When Congress designated Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in 1987, it asked the National Park Service to help administer the trail. Agency professionals who had prepared the feasibility study (that preceded this designation) recognized that many key aspects of the trail’s history were not well known. One of the major elements of history that had not been researched dealt with the many “round-up camps” where the Cherokee were forcibly held during the spring and summer months of 1838. In Georgia, historians had identified 16 of these forts and camps, but little was known about either the location or history of these military facilities. In order to fill that information void, the NPS issued a contract in 2002 to the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, part of the state’s Department of Natural Resources. That state agency asked Sarah H. Hill to prepare a report on the topic. Dr. Hill completed this study, called Cherokee Removal from Georgia, in December 2005, which provides exhaustive historical information-much of it from the National Archives-to pinpoint the history and geography of these important (if short-lived) forts.
The body of this report, which contains general historical information about the removal process and both historical and geographical details about the various forts, is available via the link below.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments (pg ii)
List of Illustrations (pg v)
An Introduction to the Trail of Tears Project (pg 1)
Goals and Method (pg 1)
The Cherokee Nation in Georgia (pg 4)
An Overview (pg 4)
Physiography (pg 4)
Environment and Ecology (pg 6)
Changing Landscapes and Economies (pg 9)
Roads and Trails (pg 11)
The Georgia or Federal Road (pg 11)
Postal Roads (pg 15)
The Unicoi Turnpike (pg 15)
The Alabama Roads (pg 16)
Alabama Road North-South Connector (pg 17)
The Brainerd Roads (pg 18)
Dahlonega to the Federal Road (pg 19)
Tennessee to Hightower River Turnpike (pg 20)
Auraria to Northern Boundary Line of Georgia (pg 20)
The Laudsville to Blairsville Road (pg 20)
North Carolina to Clarksville (pg 21)
To the North Carolina Line (pg 21)
New Road Cut by Removal Troops (pg 21)
Cherokee Removal in Georgia (pg 22)
Forts and Stations (pg 25)
Fort Wool (pg 25)
Fort Buffington (Canton, Cherokee County) (pg 30)
Sixes (Cherokee County) (pg 34)
Fort Floyd (Dahlonega, Lumpkin County) (pg 36)
Fort Hetzel (Ellijay, Gilmer County) (pg 40)
Fort Gilmer (Rock Springs, Murray County) (pg 43)
Fort Newnan (Blaine, Pickens County (pg 47)
Encampment at Chastain’s (Blue Ridge, Union County) (pg 50)
Fort Hoskins (Springplace, Murray County) (pg 52)
Fort Campbell (Blaine, Forsyth County) (pg 56)
Fort Cumming (Lafayette, Walker County) (pg 59)
Fort Means (Kingston, Floyd County) (pg 64)
Cedar Town (Polk County) (pg 66)
Camp Scott (Rome, Floyd County) (pg 69)
Perkins, Dade County (pg 72)
Future Research (pg 74)
Appendix A: Georgia Site Forms
When Congress designated Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in 1987, it asked the National Park Service to help administer the trail. Agency professionals who had prepared the feasibility study (that preceded this designation) recognized that many key aspects of the trail’s history were not well known. One of the
