence with local tribes in the colonies against those new settlers who were talking about independence. When the Revolutionary War started, tribes split over who to support, because in the end, they weren’t going to have the power and control they used to.

We might think that when the British were defeated at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, they all went home and their influence also ended among the Native Americans fighting with them. But I don’t think that happened. Eventually conflict heated up with the British again to the point where fighting broke out with the War of 1812. We’re going to look at the fighting led by Andrew Jackson against the British and their Native American allies.

conflicts and Andrew Jackson

I know Andrew Jackson is controversial, but he’s still one of our early presidents and a man of his times. I read a book about him a couple of years ago and felt like I got to know him a little as a person, and we’ve had the chance to visit his home outside of Nashville. My respect for and understanding of him grew as I got to know more about him.

Because we live in Georgia, history in this state and in our surrounding states has intrigued us. We knew about the forced relocation of tribes from the Southeast from 1830-1850 known as the Trail of Tears and Andrew Jackson’s role in this.

So my questions about this period of time was why did the conflicts with the Native Americans stay so intense after the Revolutionary War that forts like the one we’ll be looking at needed to be built, and why did Andrew Jackson allow/encourage this relocation that started in 1830? I can’t say that I understand it all by any means because of all the forces behind it, but this park’s fort started me putting some dots together.

my conclusions

Jackson joined the colonists to fight the British when he was only 13, along with his 2 older brothers. He was a courier, taking messages between the leaders and the soldiers

Andrew Jackson’s mother and brothers died in separate occurrences during the Revolutionary War when the British invaded the Carolinas in 1780-1781. Jackson and his brother, Robert, were captured by the British, and an officer slashed Jackson with his sword after he refused to polish the officer’s boots. This injury affected him the rest of his life.

His family’s deaths left Jackson with a lifelong hostility toward Great Britain and those who fought with them. Since Jackson’s father had already passed away just before Jackson was born, he was now an orphan in his teens without any siblings. Family members tried to help out, but his sense of youthful adventure and mischief won out.

When the British lost the Revolutionary War in 1783, I don’t think they left behind their influence with the Indian tribes who had fought along side of them. I think they kept stirring the pot, so to speak, against this new nation, so that when the British came back to fight the Americans in 1814 after defeating Napoleon, the Indians were so glad to join them in hopes of getting their land back since they were already fighting their own wars against the Americans.

In 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel of the Tennessee militia and then elected as its commander the next year. He led his troops during the Creek War of 1813-1814, winning the Battle of Horsehoe Bend. In the treaty he required the Creek to surrender vast lands in present day Alabama and Georgia. This was a big deal.

In the concurrent war with the British, Jackson went on to defeat the British in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans, making him a national hero. Then he led military forces against the Spanish and the Seminole tribes in the First Seminole War. Winning this war brought Florida into the United States. (We talked about this in some of the posts when we were at Seminole Lake State Park earlier this year in part 3 of the 2020 trips in Georgia.)

Andrew Jackson finally became president in 1828 and signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. I think his hatred of Great Britain and those who fought with her against the United States continued all his life, resulting in the Trail of Tears.

NOTE: This is only a narrow look at this man and his times for the purpose of this post and doesn’t include the rest of what he did from an historical perspective. I only wanted to take a look at the conflict with the Native Americans over the years that affects what happened at this location in Georgia during 1793.

Fort Yargo

view of the fort from the visitors center

In this case, a fort is actually a log blockhouse. It was built in 1793 about 3 miles southwest of “Jug Tavern,” the early name for today’s city of Winder. (Lots of drinking going on then?) This state park is about 1.5 miles south of Winder.

Fort Yargo was “one of four forts built by the Humphries brothers to protect early settlers from [Creek and Cherokee] Indians.” It took a fair amount of searching, but we think that these are the locations of the other 3 forts built at the same time. Little of anything is left of these other sites, so we’re so glad Fort Yargo has been maintained by local groups.

probably locations of the 4 forts built by the Humphries brothers in 1792

I think it’s so interesting that the first forts in America were individual strongholds for small groups of settlers who planned on protecting themselves instead of waiting for the army or other governmental agency to step in. As the West was being populated, large Army forts were built to house soldiers who would ride out to protect settlers on their travels through the countryside. When local attacks happened, settlers and farmers would come to the Army fort for protection and to help fight.

early history

Here’s the whole sign; now let’s look at the details.

A nearby settler from around one of the other forts, Abel Trent, visited this location prior to 1800 and found a few settlers who were well-armed and willing to come to the aid of the people near his fort should it be attacked. In 1810, George Humphrey carried out the sale of Fort Yargo to John Hill who bought the 121 acres for $167. Hill’s family cemetery is in the park, and we’ll see it at the end of this post.

The original site of the fort was close by. In 1927, the Sunbury Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution adopted the fort and worked toward its preservation. Thank you so much! Eventually men from the community went together and bought the property to create the park around it, and then the state bought the land for a state park.

This photograph of the fort was before it was moved to its current location.

Small forts sprang up across Georgia’s Indian lands during and after the Revolutionary War. The Creek, Cherokee, and other tribes were drawn into the conflict by the British and fought skirmishes against the settlers who were establishing farms in their territory.

When the Indians attacked, these settlers would flee to nearby forts for their mutual protection. According to letters and legal statements given by local citizens of the time, the 1780s and 1790s were particularly violent.

Settlers carved out farms in the Indian territories because the land was free for the taking. However, they risked their own lives, as well as those of their families, since Indian attacks, while not happening every day, were frequent and often deadly.

Other challenges came to the settlers from disease, snakes, wildlife, and starvation if their crops failed or were destroyed. Families lived mostly in small, 1-room log cabins, usually several miles from their nearest neighbor.

The original fort was moved to today’s location in 2005. First its leaning stone chimney had to be removed so the building could be moved. Then a permanent foundation was created for the fort so the logs could be kept dry since it had previously sat on the ground. The chimney was rebuilt and the roof restored using treated pine shingles. Volunteers did as much work as possible with 18th century tools.

After the log blockhouse was reconstructed, volunteers got to work on building fences, pathways, garden beds, and the cooking shed; they continually look for ways to add 18th century elements to the site.

living history society

What would we do without great volunteers?

A group of volunteers help maintain the original 1790s blockhouse structure and provide demonstrations to visitors. The structures and gardens around the fort are historically accurate for a typical trading station that would have been in this area.

The cooking shed above the beehive oven on the left is in the process of being rebuilt. For their clothing, volunteers usually make their own using fabrics and styles from that era.

On the fort’s activity days, volunteers demonstrate such activities as how to throw tomahawks, plant and work a garden, work on new structures, and cook outdoors.

frontier fences

Settlers wanted to establish their own farms as they moved westward. They cleared the forest and brush before building fences to corral their livestock, mark their boundaries, and keep out predators. Fence material depended on what was around and its purpose. Some farmers cleared stones from their fields and built low walls; old stone fences are common today in the upcountry and rocky areas.

The fence built around the fort is a wattle fence made by interweaving twigs or tree branches into upright rods or stakes. Sometimes fences were covered with daub or mud to help keep out small rodents.

*left:* hand-cut pickets attached crudely to a log cross piece often enclosed fowl such as chickens and even this exotic peacock
*center:* this split-rail is sometimes called a snake fence but usually is called a Virginia fence; they are easy to build and don’t require any hardware
*right:* stone fences were created when farmers had to clear land for cultivation; they took time and effort to build but would last for years with little maintenance

Historical etchings like this one were made into woodcuts or black-and-white steel plates for illustrating America’s earliest newspapers and magazines, providing historians with the only images of the early American frontier.

Building fences was labor intensive but oh so important. Farmers and ranchers had to fell trees and then shape each piece using only the simplest of hand tools. Often a sledge pulled by oxen (picture above) moved the cut materials to where they were needed.

These men in the previous picture are building a post and rail fence. Notice that the posts have slots that the rails slide into. Each slot would be carved out using hand tools. It’s also called a split-rail fence.

the fort

The cabin had 2 entrances that are opposite of each other; we can’t tell which is the back door and which is the front.

This sign by the cabin was for times like now when the cabin is closed.

At times, this log building could be filled with 30-50 people while they were under attack.

When not in use for fortification, a family occupied it and often travelers, new settlers, trappers, and traders bunked with them on their way across Georgia.

Firing holes or shooting ports were cut out around the room to provide a field of fire. this one is to the right of the fireplace had a limited view because of the chimney. To the left of the fireplace, a shuttered wood pass provided a larger field of fire.

The second floor served mainly as storage and sleeping space. Its windows opened to allow for a larger field of fire during attack and for better air flow on hot summer days and nights.

Another view of the front (rear?) of the house, but this shows a better view of the second floor. We’ll see other views in just a minute.

Since so much work was done to make the log structure so interesting for us to see, they also gave us information on how it was built.

Many of the settlers in this part of the southern highlands, especially those of Appalachia, came from Scotland, Ireland, and northern Europe like Germany, which means they built there structures here like the ones they were familiar with. Logs were readily available, while saw mills were sparse or nonexistent in more rural areas.

This building, like so many others in this hilly part of Georgia and the Carolinas, is one and a half stories with front and back doors opposite each other for air flow during the warmer months. It has a shake roof and a stone chimney. Its first chimney was probably made from sticks or logs daubed with mud.

In Georgia, log cabins looked more like those of the German tradition and often resembled a style well known to the South’s many Scots-Irish settlers.

*Notching:* hewn logs are squared off rather than being left round, and it is the most common log shape used in log homes in Southeastern U.S. Six types of corner notching are used on hewn logs. All could be made with an ax, maul, and adz. Three of the most popular in the southern Appalachian region are shown in this picture.

The half dovetail is also called Chamfer and Notch and is the best for keeping water out of the cabin. As the building settles with age, the joints pull in tighter and help the cabin last for a long time. This style was the most common notching style used in Georgia and it is used on the log structure here.

Settlers built their cabins out of logs and placed cedar or pine shakes, or shingles, on the roof. These small thin wood pieces were hand cut and applied to the roof with nails, probably the only place where nails were used when building a cabin since they were handmade and expensive. (Remember the men making shingles when we were at Colonial Williamsburg? **part 8** of our visit to Virginia in the Mid-Atlantic states section)

*Chinking:* This has to do with the spaces between the hewn logs that needed to be filled, especially for the colder months. Originally *chinking* referred to the solid filler like straw or pieces of wood, while *daub* referred to the clay or lime mortar. Today *chinking* refers to all of the materials placed between the logs.

Here’s the process that the early settlers had to go through to fill the spaces between the logs:

When applying the chinking, they first pressed pieces of wood, twigs, chips from the hewn logs, or even straw, between the logs.
Next they mixed clay with lime to make a mortar. This mixture was pressed over the chinking and between the logs, being careful not to press so much that the chinking fell into the interior of the cabin.
Now it’s time for the inside. During earlier times, settlers often pushed out portions of the chinking during the summer months to get better air flow and then repair it as the colder months approached.

The chinking on this cabin is simple mud and straw. It requires annual maintenance since it cracks and falls out during the year.

This photograph is of Fort Yargo before it was moved to its current site. Looks pretty much to me the same except for its stone foundation and better steps.

Today we can see the restored stone chimney, the well chinked logs with half-dovetail notchings, and the slots and windows used during attacks and for better air flow.

beehive oven

Just outside of the cabin was this strange-looking structure.

Boarded up now, we were glad for the signs that gave us an idea of how the settlers used this oven.

At one time, settlers used these ovens to bake all kinds of foods. Taking its name from its shape, the oven can be found in all parts of the world even today. Simple to build from clay and straw, they were inexpensive for the early settlers to build, as well as very efficient and easy to use. Sometimes a small chimney for venting the smoke was added if the ratio of dome to door didn’t work well, but a chimney would reduce its efficiency.

How does it work? A hardwood fire is built on the floor inside the oven. Smoke is vented out the top side of the only opening in front, while fresh air is pulled in through the lower area. The oven can reach about 950 degrees in 2 hours. The fire is then raked out and the floor of the oven is damp mopped. At this point the oven can hold the heat for about 8 hours. Fast cooking items, such as bread and cakes, are cooked directly on the floor first. Roasts of meat and slower foods are cooked later as the temperature inside the oven begins to drop.

These ovens were popular and well used until the Industrial Revolution when gas and electric ovens were starting to be available.

another, better look at the beehive oven

We saw huge beehive ovens just outside of Ely, Nevada, where they were used to make charcoal for smelting iron ore (part 21 of The Loneliest Road trip on our Southwest Swing).

Settlers usually cooked over open fires while traveling to their new homes in frontier settlements like those around Fort Yargo.

Once their farms were established, they continued cooking outside during the hotter days of summer. However, most women appreciated having a home with a hearth. This fire was rarely extinguished as the family depended on it for cooking, heat during the cooler months, and light during the evening hours.

The men hunted to gather game for their families meals. Often they hunted together and then shared the bounty among the families.

On frontier farms, women cooked most of the family’s food. While everyone helped with gathering firewood, hauling water, plucking chickens, and harvesting fruits, berries, and vegetables, the woman of the house commanded the kitchen.

Her day began early as she prepared a substantial breakfast for the family. Some days after breakfast she made bread or canned and preserved others foods for later use. Then the midday meal had to be started to fuel the rest of the work day. The evening meal would probably have been simpler to prepare and digest.

One pot meals, such as soups and stews were common. Roasted meats cooked to a golden-brown in front of, but not over, a roaring fire to produce a lightly caramelized crust, a juice interior, and an intense flavor. Yum.

A swinging crane, built into the hearth, provided a number of hooks so pots could hang over the fire. Irons might hold a spit for roasting fowl or small game. Bake kettles, like the one on the left, could be used for rising bread, baking, and roasting meat and vegetables. The hearth’s implements had various and ingenious uses.

Early settlers’ homes sometimes had clay or mud-covered stick or log chimneys. A crossbar or lugpole often rested on ledges built into the chimney. Cut from wet, green wood, they would sooner or later dry up and break, often causing serious burns and even broken bones as the cooking pots fell into the fire.

Outside spits and cooking areas that the volunteers use for demonstrations.

The original Fort Yargo building had a cooking shed that sat over the beehive oven.

smokehouse

Smokehouses were used to cure meat or fish with smoke and salt. Before refrigeration, fresh meat wouldn’t last very long unless it was “smoked” or frozen. In early winter, farmers butchered animals for food during the cold months. In colder climates, the excess meat was frozen, but in the South, is was more often smoked or salted—or both.

When areas are first settled, saw mills and brick kilns won’t be built for a while yet, so smokehouses had to be built of logs or stones. Stones wouldn’t burn but were hard to build with. Eventually brick smokehouses were built, and they were more durable. However, plank smokehouses remained a less expensive alternative.

I can still remember the smell of the smokehouse on my grandpa’s farm in southern Iowa even though it had been out of use for so many years before I ever came along.

Meat is cured in 2 steps:

Fresh cuts, such as hams, shoulders, and roasts are packed in a box of coarse salt for about 6 weeks. The salt draws out most of the water before the salted meats are hung.
Next a fire is built and kept smoldering for 1-2 weeks. Freshly cut wood is used, especially hickory and oak that burn slowly, smoke heavily, and add good flavor to the meat.

This process results in dried, long-lasting smoke-flavored meat that remains edible for about 2 years.

These interior shots show empty hooks in the ceiling for hanging meat. The floor is an open fire pit, and a salt box is on the right.

Hunting provided most of the settlers’ food supply in the winter. Turkeys, small game (rabbits, squirrels, and opossum), and large game (deer) helped satisfy the family’s need for protein.

Settles and frontiersmen relied on their rifles and muskets for hunting and protection. Boys and even girls as young as 6 or 7 would learn to stalk prey, aim, and bring down game for the table. Some children became proficient and could provide for their family even at a young age.

The volunteers built this smokehouse using only 18th century tools when possible. A grindstone on site helped keep the tools sharp for such tasks as hallowing out the salt box.

blacksmith shop

Hill family cemetery

As mentioned earlier in this post, the Hill family bought this land with the Fort Yargo building in 1810. It took us a while to find the family cemetery in the park since staff members didn’t know exactly where it was. We could see its location on the park map but couldn’t find a road to get us there. Finally Barney looked up geocaching sites in the park and found it.

We went to one of the picnic areas, and right after the camp host’s 5th wheeler, we turned right on an unmarked path and walked up the hill.

See the gates in the distance in front of me?

Just inside the gates (luckily they were unlocked) was this stone bench in memory of John Hill and his wife, Callie, who are buried here.

A long distance view of the grave markers.

A closeup view of some of the markers. A number of different families are buried here. Sometimes we could see how family names changed with marriages over the years.

Those first Hills were buried here in 1831 and 1853.

The first Tuckers were buried here around 1883.

The next generation of Tuckers were buried here in 1914 and 1915.

Don’t know if you’ve done any geocaching, but it’s fun and a good way to explore an area. Our clue for this cemetery was “magnolia” so we looked for magnolia trees and found 3. The first didn’t have any caches, and the second was too hard to get to.