“We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit
violence on those who would harm us.”
Winston
Churchill
Driving
down Emory Highway in Macon, we past a small fort up on a hill and
turned into the parking lot to check it out. The sign on the road
said - “Fort Hawkins.” We walked up to the door of the log
cabin that had solid wooden doors, no windows, and no signs letting
us know what this building was, but we were brave and decided to go
in. Once we opened the door, we saw that it was a museum and a
lovely lady who was working that day greeted us and seemed genuinely
happy to see us. We looked through the museum and saw many
artifacts from the days when this was a working fort and when the
Indians were present. The woman smiled at us and told us there was
a five minute movie to watch before she took us up into the fort.
The film was very interesting and well worth watching.
After
the film, we looked at the museum some more and our very friendly
guide took us outside to the locked gate and let us into the fort
area for a private tour. As we walked up the hill to the blockhouse,
she pointed out where the four long houses were located. Our guide
explained the long houses were the soldiers quarters and storage.
In the middle of the fort is where the officers quarters were
located.
She
explained that Fort Hawkins was established in 1806 by President
Thomas Jefferson and Indian Agent Colonial Benjamin Hawkins.
Hawkins, was US Senator from North Carolina, and American planter,
statesman, and a US Indian agent. It is believed that he married a
Creek woman. Fort Hawkins was used as a fort as well as a trading
and meeting place with the Native Americans. There were as few as
seven stationed here at fort but as many as 1,400 Native Americans
came here for annuity payments. The US Treaty provided payment in
return for giving up ownership of their land. During this time,
this fort along with many other forts were built along the western
frontier and wilderness. This fort overlooked Ocmulgee River and
the ancient Indian Mounds that were owned by the Muskogee Creek
Nation. The Ocmulgee River was the western boundary of the US from
1805 to 1820. Amazing to think how small our nation was then.
Fort
Hawkins was built to protect the boundary from invasions from the
Spanish, French, British, and Native Americans. They cleared over 90
acres outside the walls so there could be no surprise attacks.
There were two wooden blockhouses, one located south east and one on
the north west corners of the fort. Each were built with portholes
for muskets to fire from on the walls and on the top level floor to
aim at the ground. There was not much protection for the soldiers
then as the walls were just timber. She explained the north west
blockhouse was destroyed in 1870 when it was blown down in a storm.
The other blockhouse was later moved by Henry Jones to Main Street in
1882 where he used it as a barn until it burnt down in the early
1900’s. The blockhouse we see now on the fort is a reconstruction
that was built in 1939 and made of cement made to look like wood.
As
we walked along the wildflower laden path to the blockhouse, we
noticed the cannon perched on the side. Our guide explained this
was graciously given back to the city after years of it being with a
family that had it since the fort was closed years ago. We were able
to go inside where on the first floor was displayed various small
replicas of the fort built by some boy scouts in the area. We walked
up three flights on the spiral staircase, When we got to the top we
saw wonderful views of the Macon area. We could see for miles.
We
were told that Andrew Jackson, the Indian fighter in the War of 1812
used soldiers who were trained at Fort Hawkins. The Fort was a safe
haven during that time. He arrived at Fort Jackson on February 19,
1818 with 1,000 Tennessee Volunteers. He passed through here for
the Creek and Seminole Wars. When Jackson was here in May of 1814,
he wrote some letters and they are displayed at the museum.
The
fort was used by the military until 1824 and was decommissioned in
1828 when the frontier move westward. The fort still flies the flag
of the day outside the blockhouse.
We
saw a new building to the back of the fort and asked what it was.
She explained that a local gentlemen was building a lean-to
blacksmith shop. We went back and met him and he was doing a great
job. It will really be something when he is done. They are
planning many improvements to this site so watch and see how it
develops.
It
was a nice informative tour. The Fort is not large and is sitting
on only 1.4 acres but this is well worth a stop and see. If you are
looking for something to do in Macon, Georgia, this is a good place
to go. Check them out at: http://forthawkins.com.
Bye for now.
#HistoricFortGeorgia #PlacesToSeeNearMacon #HistoricalSitesGeorgia #TravelGeorgia
No comments:
Post a Comment