Fort Daniel Historic Site
2505 Braselton Highway, Buford
Fort Daniel was first built sometime in the early 19th century (best estimate is about 1806). “The Fort at Hog Mountain” was originally a frontier fort located near the juncture of two treaty lines that separated the early settlers from the Cherokee to the west and north, and the Creeks to the west and south. The location of the fort was in the southwest corner of Jackson County, which became part of Gwinnett County in 1819. Therefore it is believed to be the Gwinnett’s oldest historic site.
During the Creek Indian War (an extension of the War of 1812) the original fort, which was still in use by local militia, was reconstructed by order of Major General Allen Daniel in the fall and winter of 1813. Beginning in January of 1814, the new “Fort Daniel” was the staging ground for construction of a road through Creek territory to Standing Peachtree (military name “Floydsville”). This location is where another fort would be constructed (Fort Peachtree) in order to float supplies down the Chattahoochee River to Fort Mitchell in support of both the Georgia Army and U.S. Army under General Jackson, who was operating in Mississippi Territory against the Creek Red Sticks. The road was the original Peachtree Road.
The Fort Daniel Historic Site and Archaeological Research Park is a permanent archaeological research preserve owned by Gwinnett County and available to researchers, historians and educators. The Fort Daniel Foundation is responsible for development of the site and programming
Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts including historic pottery, black bottle glass, clay pipe fragments, musket balls, musket flints, wrought and machine-cut nails, and a 1776 Spanish coin. Just as important, remote sensing technics employed by participating universities and archaeological excavation have determined the footprint of the fort. This plan, exhibiting a square stockade with two, diagonally situated, block houses, conforms to a plan for frontier forts devised by President George Washington, and delivered to the Governor of Georgia in 1794 by Washington’s Secretary of War, John Knox.
For more information visit www.thefortdanielfoundation.org.
