THE BATTLES OF CARR'S BLUFF
New settlers by the thousands were moving into the Oconee River Valley at the beginning of the 1790s. The settlers of the frontier along the Oconee had been terrorized by Indian raiding parties for nearly a decade. The events leading up to that fateful day began in 1783 when the government of Georgia began granting new lands between the Ogeechee and Oconee Rivers. Relations grew worse during the 1780s as more and more settlers moved into the area, especially the prized fertile lowlands along the river.
Many of the conflicts along the lower Oconee River centered around Carr's Bluff on the eastern banks of the Oconee River in north-central Laurens County. Carr's Bluff is relatively small in comparison with higher bluffs upriver. Its importance was derived from its location. The bluff is located at the point where the Lower Uchee Trail crossed the Oconee River. The trail was used by Indians in their travels between the Augusta area and lower portions of Georgia and Alabama. The trail seems to have been used throughout the 17th and 18th centuries and may have been in use long before then. According to some authorities, it was the path taken by the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, while on his expedition in May of 1540.
In 1792, the clouds of war once again came into this area. While negotiations were pending at Rock Landing, attacks continued along the eastern banks of the Oconee. Indian agent Seagrove went from village to village asking for the return of stolen animals. In July, Captain Benjamin Harrison had six horses stolen from him by Uchee Indians. Harrison lived at Carr's Bluff, across from the present-day Country Club. Settlers in what would become eastern Laurens County stepped up their defenses. An old Indian trail leading along the eastern edge of the river was used for border patrols. This may have been the Milledgeville-Darien Road. The settlers petitioned the Georgia governor for ammunition and forts. The State built an outpost called Fort Telfair at Carr's Bluff on the Oconee River in 1793. The people built their own forts arming their families and even their slaves. On April 18, 1793, the Indians raided the home of William Pugh near Carr's Bluff. Pugh was the son of Col. Francis Pugh for whom Pugh's Creek in eastern Laurens County is named. Pugh was killed and scalped in the attack. Four horses were taken and one slave was captured. The situation eased when the Oconee's waters rose, creating a natural barrier to an attack.
In the summer of 1793, armies were being raised all over Georgia to protect against further raids. Benjamin Harrison, a resident of the Carr's Bluff area, bore the brunt of these constant attacks of horse taking and killing of livestock. Captain Benjamin Harrison resolutely hated Indians. Harrison once said, "that there should never be a peace with the Indians whilst his name was Ben Harrison for he was able to raise men enough to kill half the Indians that might come to any treaty." Benjamin Harrison is said to have been a frontier character with a patch over an eye and a piece of his nose missing. Harrison, a captain of the local militia, called his men together for a mission to retrieve some of his stolen horses. The company moved along the Lower Uchee Trail until they reached the home of the Uchee King who promised him that the horses would be returned. At another time, Harrison's men overtook a group of Indians taking three of their guns. Timothy Barnard, the husband of a Uchee woman, convinced Harrison to return the guns and the matter was temporarily resolved.
By October of 1793, Harrison's ire had once again been raised by the Indians. Captain Harrison's company and other companies under the command of Major Brenton set out from Carr's Bluff in defiance of General Jared Irwin. Their destination was a Chehaw village on the Flint River. Their objective was to capture any runaway slaves and stolen property. They found the village defended by sixteen males and four slaves. The rest of the men were in Florida hunting for game. A battle ensued with two Georgians and three Indians being killed.
In early May of 1794, Indian agent Seagrove invited the Lower Creeks and Uchees to return to their hunting grounds along the Oconee River while treaty negotiations continued. That same month Georgia's war hero, General Elijah Clarke, was about to embark upon an attack on the Spanish at St. Augustine. Clarke and his men were supported by the French government. The expedition left from the upper Oconee area down an old Indian trail along the western side of the Oconee River. The men camped at Carr's Bluff on their route to Florida. Before he could invade, Clarke was convinced by the federal government to call off the attack.
On October 28, 1795, an event occurred in Laurens County that nearly plunged Georgia and the United States into a war with the Creek Nation. A small group of Indians had crossed the Oconee River and were visiting friends in a home near Carr's Bluff. Benjamin Harrison, along with Mr. Vessels and their men, attacked the Indians, killing seventeen of them. The dead, which included five Creek and twelve Uchee, were thrown into the river. The next morning the Uchee rode along the Uchee Trail leading to the bluff. They planned a retaliatory strike at dawn. The Uchee's surrounded Harrison's home. To their dismay Capt. Harrison was gone. They moved to the east attacking Bush's Fort. Bush was a stepbrother of future General David Blackshear and lived in the area south of Ben Hall Lake along the newly created Washington/ Montgomery County line. They captured the fort and killed one man. The horses were taken and the cattle were killed. The Chiefs protested the killings to the Georgia government. The legislature passed a resolution regretting the incident. Harrison and his men were arrested for murder but were never tried.
As dawn opened on the morning of February 8, 1796, yet another clash between the people who lived along the Oconee River and the county line dividing Washington and Montgomery counties. David Blackshear and a company of 17 men were a group of horses that they believed were stolen by Indians. About a mile above Carr’s Bluff, Blackshear and his men were ambushed by a party of an estimated 100 Indians. Blackshear estimated the warring opponents had 150 guns between them. Vastly outnumbered, Blackshear ordered a retreat. Four of his men went missing. In a letter to Georgia Governor Jared Irwin, whose home was less than twenty-five miles distant, Blackshear asked for reinforcements as he expected a second attack within three hours. Governor Irwin ordered General John Twiggs to immediately move adequate troops to secure the border against further Indian forays into the State of Georgia. By the end of the century, Georgia treatied with the Indian tribes and acquired all of the land to the Ocmulgee River. War would break out again in the mid-1810s and again in the mid-1830s.
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