Bainbridge Beginnings

Bainbridge Beginnings. . , Since the 1700s, Bainbridge has been home to Creek, Seminole, and American citizens. Historical events such as wars, treaties, and forced removal have shaped the movement of people to and from Bainbridge. , 1700s-1814 , Decatur County was once a frontier region shared by the Creek and the Seminole Nations. The Creeks, comprised of dozens of loosely associated groups, lived primarily along the southern reaches of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers in Alabama and Georgia. The closely related Seminoles came together through similar alliances in Florida. Many of these people originally migrated to the region in the late 1700s and early 1800s to escape the pressures of American encroachment. Bainbridge was desirable because there was open land available and in 1763, the English, who were on good terms with the Creeks, gained possession of Spanish Florida. , In the early 1800s, several Native American towns with historic ties to both the Creeks and Seminoles occupied this region. Prominent among these were the towns of Pucknawhitla and Fowltown. , The United States battled the Creek Nation from 1813-1814 in the Creek War. The war ended with the Treaty of Fort Jackson, where the US forced the Creeks to cede more than 21 million acres of land in the Mississippi Territory. Much of this territory is located in present-day central and south Alabama, as well as in southern Georgia. , 1815-1819 , After the Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed, American officials at Fort Scott demanded that Fowltown's residents leave the area. Fowltown, a Seminole Village, was led at the time by Chief Neamathla. Because neither the chief nor the village residents had participated in the Creek War and ensuing treaty, they refused to leave, which resulted in conflict. , The Battle of Fowltown, fought just a few miles to the south of Chason Park, marked the beginning of the First Seminole War. On November 21, 1817, US troops marched on Fowltown. A week later, on November 30, 1817, Creek and Seminole warriors attacked a US supply boat in what became known as the “Scott Massacre.” , US forces constructed Fort Hughes on what is now Chason Park after the Battle of Fowltown. After Creek and Seminole warriors attacked the outpost in December of 1817, the fort's garrison evacuated to the more substantial Fort Scott. Fort Scott was built in 1816 to use as a base of operations for patrolling the US-Spanish border. , Departing nearby Fort Scott in March of 1818, Gen. Andrew Jackson entered Spanish territory. He destroyed several Seminole towns and captured Spanish forts at St. Marks and Pensacola. The Spanish protested but soon ceded Florida to the United States. , 1820-1850s , The Creeks witnessed the last portions of their homelands come under American control through treaties, fraud, and illegal settlement. Bainbridge was established as an American inland port city in 1823. Even so, Natives continued to resist US encroachment in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, resulting in what would become known as the Second Seminole War and the Second Creek War. , The largest battle took place at the Battle of Cow Creek on August 27, 1836. Most of the fugitive Creeks managed to make their way to join the Seminoles in Florida. Many would continue to resist American forces alongside them until the close of the Second Seminole War in 1842. , The Second Creek War ended in 1837, and defeated Creeks who had not migrated to Florida were removed forcibly to the West in the “Creek Trail of Tears.” These removal efforts in Georgia and Alabama continued until the 1840s. Although it was technically illegal for them to reside in Georgia, a small number of Creeks managed to evade removal by hiding, being sheltered by white friends, or otherwise assimilating into American society. Many people in southwest Georgia trace their ancestry to these survivors.