Looking Back to Campbell County, Part One

From an article dated February 7, 1932 in one of the Atlanta papers soon after Campbell County became a part of Fulton County. The article was penned by Charles L. Bass and is titled “Campbell County, Now Part of Fulton, Important in Early History of Georgia” with the sub-headline that said, “Campbellton, now one of the state’s ‘deserted villages,’ flourished as county site before the Civil War”.

At the outset of the article Mr. Bass predicts Campbell County would be lost by absorption by Fulton County….that it would submerge as well as merge with Fulton .

Mr. Bass correctly asserts Campbell County’s “history and traditions will silently slip into the annals of the past and become but a memory”, and I would have to agree.

Most people today – eighty-four years later – have no idea Campbell County ever existed.

The article covers several things, but in this post I’m going to relate the information regarding Native Americans and the earliest days of Campbell County.

Later this week I’ll post the remainder of the article.

In the bottom lands of the streams in Campbell County the Indians held their corn dance festival; the early settlers related having observed them.  It is a tradition that on a hill near Pumpkintown a fierce battle had been fought between the Creeks and Cherokees fought with such savage fury that the victors drove the vanquished into the river.

It is probably true as an unusual number of human bones and Indian relics have been washed up near here in seasons of extremely high waters.

Evidence of Indian trails leading to the well-known Three-Notch and Five-Notch trails is still seen as reminders of the occupancy of the vanished race who once proudly claimed it as their own.

The new country with its fertile lands along the Chattahoochee River and its magnificent forests of fine timber then unspoiled by the reckless ax of the woodmen was an inviting territory.

However, settlement in the county was retarded by fear of the Indians who were angry at the treaty made by General McIntosh and who had been foully assassinated by a mob of Cowetas or Lower Creeks at his home in May, 1825.  And constant rumors of further vengeance and unrest against the whites were circulated.

Previous to the treaty signed at Indian Springs on February 12, 1825, by General William McIntosh, representing the Creek Indians, and Duncan G. Campbell and James Meriwether the United States government, the proud descendants of the brave warriors who owned and possessed the land roamed in happy freedom. It was the territory of the Creeks but on the borderland of the possessions of the Cherokees.  Indeed, across the Chattahoochee there was a strip of land considered neutral ground. Here Creeks and Cherokees met and made treaties.

But even before the creation of Campbell County settlers had moved into the territory. Among these early residents were Judge Walter T. Colquitt and with him his young secretary Benjamin Camp, the latter was to become one of the county’s most prominent citizens.

Judge Colquitt had an extensive plantation on the Chattahoochee which had grown a settlement known by the homely name of Pumpkintown or Cross Anchor at the time the county was organized.

I’ll post the remainder of this article later this week……

Buzzard's Roost

Everyday hundreds if not thousands of Douglas County residents cross the Chattahoochee River to reach work or school via the 92, 166, Bankhead Highway or Interstate 20 bridges.

I've crossed the river numerous times myself - most of the time with hardly a thought to the water flowing underneath me.

I think, "Oh, there's the bridge...the river..." and then on to other thoughts as I zoom along.

I would imagine most of us never get any closer to the river that makes up a portion of Douglas County's geographical borders than our car windows.

What about you?

Sadly, I was never allowed to participate in the great raft river races on the Chattahoochee during the late 1970s like many of my friends. In fact, the closest I've gotten to the Chattahoochee River has been to stroll along the stretch that passes by Ray's on the River after Sunday brunch or from the patio at Canoe during lunch, and then there was the impromptu instance last summer when I made the Mister walk to the middle of the 92 bridge to snap a few pictures. 

You should have seen me attempting to dodge dead animals on the side of the bridge and try  NOT to fall over the side since heights make me dizzy (that bridge railing is not as high as you might think) while trying NOT to fall into the line of traffic (it would seem everyone is speeding these days).

The view of the river seen above is looking up towards Atlanta.

The river doesn't just serve as a geographic border for Douglas County. It figures prominently in our history, of course, going all the way back to our early Native American history before there was a Douglas County and even before there was a Campbell County.

In fact, per The River Keeper's Guide to the Chattahoochee River by Fred Brown evidence of both Woodland (1,000 B.C. to 900 A.D.) and Mississippian (900 A.D. to 1,600 A.D.) villages as well as Paleo-Indian (10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.) mounds have been found throughout the area including along the river. I mentioned this briefly in a past post regarding Native Americans in the Douglas County area here.

The book also mentions Buzzard's Roost Island and describes it as one of the most important archaeological sites in northwest Georgia.

If you take at look at the maps you can see it right where the borders of Fulton, Cobb, and Douglas Counties meet along the river.

Franklin Garrett speaks of "The Creek village of Buzzard Roost" stating it "lay along the southeast bank of the Chattahoochee River at a point approximately one mile below the mouth of Utoy Creek in territory which would become Campbell County in 1828 and was annexed to Fulton in 1932."

I have seen the island referenced in various treaties the Creek and Cherokee Nations made with the government regarding boundaries, so I decided to research it a bit more.

It just seems natural the Creeks would have settled near the island as it became a crossing point in the river - part of the Sand Town Trail - said to be one of the oldest "roads" in the southeast. The Indian trail went all the way out towards present day Alabama and was used by natives and then later pioneer settlers. In fact, today's Cascade Road follows the old Sand Town Trail.

East - West trails such as the Sand Town Trail typically crossed waterways at the Fall Line or close to it because the streams were shallow making a better place to cross. Travelers sometimes were able to wade across.

I've searched many records looking for a description of the Creek settlement at Buzzard's Roost/Sand Town, but haven't found any extensive research....yet.

The Treaty at Indian Springs of January 8, 1821 mentions Buzzard's Roost as a geographic feature stating "beginning on the east bank of the Flint River, where Jackson's line crosses running thence up the eastern bank of the same along the water's edge to the head of the principle western branch; from thence the nearest and direct line to the Chattahoochee River, up the eastern bank of said river along the water's edge to the Shallow ford where the present boundary line between the State of Georgia and the Creek Nation touches the said river, provided, however, that if the said line should strike the Chattahoochee River below the Creek Village Buzzard's Roost, there shall be a set-off made so as to leave the said village within the Creek Nation."

I located another description offered by Wilson Lumpkin in April, 1821...four months after the Indian Springs agreement. Lumpkin would go on to be a governor of Georgia, but in 1821 he was responsible for addressing treaty line disputes with the Creek Indians. He was sent out to Buzzard's Roost area to gather information and report back to then Governor Clark. Lumpkin wrote to Governor Clark what was likely one of the few, if not only visual accounts of a river trip from Buzzard's Roost up to Standing Peachtree (site of present day Atlanta).

Lumpkin's report says:

"From the Buzzard Roost village to the Standing Peachtree I estimate the distance of fifteen miles - this is computed more by the Indians. I found some difficulty in arriving at this village, in determining on the correct course. For several miles on the river, these improvements, is the most striking appearance of a town, the buildings being more compact in this, than any other part of the settlement. But there is no appearance of Capital, Town-house, or public square about the place...."

I know. Lumpkin's report doesn't give the kind of description I want either, but he does confirm there were buildings, dwellings, etc., and the place wouldn't have looked like a town as we would recognize it.

Other sources describe the Sand Town/Buzzard's Roost settlement with cornfields planted along the river and scattered dwelling structures here and there stretched for one miles north and south from the island on both sides of the river.

It's just as hard to find documented trips to the island today. I did find one website with pictures and a slight description here. The site states, "The island has a big beach and a good amount of interior woods to walk." The "beach", of course, is on the Atlanta side of the island when you look at the satellite image from Google.

I would imagine the trees on the island are old.

I would love to hear from any readers who have done any exploring on Buzzard's Roost Island or might have a story or two about it!

I'll keep gathering information about it as I run across it, of course.

Let's Go Back in Time

This week I want you to imagine yourself traveling back through time to the spot where the old courthouse is located in downtown Douglasville. There you are....standing on the sidewalk on Broad Street facing where the old building is today. All the buildings along Douglasville's main street have fallen away and suddenly the street noise has ceased.

What do you see?

What?

A group of Cherokee Indians standing alongside a chestnut tree......a tree where all the bark has been scraped off?

Oops.....sorry.   You've gone too far.

Move ahead in time a little from that spot.

There. Try that.

What do you see?

Yes, it's okay that you still see the very large chestnut tree. Do you see any people? Yes, you are in the right place if you see a wagon with a white man and white woman.

The year is 1835, and the land where you stand is still part of Campbell County. Douglas County will not exist for another 35 years, and very soon the ten-mile wide No-Man's Land separating the Creek and Cherokee Nations will no longer be necessary. The strip of land had been created in 1821 by the state of Georgia as a buffer zone between the Lower Creek Nation and the southernmost settlements of the Cherokee Nation since they fought constantly. The agreement stated the natives could not settle within the buffer zone but could hunt and fish there.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the death knell to the Creeks an the Cherokees in Georgia. The Creeks ceded their lands and were removed from the state in 1832, and by 1838, following a lengthy court battle the Cherokees would walk that long Trail of Tears.

While there were many wagons with white settlers entering western Georgia one in particular is important to the Douglasville story....that would be the wagon carrying W.G. Black and his wife, Sarah. They had traveled all the way from Carrabus, North Carolina along the Indian trails to Campbell County, Georgia. At the Chattahoochee River they crossed at Buzzards Roost, an island in the middle of the river, and finally made their way along the trail to the lone chestnut tree high up on the ridge within No-Man's Land.

Black decided to settle on the land staking out a claim on both sides of the trail. Soon he saw the advantages of his location as more and more wagons passed his place close to the tree that would become known as the community of Skint Chestnut. W.G. Black set up a trading post, dug a well, and set up a few camping spots for travelers to rest along the journey.

Trading posts were necessary in those days just like we need convenience stores, fast-food joints, and hotels and motels today when we take long trips. Travelers could meet up with other people, hear the latest news, purchase and barter necessary items and most importantly they could just rest.

W.G. Black and his wife are both buried at Winn Wilson Cemetery found on N. Flat Rock Road off Cedar Mountain Road in the woods behind the Rufus Nicholson farm (as of 1977) northwest of Douglasville per this website.