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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. AUGUST 27. 2009 — PAGE 5A
Old fort - new
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
Though Ft. Lamar in northern
Madison County has long been
touted as Madison County’s sole
Revolution era Indian fort, it will
now have to share that distinction
with another such structure.
Once lost to Georgia history. Fort
McCluskey, a fort now believed
to have been located somewhere
along a six-mile stretch of “the
waters of Bluestone Creek,” near
the Broad River in Madison
County (taken from an area for
merly a part of Wilkes County)
provided protection to several
early settlers whose descendents
still live here. Among those men
were David McCluskey, Solomon
Strickland and Thomas Mackie.
Milas Bruce Maney, State
Historian for tire Georgia Society
of the American Revolution, pre
sented a program Sunday after
noon, hosted by the Madison
County Heritage Foundation, on
his research into the existence of
the fort.
Maney said until his research,
the only documentation that such
a fort existed was a June 1778 dis
patch from Georgia Militia leader
Elijah Clarke to then Georgia gov
ernor Handley, which speaks of
several Indian raids and then says
"the same evening several horses
were stolen from McClesskeys
(sic) Fort on Broad River.”
An avid historian, Maney,
whose wife Charlotte Strickland
Maney is a direct descendent
of Bluestone resident Solomon
Strickland, is also Historical
Preservation Chairman of the
William Day Chapter Daughters
of the American Revolution.
Maney stumbled on the fort docu
mentation while doing genealogy
research on his wife’s family.
Fascinated, Maney began to
research “Indian Depradation
Claims” ordered by Governor
Handley to reimburse citizens who
lost property in Indian raids. It was
the responsibility of each citizen
to report their Indian Depradation
Claims to their county court, who
in turn were to report to the gov
ernor's office and the governor's
office was then to forward these
claims to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, who was to relay
the need for Congress to provide
funding for these claims.
Strickland made his first claim
of loss in this (then) Wilkes
County courtroom on Aug. 24,
1789, saying that on June 8,1788,
his horses were stolen by the
Indians.
Receiving no payment for his
loss, Strickland appeared in what
discovery for Madison County
If the Creeks don’t rise...
Madison County Heritage Foundation guest speaker,
Milus Bruce Maney, dressed in the “Citizen-Soldier”
attire of the American Revolution, addresses the crowd
gathered Sunday at the Madison County Library to
hear about the discovery of Fort McCluskey. Maney
said an old Colonial Georgia saying “if the Lord is will
ing and the Creeks don’t rise” originated over worry
of Creek Indian raids, not water-flowing creeks, as is
commonly thought. Margie Richards/Staff
had then become Elbert County
court to file a second claim that
stated "In the month of June 1788,
the loss of one horse and one
mare, which was taken from him
on the waters of Blew(sic) Stone
Creek in the county of Wilkes,
now Elbert.”
David McCleskey filed a report,
also in 1802, that in September
1788, he "lost one sorrel horse
which was taken off Blew Stone
Creake (sic) in the county of
Wilks (sic)...”
When Congress still had not
appropriated the funds for Indian
Depradation by 1821, Maney said
more claims were filed.
Samuel Mackie, then living in
Jackson County, stated in open
court that “in the year 1788 David
McCluskey and he lived at a fort in
Wilkes County and that to the best
of his recollection (McCluskey)
had four horse creatures stolen
from him...”
Yet another claim, tins time by
Samuel Mackie, records that he
had three horses stolen from him
at tire fort in 1788, followed by tire
theft of a mare in 1789. During tire
1789 theft, he stated that he and
others pursued tire Indians, and
engaged them in battle, with two
men killed and another wounded.
Mackie went on to state that his
brother, John, was able to secure
tire return of one of his horses
from a Creek Indian by giving
him “a keg or two of whiskey.”
Maney uses these and other
claims, including a final one
from Strickland’s son, Ezekiel
Strickland, to place the fort “near
tire waters of Bluestone Creek and
tire Broad River in then Wilkes,
now Madison County.”
Maney said according to
Georgia Archives (specifically
documents found in ‘File II’),
file state received numerous let
ters and documents between
1789 and 1835 that reported early
Wilkes County (now Madison
County) settlers. In addition
to the McCluskey, Strickland
and Mackie families who were
attached to Fort McCluskey,
Maney also found the following
names: Thomas Barron, Nathaniel
Bridges, Wiseman Bridges, Robin
Cammel, Robert Campbell,
William Daniel, William Davis,
John Griffin, Benjamin Knox,
Thomas Lofton, Sam Nelson,
David Robinson and Samuel
Wilson.
“Since little is known about
Fort McCluskey, I assumed that
tire fort rotted to tire ground or
was destroyed centuries ago by
other actions,” Maney said. “In
tire 1780s, it was strategic to locate
forts on high ground. No record
was found at the Georgia Archives
that related to what happened to
tire fort on the Broad River and
Bluestone Creek.”
Maney added that he hopes
his research will inspire others to
dig deeper into the fort's history.
“I’ve only touched the surface ...
research leads to discovery, dis
covery leads to communication
and communication inspires oth
ers," he said.
ACTION receives $5.1 million for weatherization projects
The Area Committee to Improve
Opportunities Now Inc. (ACTION
Inc.) recently announced the launch
of the Georgia Weatherization
Assistance Program after receiv
ing a $5.1 million grant from the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Funding will provide weatheriza
tion services, free of charge, for eli
gible applicants currently living in
residential and multi-family homes
in a ten-county area of northeast
Georgia, which includes Madison
County, until March 2012.
"With the funding we have
received, we expect to complete
approximately 750 weatheriza
tion projects for those living in
the designated counties," said John
Scoggins, executive director of
ACTION. “In addition, the grant
will create many sub-contracting
jobs in our area over the next two
and a half years.”
Scoggins said last week that
ACTION plans to use local con
tractors and local suppliers for the
work in each of the counties.
Funding for the weatherization
project has been allocated by the
Georgia Environmental Facilities
Authority (GEFA) for Madison,
Clarke, Barrow, Elbert, Greene,
Jackson, Morgan, Oconee,
Oglethorpe and Walton counties.
The Georgia Weatherization
Assistance Program's mission is to
reduce tire consumption of energy
and the cost of utility bills while
providing a safe, improved envi
ronment and enhanced quality of
life for area residents, according to
a press release. Funding will pro
vide eligible applicants with repairs
and housing improvement services
that include: attic, sidewall and sub-
floor insulation; air leakage and
convection; duct work; attic and
crawlspace ventilation; appliance
assessment and replacement and
health and safety repairs.
Madison County has been allot
ted $343,849 for weatherization
projects.
For more information about the
Geoigia Weatherization Assistance
Program, contact ACTION Inc. at
706-546-8293, ext. 22 or visit the
website at www.actionincorpo-
rated.org.
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John Scoggins, (L)
executive director of
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Madison County Chamber
of Commerce coffee
Thursday. Margie Richards/
Staff
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