New Georgia's Fort was located in

Miami County, Kansas Miami County (county code MI) is a county located in east-central Kansas and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 34,191. Its county seat and most populous city is Paola. History Nati ...

, southeast of Osawatomie. During the partisan warfare in

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

in 1856 commonly known as

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

, a colony of Southerners, possibly all Georgians, established New Georgia. This colony was located on the

Marias des Cygnes River The Marais des Cygnes River ( , ) is a principal tributary of the Osage River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 in eastern Kansas and western Misso ...

. A blockhouse fort was constructed there and entrenchments were begun but the fort destroyed before the entrenchments could be completed. Northern settlers in the area claimed settlers at New Georgia harassed them. In reality, some settlers from both the North and South had groups who caused trouble with their neighbors. August Bondi and Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick spied on New Georgia during two trips taken in July and August 1856. During August the Free-State Northerners decided to take action against four Southern strongholds in the area to help put an end to the pro-slavery cause in Kansas. Southern partisans wanted Kansas admitted to the Union as a slave state. From period sources, it is not completely clear how a Free-State group of men took possession of New Georgia's fort. It is known of the four forts taken, New Georgia was the first to fall. There is only partial agreement as to how the Northern partisans took possession of the New Georgia fort, but the information obtained by Bondi and Gilpatrick helped in the planning to take the place. The group of men intending to run the Southerners out of New Georgia left

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, on August 5. Lawrence was a Free-State stronghold. It is not known how many men defended the fort, but the Free-Staters may have fired a few shots before reaching it. Even the number of defenders was disputed by several sources, but probably about 100 men were there. Several sources said when its defenders fled, they left behind many supplies, mostly food. After the Free-Staters loaded all they could into wagons, they burned the fort and the supplies they could not carry away. The retreating Georgians moved from New Georgia to

Fort Saunders Fort Saunders, southeast of Clinton, Kansas, and southwest of Lawrence, Kansas, was owned by James D. Saunders, a militia captain. What little was left of Clinton disappeared during construction of the Clinton Lake in the 1960s; only an outbui ...

, another Southern stronghold, located southwest of Lawrence.James H. Holmes, “Testimony of James H. Holmes,” December 8, 1856, from Thaddeus Hyatt, letter to J. D. Webster, December 30, 1856 (from the Manuscript Division of the KSHS), p. 13. The fort at New Georgia was not rebuilt.

References

{{reflist Forts in Kansas Buildings and structures in Miami County, Kansas 1856 establishments in Kansas Territory Bleeding Kansas