Fort Hetzel Cherokee Internment Site
New Fort Hetzel Historical Marker
This article is adapted from "Cherokee Removal: Forts Along the Georgia Trail of Tears" by Sarah H. Hill.
Supplies.
Ft. Hetzel began receiving supplies from Ft. Cass in December 1837. The sending of 36 barrels of flour in one December week indicates that storage facilities and cooking areas, possibly with ovens, were complete by that time.clxxxiii More flour was sent in January 1838. By the end of the month, an order had been placed for 30,000 rations, 7,500 bushels of corn, and a proportionate amount of hay or fodder.clxxxiv In early March more subsistence was ordered from Ft. Cass and by April the quartermaster at Ft. Hetzel was in debt.clxxxv
From one of Derrick’s queries to Lt. Hetzel, we learn of a removal policy that has heretofore remained unknown. On June 1, Derrick wrote for instructions on foraging the ponies of the prisoners since grass was scarce and there was none near the fort. “I have been instructed by the major general,” he wrote, “to use them as pack horses.”clxxxvi
Prisoners.
An altercation at Ft. Hetzel remains one of the few documented in the records. A member of Derrick’s company knocked down an Indian woman who had “struck at him with a stick and tried to get his gun.” Derrick reproved the man but gave no
word about the condition of the woman.clxxxvii The incident was reported to Gen. Eustis, who expressed satisfaction with Derrick’s explanation.clxxxviii
Derrick’s capture of Indians was swift and efficient. By May 28, two days after the roundup commenced, he held 425-450 captives and did not think he could handle more because “they run in every instance.” He attributed his success to the fact that he had not taken time to collect Indian possessions and that he had broken up families so that runaways would come in more willingly.clxxxix On June 4, Derrick was still waiting for wagons to arrive and help with the transport of captives. He felt ready to send 500, and was pleased that he had captured head men such as Young Buck, Old Hemp, and Kingfisher. He also reported that someone had mistakenly brought in White Path’s family but he had released them.cxc In late June, Derrick sent in an additional 84 Indians for a total of 884 captives, one of the highest totals from the Georgia posts.[cxci]
See also:
https://southernspaces.org/2012/cherokee-removal-scenes-ellijay-georgia-1838/
Sources:
Hill, Sarah H. Cherokee Removal: Forts Along the Georgia Trail of Tears. The National Park Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources/Historic Preservation Division. 2011.
clxxii George Gordon Ward, The Annals of Upper Georgia centered in Gilmer County (Nashville: The Parthenon Press, 1965), 56.
clxxiii Shadburn, Cherokee Planters in Georgia,, 189-92.
clxxiv NA RG 92 Entry 357 Box 6.
clxxv NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2.
clxxvi NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 3.
clxxvii NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2 214; NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr0256-57.
clxxviii GDAH RG 1-1-5 Box 19.
clxxix NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0749-51.
clxxx NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 1037-38.
clxxxi NA RG 92 Entry 357 Box 6.
clxxxii NA RG 92 entry 352 Box 3.
clxxxiii NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2, 152, 153, 157.
clxxxiv NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 6; see also RG 92 Entry 225
Box 304 Folder Cherokee Indians 1879.
clxxxv NA RG 92 Entry 350 Box 2 Vol. 2 195, 199; NA RG 352
Box 3.
clxxxvi NA RG 92 Entry 352 Box 3.
clxxxvii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0965-68; NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr0539.
clxxxviii NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0536-37. clxxxix NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0408-10. cxc NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0539.
cxci NARA RG 393 m1475 r1 fr 0752-54.
Supplies.
Ft. Hetzel began receiving supplies from Ft. Cass in December 1837. The sending of 36 barrels of flour in one December week indicates that storage facilities and cooking areas, possibly with ovens, were complete by that time.clxxxiii More flour was sent in January 1838. By the end of the month, an order had been placed for 30,000 rations, 7,500 bushels of corn, and a proportionate amount of hay or fodder.clxxxiv In early March more subsistence was ordered from Ft. Cass and by April the quartermaster at Ft. Hetzel was in debt.clxxxv
From one of Derrick’s queries to Lt. Hetzel, we learn of a removal policy that has heretofore remained unknown. On June 1, Derrick wrote for instructions on foraging the ponies of the prisoners since grass was scarce and there was none near the fort. “I have been instructed by the major general,” he wrote, “to use them as pack horses.”clxxxvi
Prisoners.
An altercation at Ft. Hetzel remains one of the few documented in the records. A member of Derrick’s company knocked down an Indian woman who had “struck at him with a stick and tried to get his gun.” Derrick reproved the man but gave no word about the condition of the woman.clxxxvii The incident was reported to Gen. Eustis, who expressed satisfaction with Derrick’s explanation.clxxxviii
Derrick’s capture of Indians was swift and efficient. By May 28, two days after the roundup commenced, he held 425-450 captives and did not think he could handle more because “they run in every instance.” He attributed his success to the fact that he had not taken time to collect Indian possessions and that he had broken up families so that runaways would come in more willingly.clxxxix On June 4, Derrick was still waiting for wagons to arrive and help with the transport of captives. He felt ready to send 500, and was pleased that he had captured head men such as Young Buck, Old Hemp, and Kingfisher. He also reported that someone had mistakenly brought in White Path’s family but he had released them.cxc In late June, Derrick sent in an additional 84 Indians for a total of 884 captives, one of the highest totals from the Georgia posts.[cxci]
See also:
https://southernspaces.org/2012/cherokee-removal-scenes-ellijay-georgia-1838/