Fort Cumming - Vestiges of the Trail of Tears in Georgia
Lafayette, Walker County, GA
The Fort Marr Blockhouse in Benton, TN is the last surviving blockouse of the Containment Forts. Records show a similar structure was here at Fort Cumming." Image source: https://digital.lib.utk.edu/collections/islandora/object/volvoices%3A4094
This article is adapted from "Cherokee Removal: Forts Along the Georgia Trail of Tears" by Sarah H. Hill.
Prisoners. Perhaps as many as 500 Indians were collected at Ft. Cumming and sent to Ross’s Landing. Under orders of Winfield Scott they were considered prisoners of war, though no resistance had been encountered.cccxxxiii Daniel Butrick provided an account of the roundup:
Found our dear brother Epenetus Aehaia and his wife and children among prisoners. On the 28th May they spent the night at Dogwood Flat and the next day heard that soldiers were rounding up Ga Cherokees. They were taken by a company of soldiers and driven to a fort near Lafayette Courthouse, kept with about 500 others for 10 days and driven to the camps. While at the fort the whole company of 500 resolved to have nothing to do with the treaty money.cccxxxiv
On June 9, Floyd wrote that 469 Indians were escorted from Ft. Cumming to Ross’s Landing.cccxxxv That same day, a letter from the commander at Ft. Poinsett conveyed a surprising degree of humaneness in a request to send all remaining prisoners from Ft. Cumming because they were part of families already in the internment camps.cccxxxvi At that time, some 60- 70 Indians remained at the post and still more were arriving. Watkins reported to Floyd that a Cherokee named Aaron Wilkiman hoped to remain at home until he was paid a debt owed him by a white man named Thomas York.cccxxxvii On June 10, Watkins ordered Lt. Wood to detail from his company one sergeant, one corporal, and 18 privates to aid in escorting prisoners the following day. He omitted mention of Wilkiman and his debt.cccxxxviii
SOURCES:
ccc Frances P. Stiles, “Large Stockade Built for Indians,” Walker County Messenger, Nov. 5, 1915. ccci Ibid.
cccii William G. McLoughlin, Cherokees and Missionaries, 1789-1839 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 314-15.
ccciii NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2 215-16.
ccciv http://ftp.rootsweb.com, 8 October, 2004.
cccv Ibid.
cccvi NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2 233.
cccvii GDAH, RG 1-1-5, Governor’s Correspondence, Box 19. See also NA RG 92 Entry 357 Box 6.
cccviii NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 3.
cccix NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p. 237.
cccx Orders, Headquarters Georgia, May 7, 1838, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Woodruff Libraries, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxi 16 May, 1838, Requisition of Capt. Benj. T. Watkins, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p. 574
cccxiii 9 June, 1838, Benj. T. Watkins, Commanding, Ft. Cumming, to Commanding Officer, Middle Military District, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxiv 17 June, 1838, Floyd, N. Echota to Capt. Watkins, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta .
cccxv 18 June, 1838, Brig. Gen. Floyd, New Echota, Orders No. 31, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxvi NARARG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0665-66
cccxvii GDAH Letters and Orders of Gov. Gilmer 1837-1838
cccxviii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0915-17
cccxix NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p. 257.
cccxx Butrick Journal p. 3
cccxxi Cherokee Claims Skin Bayou District p. 59
cccxxii “Detailed Account of the Skirmishes Around LaFayette,”
Walker County Messenger Friday Nov. 5, 1915, p. 4
cccxxiii NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol 2 Letterbook p 236
cccxxiv NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 3
cccxxv NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p.137a, b
cccxxvi NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 3 Letters received 1838-1845
cccxxvii 10 May, 1838, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxviii 16 May, 1838, Requisition of Capt. Benj. T. Watkins, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxix 24 June, 1838, A. Cox, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxx 25 May, 1838, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxxi 24 June, 1838, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxxii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0637-39
cccxxxiii NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol 2 Letterbook p 309
cccxxxiv Butrick Journal p. 3
cccxxxv NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 p. 574
cccxxxvi Wm. P. Giles, Ft. Poinsett, to the Officer Commanding at Fort Cummings [sic], Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxxvii 9 June, 1838, Benj. Watkins, Ft. Cumming, to Commanding Officer, Middle Military District, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
cccxxxviii 9 June, 1838, Benj. T. Watkins, Capt., Ft. Cumming, to Lt. Wood, Benjamin T. Watkins Collection, Mss. 717, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta.
