234+ yrs later... Revolutionary War Frontier Fort in Georgia found

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More than 234 years later, archaeologists say they've pinpointed the location of Carr's Fort in northeastern Georgia after a search with metal detectors covering more than 4 square miles turned up musket balls and rifle parts as well as horse shoes and old frying pans.

The February 1779 shootout at Carr's Fort turned back men sent to Wilkes County to recruit colonists loyal to the British army. It was also a prelude to the more prominent battle of Kettle Creek, where the same patriot fighters who attacked the fort went on to ambush and decimate an advancing British force of roughly 800 men.

The battles were a blow to British plans to make gains in Georgia, the last of the original 13 colonies, and other Southern settlements by bolstering their ranks with colonists sympathetic to the crown.

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Unlike many of the larger battles of the American Revolution, the fighting at Carr's Fort was a skirmish between neighbors — possibly even family members — who found themselves on opposing sides of the war. And the fighting often had little to do with whether the American colonists should have freedom from British rule, said David Crass, director of Georgia's state Historic Preservation Division.

"Here, the clashes were often small in scale and often were as much about settling scores between families or ethnic groups as they were about independence," Crass said. "Carr's Fort is a good representative of one of these smaller battles where many of the combatants likely knew each other."

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The artifacts from Carr's fort are being cleaned and eventually will be turned over to the University of Georgia, Elliott said.

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