Fort Campbell - Vestiges of the Trail of Tears in Georgia
Forsyth County GA

Old Federal Road and Nicholson Road. Image source: Google

In his letter, written a few days before collecting prisoners, Word requested that a physician be assigned to his company because of the serious illness of one of his men. If physicians were unavailable, he wrote, he could hire one at once who was well qualified and apparently known to his company. Concerned that the soldier was dying, Word anticipated the arrival of his father and requested permission for the father to take his son home.ccxciii The sick soldier’s name is not given.

In early May, Lt. Hetzel appointed R. F. Hilbourn as quartermaster for Ft. Campbell.ccxciv Later in the month, Word’s letter identified two other individuals in the company who were assigned special jobs. He detailed David D. Smith to serve as quartermaster sergeant and John Carlton to act as company sergeant.ccxcv With this information, we know more about the responsibilities of specific individuals in Word’s company than in any others.

Construction.
Military correspondence in early April proposed the establishment of a post at or near Scudder’s. By May 1, the post was referred to by its proper name, implying that it was fortified. On May 20, however, Word wrote that he had “not yet completed only about one [fourth?] of the picket work” because he had lacked adequate tools until recently. With tools in hand, he hoped to complete it in 10-12 days, which obviously was a period that extended beyond the capture of prisoners.ccxcvi Since earlier correspondence at Ft. Wool had included orders for construction tools for company commanders, Word’s lack of tools may indicate a breakdown of efficiency in the late stages of preparation for removal. Unless he was utilizing buildings at Scudder’s, Word would have needed to construct storage facilities, barracks, stables, and cooking facilities in a brief period.

Supplies.
Little forage was available for purchase in the area around Ft. Campbell. On May 1, Word had only 200 bushels of corn and 550 bundles of fodder. The quartermaster estimated that he could probably acquire 4,000 bushels of corn, but no bundles of fodder. The only other post in Georgia unlikely to obtain fodder was Ft. Floyd.ccxcvii No other supply records for Ft. Campbell have been found.

Prisoners.
In mid-June, Word reported that his company had worked five days to capture about 200 Indians “without loss of life or fire of gun.” When adequate wagons and teams became available, he sent the prisoners with their baggage on to Ross’s Landing. He subsequently captured ten more individuals and sent them to New Echota. A few Indians in his area had “certificates” allowing them to remain.ccxcviii These likely included the Rogers family on the Chattahoochee River, the younger Scudder and his family, the Cherokee family of Thomas Cordery, the George Waters family, George Welch and his family, and the Lewis Blackburn family.ccxcix Passes may also have been issued to Indians too sick or elderly to move.

SOURCES:
cclxxxi Don L. Shadburn, Unhallowed Intrusion, A History of Cherokee Families in Forsyth County, Georgia (Saline, MI: McNaughton and Gunn, 1993), 496-98.
cclxxxii Ibid, 498-501. Many standard histories of the Cherokees carry accounts of the missionaries’ arrests.
cclxxxiii Ibid.
cclxxxiv George R. Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia, of the Cherokees, and the Author (Americus, GA: Americus Book Company, 1926), 409.
cclxxxv Ibid, 492-96.
cclxxxvi Ibid, 503, 517-19.
cclxxxvii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-89.
cclxxxviii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286.
cclxxxix NA RG 92 Entry 357 Box 6.
ccxc NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-89.
ccxci NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-89.
ccxcii GDAH Cherokee Letters, Talks, Treaties, Vol. 3, 750; NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0860-62.
ccxciii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-89.
ccxciv NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2 280.
ccxcv NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-89.
ccxcvi NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0286-87.
ccxcvii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p. 257.
ccxcviii GDAH Cherokee Letters, Talks, Treaties, Vol.