In 1817, during the First Seminole War, Fort Hughes was built on the south side of the

Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...

in what is today Bainbridge, Georgia. It was on a bluff at the west end of today's J. D. Chason Memorial Park. Sovereignty over the land between the Flint River and today's border with Florida was an issue; the battle of nearby Fowltown, November 21–23, 1817, had been over this question. According to the U.S. Government, these lands had been ceded by the Lower

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

Indians in the Treaty of Fort Jackson, whereas the Upper Creeks, also known as Red Stick Creeks or Mikasuki, had not been party to the treaty, did not feel bound by it, and said the land did not belong to the Lower Creeks in the first place. The fort was intended to prevent further conflict in this region. The Fort consisted of a

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

square, with two

blockhouses A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stron ...

at opposite corners, each square. It was named for the only American killed at the Battle of Fowltown, the young

fifer A fifer is a non-combatant military occupation of a foot soldier who originally played the fife during combat. The practice was instituted during the period of Early Modern warfare to sound signals during changes in formation, such as the line ...

Aaron Hughes, whose grave, while unlocated, is believed to be somewhere at the site. The fort site was chosen by Lt. Col. Arbuckle, who supervised its building, which, using 300 men, took three days. 40 men were left stationed at Fort Hughes after its construction was finished about November 27. A group of at least 32 Red Stick Creeks was led against it by Peter Cook, clerk at Arbuthnot's store, and former Colonial Marines lieutenant

Robert Ambrister The Arbuthnot and Ambrister incident occurred in 1818 during the First Seminole War. American General Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida and captured and executed Alexander George Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister, two British citizens charged ...

, and attacked it unsuccessfully sometime between December 7 and 15. The fort resisted the attack successfully. However, after the Scott Massacre of November 30, and the impossibility of resupplying the fort given the siege that began at the

Battle of Ocheesee The Battle of Ocheesee took place on the Apalachicola River, in northwest Spanish Florida, beginning in December of 1817. The shooting part of the battle lasted almost a week, but the engagement lasted "weeks" and was "the longest sustained eng ...

on December 15, Arbuckle ordered Fort Hughes evacuated and abandoned on December 18, 1817. It was never reoccupied.

References

{{coord missing, Georgia (U.S. state) History of Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Decatur County, Georgia

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

Native American history of Georgia (U.S. state) Battles of the Seminole Wars

Bainbridge, Georgia