Fort Scott was built in 1816 on the west bank of the Flint River, where it joins the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...

to form the Apalachicola, in the southwest corner of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It was named for Lieutenant Richard W. Scott, who was killed in the Scott Massacre of 1817 and never known to have visited the fort. (The fort replaced a much smaller fort or stockade, named Camp Crawford for

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

William H. Crawford William Harris Crawford (February 24, 1772 – September 15, 1834) was an American politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He later ran for U.S. president in the 1824 United States presidential electi ...

, and not to be confused with Fort Crawford (Alabama).) The need for a fort became evident during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, when the British identified the undefended United States border and in 1814 built two forts on the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

into which the Flint River flows: a strong fort at Prospect Bluff and a smaller one,

Nicolls' Outpost Nicolls' Outpost was the smaller and more northern of two forts built by British Lt. Col. Edward Nicolls during the War of 1812. (The Americans referred to it as Fort Apalachicola. Built at the end of 1814, together with the larger " British pos ...

, at the river juncture. This was in

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

, but Spain had neither the resources nor the inclination to do anything about the fort in a location that was remote.

The Negro Fort (1816)

However, the end of the

in 1815 meant the fort from which to attack the United States was no longer needed. When withdrawing in 1815, the British deliberately left what was soon called the

Negro Fort Negro Fort was a short-lived fortification built by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812, in a remote part of what was at the time Spanish Florida. It was intended to support a never-realized British attack on the U.S. via its southwest b ...

, with all its weapons and ordnance, in the hands of those disciplined, paid-off

Corps of Colonial Marines The Corps of Colonial Marines were two different Royal Marines, Royal Marine units raised from former Black people, black slavery, slaves for service in the Americas at the behest of Alexander Cochrane. The units were created at two separate ...

black troops who chose to remain. Surrounding it was a sizeable community of runaway slaves,

Red Stick Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs)—the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creek—refers to an early 19th century traditionalist faction of Muscogee Creek people in the Southeastern Uni ...

Creeks (some of whom were forced out of the

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress of the United States. It was approved and signed into law by Presiden ...

and Georgia), and the occasional white trader. The existence of a Negro Fort, as the U.S. Army called it, was

anathema The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a Christian denomination, church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where a ...

to Georgia plantation owners, who feared this threat to their slaves. It was a known safe destination for runaway slaves from as far as Virginia and Tennessee. Raids from lawless Spanish Florida into U.S. territory, calling on slaves to follow them to freedom, are well documented. The only practical way to supply Fort Scott was by river; a land route would have had to go through

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

, and was not seriously considered. Instead, the Apalachicola River was used. At the same time, the Americans, now able to reconnoitre the Negro Fort, concluded that it would be very difficult to assault by land. It had been excellently situated and well built. Two concerns about the Apalachicola River reinforced each other. On the one hand, artillery of sufficient size to destroy the fort would have to be brought in by boat, so U.S. gunboats, stored in

Pass Christian Pass Christian (), nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,307 at the 2019 census. History Pre-European histor ...

after their successful use in the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...

, were sent for. On the other hand, supply boats to or from Fort Scott had to pass right in front of the Negro Fort. As they were fired upon, this conveniently provided the ''

casus belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

''. U.S. forces attacked and destroyed the fort in the

Battle of Negro Fort Negro Fort was a short-lived fortification built by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812, in a remote part of what was at the time Spanish Florida. It was intended to support a never-realized British attack on the U.S. via its southwest b ...

(1816)—sometimes called the opening battle of the

Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

. (There is disagreement about just when the First Seminole War began; it was not recognized as a war until much later.)

Fort Scott abandoned and then rebuilt (1816–1817)

Once Negro Fort was destroyed in August, 1816, there seemed to be no more need for Fort Scott, and it was abandoned in November of 1816. Red Stick warriors soon burned the fort to the ground. The U.S. Army sent Captain Samuel Donoho in June, 1817, assisted in July by Brevet Major David E. Twiggs and his company from the 7th U.S. Infantry, to rebuild it. Protection along the U.S.–Florida border proved to still be necessary, even though the War of 1812 was over; raids were regularly launched into Georgia from

by Red Sticks, other

Seminoles The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

, and

maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas and islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery, through flight or manumission, and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with Indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into ...

(escaped slaves). Fort Scott would remain staffed until Florida actually became a U.S. territory in November of 1821. "Unlike smaller posts such as Fort Gaines and Fort Hughes, the fort was a massive affair designed to house a full

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

of U.S. troops," and it would remain staffed by "a large force" until 1821. It was "the supply and logistics base for operations during the First Seminole War."

Battle of Fowltown (1817)

Fort Scott was the base for the Battle of Fowltown, another candidate for the first battle of the Seminole Wars. (Note that there were four different locations for Fowltown, which was forced to move four times in three years; the attack was on the third Fowltown, just south of modern Bainbridge, Georgia.) The Red Stick Chief Neamathla visited Major Twiggs soon after his arrival and warned him not to cross the Flint River. He maintained that the land to the south of the river belonged to the Red Stick Mikasuki Creeks, who had not been party to the

Treaty of Fort Jackson The Treaty of Fort Jackson (also known as the Treaty with the Creeks, 1814) was signed on August 9, 1814 at Fort Jackson near Wetumpka, Alabama following the defeat of the Red Stick (Upper Creek) resistance by United States allied forces at ...

, ceding this land to the United States, and did not feel bound by it. In fact, they took the Flint River as separating the United States from Spanish Florida. The Secretary of War,

John C. Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist who served as the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. Born in South Carolina, he adamantly defended American s ...

, ordered General Gaines to remove Neamathla and his followers from this land. A road was cut from Fort Gaines, on the north. Additional support from Mobile was on its way up the Apalachicola River. When General Gaines and troops from Fort Gaines arrived at Fort Scott on November 19, 1817, he ordered Major Twiggs to go to Fowltown and bring back Neamathla and his leading men. Twiggs left November 20 and reached Fowltown (the third Fowltown) the next morning. While shots were exchanged, called by some the first shots of the Seminole War, neither side scored a victory. The Americans failed to capture Neamathla, but his tribe of Mikasuki abandoned the land the U.S. claimed did not belong to them. Another clash took place on November 23. A

blockhouse 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 stro ...

named Fort Hughes was built in modern Bainbridge, Georgia, close to Fowltown.

Scott massacre (November, 1817)

A direct result a few days later was the Scott Massacre, an attack by the Red Sticks on the vessel of Lieutenant Richard W. Scott, coming up the

headed for what was then Camp Crawford. Only 7 of the 45 on the boat survived. The news of this attack was widely reported in the U.S. press and contributed to President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

's order to General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

to "punish" the Red Sticks regardless of whether they were in U.S. or Florida territory. The Camp, which he never visited, was renamed Fort Scott in his honor. It also served both symbolically and logistically as the foundation of the

First Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

Battle of Ocheesee and subsequent siege (December 1817–March 1818)

This was followed, on December 15, by the Battle of Ocheesee. Josiah Francis (Francis the Prophet), ally of Neamathla, succeeded in pinning down a supply convoy headed up the

for Fort Gaines and Fort Scott. Warriors from both sides of the river fired on the boats simultaneously, and the sailors could not show themselves to navigate. The siege was not broken until mid-March, 1818, when Andrew Jackson marched south from Fort Gaines to Fort Scott, and from there to the former Negro Fort, where he ordered

Fort Gadsden Prospect Bluff Historic Sites (until 2016 known as Fort Gadsden Historic Site, and sometimes written as Fort Gadsden Historic Memorial) is located in Franklin County, Florida, Franklin County, Florida, on the Apalachicola River, SW of Sumatr ...

to be constructed.

Second abandonment of Fort Scott (1821)

Both Fort Scott and the Fort Gadsden which replaced the destroyed Negro Fort were expensive to keep supplied ("the more remote the post, the higher the expense"). Many men got ill from what at the time were believed to be "bad airs" (mal-aria). Starting in 1820 Fort Scott's soldiers were besieged by what is now recognized as

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, yellow fever, and the resultant

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

; in 1820, 769 of the 780 soldiers at the post were ill. "Soldiers considered the fort to be the deadliest military assignment in the country because of numerous illnesses and deaths there." The causes of these diseases spread by mosquitoes, much less treatment or prevention, were not known until later in the nineteenth century, and sending sick soldiers to Fort Gadsden actually spread the diseases. Fort Scott was evacuated (abandoned) September 27–28, 1821, the month the treaty took effect. The site of Fort Scott is under the manmade

Lake Seminole Lake Seminole (, ) is a reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia along its border with Florida, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Chattahoochee and Flint rivers join in the lake, before flowing from the Jim Woodr ...

Camp Recovery

On a high hill across the Flint River from Fort Scott was Camp Recovery, created when Thomas Lawson, a camp doctor and future

Surgeon General Surgeon general (: surgeons general) is a title used in several Commonwealth countries and most NATO nations to refer either to a senior military medical officer or to a senior uniformed physician commissioned by the government and entrusted with p ...

, decided to move on September 18, 1820, about 70 invalid soldiers "likely to be benefitted by a change of air". Partly because of heavy rains, soldiers died rather than recovered, and a number are buried in the vicinity, though the graves have not been located. It was abandoned November 23, 1820.

References

{{reflist Scott Scott Pre-statehood history of Florida History of Georgia (U.S. state) 1816 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Decatur County, Georgia Buildings and structures in Decatur County, Georgia 1821 disestablishments in the United States 1816 disestablishments in the United States Native American history of Georgia (U.S. state) Native American history of Florida Negro Fort History of slavery in Georgia (U.S. state)