Fort Prince George was a fort constructed in 1753 in northwest

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, on the Cherokee Path across the

Keowee River The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocassee ...

from the Cherokee town of Keowee. The fort was named for the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, who would later become King George III of the United Kingdom. It was the principal Carolinian

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

among the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

"Lower Towns".

History

The fort was built on the

, across from the largest Cherokee "Lower Town",

Keowee Keowee ( chr, ᎫᏩᎯᏱ, translit=Guwahiyi) was a Cherokee town in the far northwest corner of present-day South Carolina. It was the principal town of what were called the seven Lower Towns, located along the Keowee River (Colonists referred ...

. The fort was a square built of earth and wood with walls 12 to high, surrounded by a deep trench. The fort's interior living area was about square. The interior contained a guardhouse, storehouse, kitchen, magazine, barracks, and officer's quarters . The fort served as a staging point for three

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

assaults on the

during the

Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...

. It also was the site of a siege by Cherokee warriors in February 1760, simultaneously with attacks on Ninety-Six,

Fort Dobbs ''Fort Dobbs'' is a 1958 American Western film, the first of three directed by Gordon Douglas to star Clint Walker. The other two were: ''Yellowstone Kelly'' in 1959 and ''Gold of the Seven Saints'' in 1961. Released by Warner Brothers and ba ...

and Fort Loudoun. Hostilities ended in 1761, and the fort was abandoned by 1768.John Oliphant,''Peace and War on the Anglo-Cherokee Frontier, 1756-1763'', (LSU Press, 2001), pp. 72-78, 110-111 The site is in modern-day

Pickens County, South Carolina Pickens County is located in the northwest part of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 131,404. Its county seat is Pickens. The county was created in 1826. It is part of the Greenville-Anderson- Mauldin ...

. In 1970, both the sites of Keowee and the fort were archaeologically excavated. This was 18 months before these sites were to be submerged by creation of

Lake Keowee Lake Keowee is a man-made reservoir in the United States in the state of South Carolina. It was developed to serve the needs of power utility Duke Energy and public recreational purposes. It is approximately long, wide, with an average depth of ...

. It was formed by filling behind the Keowee Dam in 1971. Some of the items discovered at the fort included: *three presumed Indian skeletons *musket and cannonballs, *rum bottles, *pieces of cooking utensils, and *wine glass fragmentsMichael Hembree and Dot Jackson (ed.) (1997) '' Keowee: The Story of the Keowee River Valley in Upstate South Carolina.''

References

Prince George Buildings and structures in Pickens County, South Carolina Prince George 18th century Cherokee history Prince George Prince George {{SouthCarolina-geo-stub