Established in 18o6 by order of President Thomas Jefferson, historic Fort Hawkins stood on a high hill overlooking the historic Ocmulgee Old Fields and the site of what is now downtown Macon, Georgia.
Extremely well-built for a frontier outpost of the era, the fort consisted of blockhouses on diagonal corners connected by a rectangular stockade. Inside the stockade were various structures including barracks, an officers' quarters, etc.
Named for Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, the U.S. Agent to the Creek Nation, the fort served as a key post during the War of 1812 and the Creek War of 1813-1814. General Andrew Jackson visited the fort in February of 1818 as he led troops south to invade Florida during the First Seminole War.
Although it was not regularly garrisoned after 1819, Fort Hawkins remained an important landmark in the Macon area for many decades to come. One of the blockhouses was still standing at the site as late as the 1870s. The present blockhouse at the site is a reconstruction placed there during the 1930s and based on photographs and drawings of the original.
The site is now publicly owned and there are plans to develop it as a park. The reconstructed blockhouse can be seen on U.S. Highway 80 near the entrance to Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon. For more information, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/forthawkins.
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