Fort Armistead (Tennessee)

Last updated December 21, 2023

Fort Armistead was a U.S. Army fort in the Cherokee National Forest near Coker Creek, Tennessee. It was founded in 1832 and was only periodically used in the following years. In 1838, Fort Armistead was re-stationed as part of an effort to forcibly relocate the Cherokee and became part of the Trail of Tears. It was then permanently abandoned and relinquished to private ownership, though the grounds may have seen brief usage during the Civil War. The site is owned by the United States Forest Service and was excavated in 2011.

On December 11, 2023, the United States Department of the Interior designated the fort site a National Historic Landmark.^[1]^[2]

History

The Unicoi Turnpike was a Native American footpath across the Appalachian Mountains. In the 1810s, white settlers constructed a road along this path from Tugaloo to Chota, at the time part of the Cherokee Nation. Though initially well-traveled, the route quickly fell out of favor and was abandoned in the 1820s. Gold was discovered in Hot Water Creek near Coker Creek, Tennessee in 1827, bringing hundreds of prospectors into Cherokee land. An inn and livestock stand was established by Joseph Milligan and Phillip Meroney on the future site of the fort in 1831.^[3]

In 1832, the Governor of North Carolina petitioned President Andrew Jackson to remove the prospectors from the Cherokee land. General Walker Keith Armistead quickly dispersed the settlers and established a camp at the stock stand. With 85 to 90 men on site, it was the only US Army post in Cherokee territory. By 1834, following occupation by Companies C and F of the Fourth Infantry, the site became known as Fort Armistead. Later that year, Fort Cass was built in modern Charleston, Tennessee, and Fort Armistead only saw periodic occupation in subsequent years.^[3]

In December 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed, beginning the forcible removal of the Cherokee. From April 1837 to March 1838, the fort was occupied as troops searched for bands of Muscogee eluding relocation. That June, a detachment of the East Tennessee Mounted Volunteers was stationed there to secure communications between Fort Cass and Fort Butler; General Winfield Scott and Robert Anderson lodged there in on June 13 after overseeing the onset of the Cherokee relocation. Within a week, groups of 100 to 1,250 prisoners would be escorted through Fort Armistead was they were moved 80 miles (130 km) from Fort Butler to Fort Cass. More than 3,000 deportees from North Carolina were moved along this road by the end of July 1838.^[3]

The fort was again abandoned after this wave of deportees moved through, though it was occasionally used from September to November as a base to search for escapees in the mountains. The forced relocation due to the Treaty of New Echota officially ended in December 1838, though searches continued for a few more months. Soon afterward, the property was sold into private ownership to Alban Jones. In 1862, during the American Civil War, a small Confederate fort was established on the site of the former Fort Armistead. The site was abandoned again in March 1863. A pro-Union guerilla company of volunteers led by Goldman Bryson may have used the site as a base until they were captured and executed by the 8th Tennessee Cavalry. The parcel was again held privately after the war, and remained so until 2005. The name site of the fort became forgotten, though memories of its use during the Trail of Tears remained.^[3]

The United States Forest Service purchased the site in 2005 as an expansion of the Cherokee National Forest. In the summer of 2011, archaeologists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill excavated the grounds. Due to the mountainous terrain, the site had seen little disturbance since the fort shut down.^[4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trail of Tears</span> Forced relocation and ethnic cleansing of the southeastern Native American tribes

The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Cherokee removal in 1838 was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe County, Tennessee</span> County in Tennessee, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of New Echota</span> 1835 treaty between the U.S and a Cherokee faction

The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party.

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Fort Cass was a fort located on the Hiwassee River in present-day Charleston, Tennessee, that served as the military operational headquarters for the entire Cherokee removal, an forced migration of the Cherokee known as the Trail of Tears from their ancestral homelands in the Southeast to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Fort Cass housed a garrison of United States troops who watched over the largest concentration of internment camps where Cherokee were kept during the summer of 1838 before starting the main trek west to Indian Territory, and served as one of three emigration deports where the Cherokee began their journey west, the others of which were located at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga and Gunter's Landing near Guntersville, Alabama.

Fort Butler was an important site during the Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears. Located on a hill overlooking present-day Murphy, North Carolina on the Hiwassee River, Fort Butler was the headquarters of the Eastern Division of the U.S. Army overseeing the Cherokee Nation. It was the military force charged with forcing Cherokee emigration.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee history</span> History of the Cherokee people and their descendants

Cherokee history is the written and oral lore, traditions, and historical record maintained by the living Cherokee people and their ancestors. In the 21st century, leaders of the Cherokee people define themselves as those persons enrolled in one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, The Cherokee Nation, and The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee removal</span> Forced removal of the Cherokee Nation within the US (1836–39)

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References

↑ "Secretary Haaland designates 18 new sites of natural, historical significance" (Press release). Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of the Interior. December 13, 2023. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
↑ "WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 12/8/2023 THROUGH 12/15/2023". National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
1 2 3 4 Riggs, Brett H.; Fitts, Mary Elizabeth (March 24, 2022). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Fort Armistead" (PDF). National Park Service . Retrieved September 3, 2022.
↑ Blackburn, Marion. "Return to the Trail of Tears". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved September 3, 2022.

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[1] "Secretary Haaland designates 18 new sites of natural, historical significance" (Press release). Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of the Interior. December 13, 2023. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.

[2] "WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 12/8/2023 THROUGH 12/15/2023". National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-12-15.

[NRHP-3] 1 2 3 4 Riggs, Brett H.; Fitts, Mary Elizabeth (March 24, 2022). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Fort Armistead" (PDF). National Park Service . Retrieved September 3, 2022.

[4] Blackburn, Marion. "Return to the Trail of Tears". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved September 3, 2022.

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