Southwest Georgia Played Key Role in War of 1812-- Part 3: Forts, Fort Mims, Battle of Horseshoe Bend and Negro Fort

Not only was a trail hewed from the Wilderness, but Gen. David Blackshear also built a series of forts along that trail:  Fort Telfair, Fort Twiggs, Fort Jackson, Fort Pike, Fort Mitchell, Fort Green Fort Lawrence, Fort Adams, Fort Clark and Fort McIntosh.

Other forts in the region included  Fort Gaines, Fort Mitchel, Fort Morgan and Fort Scott.

Military action in the region began on August 30, 1813, when a war party of Creek Indians under Spanish and English influence, attacked  Fort Mims in what is now in Alabama and 500  mostly white settlers were killed.  In retaliation, Gen. Andrew Jackson would lead his Tennessee volunteers with the aid of Cherokee warriors, killing around  800 Creeks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Another battle of note which highlighted the alliances formed during the War of 1812 would take place on the Apalachicola River at a fortification called British Fort, but more commonly known as Negro Fort.  There, the British enlisted runaway slaves and Indians to harass the white settlers of the region.

--Brock-Perry