Fort Cedartown Cherokee Internment Fort
Cedartown, GA

This article is adapted from "Cherokee Removal: Forts Along the Georgia Trail of Tears" by Sarah H. Hill.

Cherokee were numerous enough that Fort Cedartown was built near the center of town near Biggers Drive and North Furnace Street.

All Cherokees were taken from the Cedar Town area in less than a month. In late June, Vincent’s company broke camp and mustered out of military service. No traces remained of the roundup of Cherokees from their homes around Cedar Town.

In 1842, many Cherokees made compensation claims for property taken from them on Cedar Creek. The claims of Daniel and Nancy Pumpkinpile, Uk kwahle, Aka,Oo tah ne anter, Henry Earbob, Cah se ta kah, Con ah tane, John Conahtane, Sally Mitchel, Ah noo yah, and Young Chicken are among the many dispossessed Cherokees who were forced from their Cedar Creek residences. It is striking that most of the claimants refer to their removal by boat under escort of a government agent, which gives some credence to the Henderson account. The claim of Henry Earbob, for example, states that, “he lived on Cedar Creek and came to this country by water….” Young Chicken claimed he lived in Cedar Town and “came to this country with an agent of the Gen’l Govt by water.”

Following the 1832 lottery of Cherokee lands, Paulding County was created. On Boynton’s 1838 map of Georgia, Cedar Town appears as the only settlement in Paulding and sits on the east side of Cedar Creek. According to Henderson, Ballenger Gravelly settled on Cedar Creek in 1834, and Martin Kelly developed a trade in whiskey and other goods sometime before 1837. By then, enough whites had migrated to the area to justify the establishment of the Cedar Town Academy. One of them was, by all accounts, an authentic troublemaker named John Witcher, whose military initiatives have confused efforts to identify the Cedar Town encampment site. Capt. John Witcher raised a militia company in Paulding County in accordance with the Georgia General Assembly Act of 1837 that called for companies to protect the citizens and remove the Indians. That same year, one W. H. Adair complained to the governor that Cedar Town was “the only place in the County where there are any considerable settlement of Indians.” Moreover, he stated, Cedar Town was the nearest “Cherokee village” to Creek country and many Cherokees had intermarried with their neighboring Creeks.ccclxi Soon after, Witcher urged the governor to call into service his mounted company of 43 men, and by April 1838, he had received his munitions from Capt. Buffington in Canton.

Although the federal command under Maj. Payne was assigning troops to specific locations, Witcher apparently enjoyed the support of some local citizenry. In mid-May, Gen. Scott declined a request from a group of prominent white Cedar Town residents to muster in Witcher’s company.ccclxiii Nonetheless, Witcher continued to act as leader of the Cedar Town militia. Agent Lacy Witcher (relationship unknown) complained to the governor that John Witcher and his company were often intoxicated, unfit for service, and antagonistic toward the Indians, who had remained friendly and peaceful. After John Witcher’s company camped near Cedar Town and shot at passing Indians, many had moved away. ccclxiv Gilmer acknowledged that Witcher was serving in defiance of the state, but took no immediate action.

When Floyd learned of the Cedar Town controversy, he promptly dispatched a staff officer to investigate and arrest Witcher if necessary. On June 18, Floyd accepted Witcher’s “explanation,” which has not been located, and Gilmer cautioned against punishing him if the Indians had been removed “as the object of punishment will have passed.” Such was the political power of the local citizens during the removal crisis.

The story of Witcher’s company is instructive as an indicator of the governor’s lack of control over the local militia, the local popularity of rogue groups in the removal process, and the choices Cherokees were forced to make between flight, accommodation, and resistance. Witcher’s behavior as organizer of an armed and unauthorized mob beyond the reach of discipline represents the worst expression of Georgia’s callous behavior regarding the removal of Indians.

Military Occupation.
In early April 1838, Asst. Adj. Gen. Mackay notified Quartermaster Hetzel that Capt. Wood would be mustered in and sent to Cedar Town. Wood, however, disappears from the records, and Witcher’s company goes into service the next month, by request of the Cedar Town citizens (rather than the governor). Apparently, neither Mackay nor Payne knew about Witcher because the May 11 order for the disposition of troops in Georgia authorized one (unnamed) company to take post at or near Cedar Town. Two days later, Capt. Isaac S. Vincent of Clark County was mustered in for a three-month tour of duty with his company of 80 men. Gov. Gilmer had personally requested his service. Two days before the roundup was to begin, Vincent was ordered to Cedar Town. Surprisingly, Vincent was never formally dismissed, and the year after the expulsion of Indians, he wrote to Col. Augustus Stokes requesting an official discharge. Stokes assumed Gen. Floyd mustered out all the Georgia troops.

Construction.
No construction has been identified for the Cedar Town encampment.

Supplies.
Supplies for the encampment were assigned to Col. Cox at New Echota as early as mid-March. It will be useful to learn whether Witcher’s company received supplies, but to this point, no records have been found regarding the receipt of forage or equipage in Cedar Town. On May 1, no corn or fodder was in storage, but 3,000 bushels of corn and 10,000 bundles of fodder were obtainable. Three weeks later, an invoice or ordinance stores showed that Vincent had received 81 muskets, 81 cartridge boxes, 81 cartridge box belts, 81 bayonet scabbards, 81 bayonet belts, and 81 bayonet belt plates. The ration records for Vincent’s encampment are the most complete of any of the stations in Georgia. From them we learn that sick Indians, whether men, women, or children, were supposed to receive one-half pound of hard bread, and one pound of flour or three pints of corn for men, women, and children (an amount that could be enhanced if it proved insufficient). The ponies and horses of the prisoners were to be foraged, presumably on open fields.

Isaac’s provision returns for the prisoners “in his camp at Cedar Town” from May 28-June 26 show a total distribution of 2,986 bacon rations and 1,984 rations of hard bread. The bread was subsequently replaced by 326 rations of corn meal, which was itself replaced by 676 rations of flour. On June 17, plans to dispose of the public property were conveyed to Vincent, with instructions to provide six-to-eight days notice to the citizens for the auction held one day before the troops left the site. As usual, the presence of the quartermaster, Capt Cox, was deemed indispensable.

Prisoners.
Vincent apparently captured the Cherokees in his assigned area promptly, but did not send them on to New Echota immediately. At the end of May, Scott ordered Vincent to send his Indian prisoners with their possessions and subsistence. Two weeks later, Floyd wrote Vincent that he was glad the sick prisoners were convalescing and ordered him to canvass the area and seize any remaining Indians. On June 21, Floyd again wrote Vincent and commanded him to return to New Echota with all his captives. Five days later, Vincent complied.

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