Fort King George [1976]

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT
OF
NATURAL RESOURCES

and for Savannah and Frederica. By the early nineteenth century. sawm ills on
Old Fort Bluff. as Barnwel l": Bluff had come to be known. were operati ng at full capacity. In 18 17 the Eastern Sawmill Company erected a 5-gang sawmill on Old Fort Bluff. replacing a tidal-powered mill built in the late eighteenth century.
Shortly thereafter. when a large ~team mill was co nstru cted at Cathead about a mile upri,er Old Fort Hluff became known as Lower Bluff and Cathead .as pper Hluff. Savannah newspaper. The (,"clllxian. described the mill a~ it was in I X34.
The engine of 36 h orsepower is o f 1he very best description frum the manuf:tl'tory of Boulton Watt and Co. ol o ho . l ngland and the machinery from that of the lat e celebrated lr. R enni e of London after whose orig inal plan the \ aw mill is cons! ru cted. The saw mill has fi\'e gangs of saws. and when in operation furnishes th e requi.sitc fuel for the engine from the slabs and sa\\ dust.

The same paper reported in I!B4 th at the engine power has been raised to 60 horsepower and it could turn out 60,000 to 70.000 feet of sawed lumber each week .
Sawmilling on Lower Bluff wa discontinued during the Civil War, but the milb were sawing lumber again by I 70. The Hilton Timber and Lumber Company ran the gang mill from 1878 until 1906. By that time the depletion of large timer ended the need for the great gang saws. A circular mill which cou ld utilize smaller timber was built beside the old log basin . All sawmilling operations on the Lower Bluff had cea ed by 1920.
Fort King George ha been placed on the National Regis ter of Historic place of the United States Deparhnent of the Interior.

ABOUT YOUR VISIT Fort King George is located in the outskirts of
Darien , east of U.S . 17. The mailing address is P.O . Box 711. Darien , Georgia 31305. Tite telep hone number is (912) 437-4770.
ADM I ISTRATION The Parks and Historic Sites Divi ion of the
Georgia Department of atural Reso urces administers Fort King George . This deparhnent is the State's principle conservation agency and has basic re. ponsibilities for fish, wildlife, min eral, water, air, recreational , park and historical resource .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lanning. John Tate. Tl1c Diplrnnalic fli \10/y o.f <:em:~ia. Chapel Hill. University of orth Carolina Press, 1936.
Lanning, John Tate, 77/(' .)'panish Missions of (;c()lxia. Chapel Hill . University of orth Carolinn Press.
Barnwell, Joseph W. Ed. "Fort King GeorgeJournal of John Barnwell." .'-)oll/IJ Carolina II isJorical am/ Gcneo/ogica/ !1/aga:inc 27, October 1926.
Cra ne, Verner W. 'The Southern Frontier" Ann Arbor-The Univer ity of Michigan press 19 2 9 .
The Department of Natural Resou rces is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employs without regard to race or color, sex, religion or national origin.
For more information contact :
Office of Information and Education Georgia Department of Natural Resources 270 Washington Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30334 (404) 656-3530

FORT
KING
GEORGE

THE ALTAMAHA BLUFF
Indian and Spanish Occupation
Indian tribes known to the Spanish as Guale (Walee) were the native inhabitants of coastal Georgia between St. Andrews Sound and the Savannalt River. In I 565 Spain sent Franciscan priests to th is regio n to convert the G uale to Christianity and to establish centers of Spanish influence along the coast.
In 1952-54, archaeological excavations on the Altamaha Bluff uncovered the outline of a Spanish mission building and the remains of Indian houses. Indian and Spanish pottery dating from the seventeenth century were found buried together. The archaeological evidence suggests that a Franciscan mission was active on the Altamaha Bluff during tlte seventeenth century.
After Charles Town was founded in 1670, English raid s and pirate attacks on the coastal missions forced the Spani. h missionaries to retreat to Florida. The Guale mi.,xed with and became known as the Yamassee, and fled either north of the Savannah River or south to the Spanish in St. Augustine. By the beginning of the eighteenth century . the Altamaha Bluff was deserted.
For a short tin1e in 171 5, a group of Huspaw Indian s took refuge on the bluff in their flight south after the blood y Yamassee War.
British Occupation
In 1720 John Barnwell. a prominent planter in the Port Royal district, was sent to London to argue before the Board of Trade the necessity for building a fort on the mouth of the Altamaha River. The French, established on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and along the Mississippi River. were planning to colonize the Altamaha River. The Board of Trade approved Barnwell's proposal to counteract the threatened French expansion, and to initiate a series of British settlements as well as military outposts on the southern frontier. The Board agreed to raise an Independent Company of Foot to build and garrison a fort to command the mouth of the

--:..-- Graves & ---- Marker
Interpretation Center
0
- A . Blockhouse B. Barracks C.Officer D. Guard E .Centinel F. House ofOffi G. Several Huts H. Dock Gate I .Dock K. Land Port L. Bridge M. Ditch Palisades P. Parrapet S . Flag Staff

: . =-- . ;

Altamaha River. T his Independen t Compan y was drafted from Colonel Fielding's Regiment of Invalids, H.M. 4 1st. Regiment of Foot.
In May, 172 1, Govern or Nichol son and Colonel Barn well arrived at Charles Town with the 1nd ependent Compan y. The soldiers were ill with scurvy and had to be placed " in hospital. " T hat summer, Colonel Barnwell , with a group of "scou tmen" from Port Royal , began the constru ction of Fort King George on a low poin t below the Altamaha Bluff. T he completed fort was a gab led blockhouse twen ty-six feet square, built of 3-inch thick cypress planks. The blockhouse contained three floors: a magazine floor, a gun floor with holes in the walls for the cannons and muskets , and above that a "jutting" or protruding floor to clear the sides. A six-foot high earthen parapet, surrounding palisades, and moat defended the land side. A parapet also fronted the river, and the palisades were continued on the northeast. Several palmettothatched huts and barracks were enclosed within the irregular triangle of the fort.
Between 1721 and 1727, Fort King George was. garrisoned by His Majesty's Independent Company of Foot. During these six years, more than one hundred and forty sol<Jiers died at the fort.
In I 726 a fire destroyed the barracks and damaged the palisades and blockhouse. Although the blockhouse was soon rebuilt, a year later the troops were withdrawn to Port Royal. lltere they could provide closer protection for the frontier plantations under threat of attack from Indians and Spanish raiders_ Two lookouts were stationed at Fort King George by the South Carolina colonial government until a permanent English settlement was established at Savannah in 1733.
SAWMILLING ON BARNWELL'S BLUFF
Sawmilling on Barnwell's Bluff began when Colonel Barnwell's sawyers cut cypress timber into planks for the construction of Fort King George. After the Scots settled Darien, sawmilling on tl1e Bluff grew into a large-scale industry. The Scots cut lumber for their own use,