Archaeologists Discover Revolutionary War Carr s Fort on Georgia Frontier

Transcription

1 ******************************************************************************************** Newsletter of the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, Inc. Editor: N. Walker Chewning Vol. 2 No. 3 April 2013 ******************************************************************************************** Archaeologists Discover Revolutionary War Carr s Fort on Georgia Frontier Archaeologist Daniel Elliott Archaeologist Daniel Elliott with a team from the LAMAR Institute discovered the location of Carr s Fort, a significant frontier fortification that was attacked on February 10, The discovery was funded through grants from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program, Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, and The LAMAR Institute. The month-long search by a team of six researchers encompassed more than 2,700 wooded acres of the Beaverdam Creek watershed. Battlefield archaeology at Carr s Fort yielded about a dozen fired musket balls, several musket parts and several hundred iron and brass items from the 18th century. Robert Carr was a Captain in the Georgia Patriot militia and by 1778 his frontier home became a fort for more than 100 soldiers. In late 1778, the British launched a campaign to reclaim the southern colonies, which included a major recruitment effort among the frontier settlers. On February 10, Carr s Fort was occupied by 80 Loyalists (Tories) led by captains John Hamilton and Inside this issue: Carr s Fort Discovery 1-2 Directors Report 2-3 Carr s Fort 4-13 Book Signing 14 Membership 15 Battlefield Tours 16 KCBA Board Meeting Dates May 23, 2013 June 27, 2013 July 25, 2013 The Board regularly meets at 2:00 PM 4 th Thursday of each month at Mary Willis Library Washington, GA. Page 1

2 Douglas Campbell. Almost immediately, 200 Georgia and South Carolina Patriot militia, who had been hot on the trail of the Loyalists, laid siege to the fort in an attempt to take it back. An intense fire fight raged for several hours, in which more than a dozen were killed or wounded on each side. Patriot forces, commanded by Colonel Andrew Pickens, were ordered to break off the siege after he received word of that larger party of 750 Loyalists advancing from the Carolinas. The Patriots rode off taking the Loyalist s horses and baggage with them. The Loyalists marched several hundred miles back south to rejoin the main British invasion force. Several weeks later, Captain Carr was killed at his home by a raiding party of Loyalist Creek Indians, while his wife and children escaped. The search for Carr s Fort was like looking for a needle in a haystack, only harder. We had no map and few descriptions of the fort, so its location was entirely unknown. Historians and land surveyors provided some clues to about a dozen potential target areas, which helped narrow the search. The LAMAR field team discovered Carr s Fort on the last hour of the last day of the field project. Although our funds were depleted, I had no trouble convincing my crew to return with me to volunteer with me for another day or two to better establish the identity of the archaeological finds as Carr s Fort, stated Daniel Elliott, President of the LAMAR Institute. The archaeological team used metal detectors to systematically comb the woods for any evidence of the fort and battlefield. Each find was labeled and carefully plotted using GPS technology. More than a dozen 18th century settlements were located, but none of these proved to be the fort. Wilkes County was a hot-bed of revolutionary fervor during the American Revolution. The discovery of the archaeological remains of Carr s Fort indicates great potential that remnants of more than 30 other forts in Wilkes County may still exist. The identification of such resources can provide important new information on Georgia s role in the American Revolution and how this international conflict affected remote frontier settlements. Researching, locating, identifying, and interpreting fortifications and battlefields is one of The LAMAR Institute s research focuses. This includes the Colonial, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War periods. Prior investigation of Revolutionary War sites has included the battle fields of Kettle Creek, New Ebenezer, Sansavilla Bluff, Savannah, and Sunbury. A complete report on the Carr s Fort Battlefield project will be available to the public in early Board of Directors Report Joe Harris, Chairman The future belongs to things that grow, said a retiring Rockefeller Foundation president some years ago. The KCBA membership is a vital part of a thing which is just beginning to grow and growing in many directions. Establishing ownership of the battlefield growth process is well underway. The Kettle Creek Battlefield Master Plan has been accepted by the Wilkes County Commissioners. It is a guide to planning with KCBA being identified for a major role in implementation. We recently had a proclamation, Georgia House Resolution # 379, adopted. It recognized KCBA for its efforts to preserve and protect the land where the Battle of Kettle Creek Page 2

3 was fought. It is handsome one-page document. Also during the legislative session, three members of the KCBA Board, the chair of the county commissioners, our legislators and our senator met with Governor Deal for a report on progress and an appeal for assistance. The project is being referred to both the Department of Natural Resources and to the Department of Community Affairs. This is progress. US Senator Saxby Chambliss chief of staff met with two board members, one county commissioner and the president of the Chamber of Commerce on April 2. Our request for an affiliate status position and for other assistance is being referred to the Department of Interior. Within KCBA and Wilkes County, much is going on as well. KCBA life members will be receiving copies of the Wilbur Kurtz drawing of Loyalist Col. Boyd s final moments with Patriot Cols. Clarke, Dooly and Pickens. It is a fine piece of work, the original of which was donated to KCBA by Wilbur Kurtz, III. The KCBA Board is moving along two fronts. Toward implementation of the master plan, we are in discussions with the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government. A detailed strategic plan will come from this with responsibilities for specific actions being identified. Further, we are searching for funding. We are in a very tight position toward purchase of archeologically-identified and protective property for the site. Some nine hundred acres are identified and another buyer is interested. He wants to develop a kind of hunting preserve around the site. We are currently working on a contract that would afford us time to find funding. The dedication and support of our membership are the life blood of our organization. Membership renewal and increased level of support give us strength in the eyes of foundation boards and trustees. This is just one of the ways you help. We are very appreciative. Officers: President: Walker Chewning Secretary: Darla Wilson Assistant Secretary: Louise McClearen KCBA Officers & Directors January 2013 Treasurer: Tom Owen Parliamentarian: Lou Ricciuti Past President: George Thurmond Board of Directors Chairman: Joe Harris Board Members Darla Wilson Tom Owens Lou Ricciuti Kerry McAvoy David Chestnut Donna Hardy Bill degollian Charles Heard Betty Slaton Allen Burton Larry Wilson Anne Floyd Walker Chewning Ex Officio Walt Andre Marcia Campbell Robert Davis David McClearen David Jenkins Page 3

4 CARR S FORT, GEORGIA, BATTLE SITE by Robert S. Davis The story of the battle for this outpost on the Georgia frontier in the American Revolution has been told many times. It certainly does not lack for drama or questions, starting with its location. More than one Carr s or Karr s fort likely existed. In 1777, Colonel Samuel Elbert wrote of Carr s fort being on the fork of Beaverdam Creek of Little River. Mr. J. N. Wall of Elbert County told historian Otis Ashmore that this fort was on the Broad River, opposite the mouth of Long Creek. The late Russell Slaton of Washington, Georgia heard that it was on the Rhodes property, atop a hill, to the east of and near the mouth of Kettle Creek, on the old Quaker Springs Road. (That fort on the Little River likely belonged to Captain, later colonel, KCBA Battlefield Dispatch April 2013 Page 4

5 Henry Karr, a disabled veteran of the American Revolution. That fort is also likely the Capt. Carr s fort referred to in 1788 letter cited in the John H. Goff Collection of the Georgia Archives in Morrow.) Robert Carr s fort stood near Beaverdam Creek of the Little River, near the present-day community of Tyrone. (Wall may have confused this Beaverdam Creek with the Beaverdam Creek of Broad River.) British Colonel Archibald Campbell drew a road crossing Kettle Creek (?) that connected Carr's fort on the east to Philip s fort on the bend of the Little River on the west, on a map in The first report of the battle of Kettle Creek described it as having occurred between Carr s fort and Philip s fort. [Philips s Fort stood on the Little River at the mouth of nearby Kettle Creek.] Beaverdam Creek of Little River would fit that information. Robert Carr's fort, the site of the battle of February 1779, was one of the major outposts on the Wilkes County, Georgia, frontier built to protect entire communities of the settlers from Indian attacks. In times of stress, forts like this one, including Herd s fort on Anderson Mill Creek and Waters fort on the Broad River, likely held 500 or more people each for weeks on end. Andrew Pickens remembered Carr s fort as "an old Stockade fort full of little old cabins & very dry." Absalom Chappell remembered such places of refuge: By their own voluntary labor the people of each neighborhood, when numerous enough, built what was dignified as a fort, a strong wooden stockade or blockhouse, entrenched, loop-holed, and surmounted with look-outs at the angles. Within this rude extemporized fortress ground enough was enclosed to allow room for huts or tents for the surrounding families when they should take refuge therein a thing which continually occurred; and, indeed, it was often the case, that the fort became a permanent home for the women and children, while the men spent days in scouring the country, and tilling with their slaves, lands within convenient reach; at night betaking themselves to the stronghold for the society and protection of their families, as well as for their own safety. Page 5

6 Settlers held out at Carr s Fort from Creek Indian raids in 1777 and Troops, including Georgia state Minutemen and Continentals were stationed there. Captain Robert Carr, owner of large herds of cattle and horses and formerly a resident of Anson County, North Caroli-na, had applied for 100 acres on the north fork of Beaverdam Creek on the north side of Little River on January 13, At that time, he had a wife (Leannah), a son, and a daughter, children (ages seven to nine), as well as a slave woman. He eventually acquired claims for a total of some 1,000 acres in the Beaverdam Creek area. During the summer of 1778, troops were withdrawn from Carr s fort and elsewhere for Georgia s last invasion of neighboring British East Florida. Before those soldiers could return, Indian war parties struck the Wilkes County frontier. Roster of the Carr s company survive from that time. He sent out scouts, not all of whom he was able to pay, to watch for Indians. While he took his company out on a proactive scout against Creek raiders, the Indians attacked his fort and burned the nearby plantation of Robert McNabb. (McNabb would eventually succeed Carr as commander of the company and would die in an Indian ambush leading men from the subsequently destroyed McNabb s fort in 1781.) Robert Carr s fort had its great moment of fame in early February 1779, however. At that time, British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell re-ceived a delegation of "Anabaptists" from Wilkes County, apparently led by a Mr. Freeman, offering the surrender of their forts in exchange for British protection. Campbell dispatched eighty Loyalist horsemen under provincial captains John Hamilton and Dugald Campbell to accept the surren-der of Wilkes County and administer oaths of loyalty to the set-tlers. Historian Charles Stedman wrote in The History of Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War (1794), vol. II, p. 119, about what Hamilton actually encountered in Wilkes County: that although many of the people came in to take the oath of allegiance, the professions of a considerable number were not to be depended upon; and that some came in only for the purpose of gaining information on his strength and future designs. In var-ious Page 6

7 quarters he met with opposition; and all of their places of strength held out until they were reduced. The reduction of most of these was not, however, a work of great difficulty, as they consisted only of stockade forts, calculated for defense against the Indians. In the Loyalists' wake, some 100 men of the Wilkes County militia under Colonel John Dooly and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke withdrew to South Carolina. They may have also faced a band of pro-british partisans under Daniel McGirth. Reinforced by Colonel Andrew Pickens of South Carolina, who assumed overall command of both regiments, 200 Patriot militiamen entered Wilkes County and pursued the Loyalist horse-men. A complicated plan by Pickens to trap the enemy between his militiamen and the closed gates of Carr's fort failed. Pickens command reached it on February 12 and awaited a signal gun to attack. Instead, they saw the horsemen dismount and enter the stockade unopposed. In one account, the hand full of old men who made up the garrison chose not to resist. Pickens believed that the messengers, Captain Andrew Hamilton and his guide, were so neglectful or stupid as to not tell the people inside to close the gate until the Loyalists had arrived and tied their horses to the posts of the stockade. Pickens advance guard fired at the last of the dismounted provincials to enter the fort, allegedly causing the Loyalists to accidentally fire upon the last of their own men. A battle ensued in which some of the militiamen were wounded. Pickens Captain Andrew Hamilton brought Provincial Captains Hamilton and Campbell a demand for surrender and a request that at least the civilians be allowed to leave. The Loyalists refused. Page 7

8 2004 reenactment of the battle for Robert Carr s fort, at the Callaway Plantation, only a few miles from where the fighting happened on February 10, Pickens now prepared a siege. A party of forty militiamen under Captain William Freeman of South Carolina dodged Loyalist bullets to seize a new building outside of the fort. Taking the building cut off the spring that served as the fort's only supply of water and allowed Freeman s men to fire into the interior of the fort. Pickens made plans to roll a burning wagon down onto the stockade gate that night and even sent out orders for cannons to end the siege. Before Hamilton's and Campbell's men could be compelled to surrender, however, news reached Pickens that a large band of Loyalists under a Colonel Boyd were marching through along the South Carolina Indian frontier en route to the British army at Augusta. Pickens had the men under his command gathered the wounded, left their dead covered with piles of leaves, and seized the mounts and baggage of their enemy, even the horses still tied to the stockade. The militiamen left a string of fires on a ridge some 150 yards from the fort to hide their departure. They then set out to find and pursue Boyd's band, leaving the men in the fort free to walk back to the British army by way of nearby Wrightsborough. Ironically, after two days of hard marching in pursuit of Boyd s Loyalists, Pickens and Dooly finally caught up with and defeated them at the Battle of Kettle Creek, a few miles from where the pursuit had begun at Robert Carr's fort. John Hamilton implied years later that he did participate in the battle of Kettle Creek but a memoir by Archibald Campbell and another by Whig Samuel Beckham have Hamilton and his men retreating to a stockade at the nearby Wrightsborough settlement and from their withdrawing to the British army. Campbell wrote that he sent Hamilton back to Wrightsborough to rescue the survivors of Kettle Creek. The Pickens County Museum of Art and History in Pickens, South Carolina has a brace of dueling pistols that Andrew Pickens carried at the battles of Kettle Creek and Cowpens. The guns are engraved with the letters "JI" (in Eighteenth Century cartography: JH ). Did Pickens capture them in the baggage of John Hamilton at Carr's fort? A Glasgow merchant of colonial Page 8

9 America, John Hamilton went on to command the Royal North Carolina Regi-ment, serve as trusted advisor to Lord Cornwallis in the Carolina cam-paigns, and was, starting in 1794, British Consul at Norfolk, Virginia. He may have even counted Andrew Pickens among his many prominent American guests and friends. Hamilton died in London in 1817, the same year that Pickens passed away in South Carolina. Many other questions remain unanswered about this history. No information has been found as to where Robert Carr was during the February 1779 battle and his company seems to have been led by then by a Captain John Autrey. No later reference has been found to his fort. His widow and witnesses Captain Carr stated died in 1781 when eleven warriors attacked in the night and destroyed his home. The Carr family escaped into the night in their shirts and later claimed as losses fifteen horses, twenty-two head of cattle, four beds/furniture, pewter ware, one clock, two hats, one side saddle, and twelve each petticoats, shifts, and aprons. Most likely the death of Robert Carr and the loss of his property took place in March 1779 but nothing in the depositions made any mention of his fort implying that maybe the fort was built around his nearby cowpens and was separate from his house. Boyd and his hundreds of Loyalists almost certainly spent the night of February 13 on the Carr property. These Tories had burned forts on the South Carolina frontier and likely had no reason to spare Robert Carr s fort either. In June of 1780, Colonel John Dooly surrendered the last of the Georgia Patriot militia to the King s representative in a field on a ridge near present-day Washington, Georgia. The place of the surrender could be the Carr property. The final enigma of Carr s fort concerns the site of it today. Research by Phil McGinty on the lands in the Little River places the land grants for Robert Carr and his descendents south of the north fork of Beaverdam Creek, in line with Robert Carr s original land claim. At least four major springs exist there today, each on Carr property, or at least what became Carr property after the war, on the southwest end of modern Brickhouse Road and then, from its intersection with Maxwell Mill Road, southeast along both sides of Maxwell Mill Road. Georgia geog- Page 9

10 have been led by then by a Captain John Autrey. No later reference has been found to his fort. His widow and witnesses Captain Carr stated died in 1781 when eleven warriors attacked in the night and destroyed his home. The Carr family escaped into the night in their shirts and later claimed as losses fifteen horses, twenty-two head of cattle, four beds/furniture, pewter ware, one clock, two hats, one side saddle, and twelve each petticoats, shifts, and aprons. Most likely the death of Robert Carr and the loss of his property took place in March 1779 but nothing in the depositions made any mention of his fort implying that maybe the fort was built around his nearby cowpens and was separate from his house. Boyd and his hundreds of Loyalists almost certainly spent the night of February 13 on the Carr property. These Tories had burned forts on the South Carolina frontier and likely had no reason to spare Robert Carr s fort either. In June of 1780, Colonel John Dooly surrendered the last of the Georgia Patriot militia to the King s representative in a field on a ridge near present-day Washington, Georgia. The place of the surrender could be the Carr property. The final enigma of Carr s fort concerns the site of it today. Research by Phil McGinty on the lands in the Little River places the land grants for Robert Carr and his descendents south of the north fork of Beaverdam Creek, in line with Robert Carr s original land claim. At least four major springs exist there today, each on Carr property, or at least what became Carr property after the war, on the southwest end of modern Brickhouse Road and then, from its intersection with Maxwell Mill Road, southeast along both sides of Maxwell Mill Road. Georgia geographer John H. Golf found a warrant for survey for a John Holmes dated November 3, 1778 that mentioned Heard s Mill Creek, Benjamin Aubrey s land, and Carr s Fort, suggesting that the fort stood on the north fork of Beaverdam Creek [today s Little Beaverdam Creek], nearer the northern end than the fork, a fact supported by Phil McGinty s work that shows a Jacob Autrey immediately northwest of the Carr lands and southwest of Little Beaverdam Creek. What appears to be the actual warrant, however, makes no mention of Heard s Mill Creek and no record has been found of a Benjamin Audrey or Autrey. Holmes received land on his old warrant after Page 10

11 rapher John H. Golf found a warrant for survey for a John Holmes dated November 3, 1778 that mentioned Heard s Mill Creek, Benjamin Aubrey s land, and Carr s Fort, suggesting that the fort stood on the north fork of Beaverdam Creek [today s Little Beaverdam Creek], nearer the northern end than the fork, a fact supported by Phil McGinty s work that shows a Jacob Autrey immediately northwest of the Carr lands and southwest of Little Beaverdam Creek. What appears to be the actual warrant, however, makes no mention of Heard s Mill Creek and no record has been found of a Benjamin Audrey or Autrey. Holmes received land on his old warrant after the Revolution on Fishing Creek. Dan Elliott of the Lamar Institute is currently leading a team of archaeologists to locate the site of Robert Carr s fort. Because so many records survive of what the Carr family owned at the time of the fort s destruction, it could be a prime source for information on life on the Georgia frontier during the American Revolution. Pistols bearing the initials IH likely taken from the baggage of Captain John Hamilton at Carr s fort. Andrew Pickens reportedly used the guns at the battles of Kettle Creek and Cowpens. (Pickens County Museum of Art and History, Pickens, South Carolina.) Many other questions remain unanswered about this history. No information has been found as to where Robert Carr was during the February 1779 battle and his company seems to Page 11

12 the Revolution on Fishing Creek. Dan Elliott of the Lamar Institute is currently leading a team of archaeologists to locate the site of Robert Carr s fort. Because so many records survive of what the Carr family owned at the time of the fort s destruction, it could be a prime source for information on life on the Georgia frontier during the American Revolution. Sources: Beckham, Samuel. Peter Force Papers, vii-e, 3, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Washington. Campbell, Archibald. Journal of An Expedition Against the Rebels of Georgia. Augusta, Ga.: Richmond County Historical Society Carr s Fort file. John H. Goff Collection. Georgia Archives, Morrow. Davis, Robert Scott. Georgia Citizens and Soldiers of the American Revolution. Easley, S. C.: Southern Historical Press, "An Old Map Documents Revolutionary War Sites." Georgia Historical Quarterly 69 (1986): and Thomas, Kenneth H. Jr. Kettle Creek: The Battle of the Cane Brakes. Atlanta: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Hays, Louise Frederick, comp. Indian Depredations. 5 vols. unpublished W. P. A. typescripts at the Georgia Archives, McCall, Hugh. The History of Georgia. Savannah: Seymour, Volume II. Page 12

13 Pickens, Andrew. Letter to Henry Lee. August 28, Thomas Sumter Papers (VV), vol. 16, pages 356 ff. Lyman C. Draper Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison. Revolutionary War pension file of Asa Morgan. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Grant Files. National Archives Microfilm M804, roll Williamson, Andrew. Letter to Benjamin Lincoln. August 15, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania or Kentucky Rifle This all - American rifle was perfected by the Pennsylvania gunsmiths and proved on the Kentucky frontier and the American Revolutionary battlegrounds. Each gun was as individual as the man who carried it, but all were beautifully balanced and deadly accurate. The simple brass patch box held the greased cloth patches that gave a tight fit to the ball in the rifled barrel. The handsome brass and silver inlays usually associated with the rifle were added in the post Revolutionary period. KCBA Battlefield Dispatch April 2013 Page 13

14 Book Signing and Presentation Thursday May 23, :00 PM to 1:00 PM Rotary Club of Washington, GA Washington Women s Club 108 N Alexander Ave. Andrew Pickens South Carolina Patriot in the Revolutionary War by William R. Reynolds, Jr. Mr. Reynolds says about his book: It does extensively treat the Battle of Kettle Creek. I spent about seven years researching for this book. I was inspired to write the book because for many years, Brig. Gen. Pickens has not had a strong current biography on the shelf, alongside Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, and Henry Lee. There were some good biographies written about him in the past; however, they have been long out of print. I did correct some historical errors about the family and have included the justification within the book. After this book signing, Mr. Reynolds will be traveling to Fort Ninety Six, Guilford Courthouse, and Cowpens where he has been invited to conduct similar presentations and book signings. The public is invited to attend Page 14

15 How do you Become a Kettle Creek Battlefield Patriot? Page 15

16 Battlefield Tours Would you like to learn more about the American Revolution and the defeat of Col. Boyd at the hands of patriot militia leaders Gen. Pickens, Col. Clarke and Col. Dooly? This patriot victory on February 14, 1779, helped the colonies to gain their Independence and it occurred HERE in Wilkes County, Georgia! Walk where they fought and learn to appreciate the price of freedom. Would your group like to have a free guided tour of the Kettle Creek Battlefield? We can arrange it! For more information contact: Erin Pollock Tourism Director 20 West Square P. O. Box 661 Washington, GA tourismdirector@washingtonwilkes.org Have you written an article that may be of interest to our readers? Please your article to wcpatriot@bellsouth.net Page 16