During the Bulloch County Historical Society's 50th annual meeting, the group heard directly from an archaeologist who has led field research at the Fort Argyle pre-Revolutionary War colonial site, which is in eastern Bryan County and within modern Fort Stewart.
Historical Society members filled the seats around tables in the social hall at Pittman Park United Methodist Church for the monthly luncheon meeting Monday, June 24. As the annual meeting, it also included a recognition of the three 2024 high school graduates recently awarded BCHS Scholarships and a voice vote confirming the society's slate of officers for the year.
Featured speaker Daniel T. "Dan" Elliot, a now "semi-retired" archaeologist who has worked with the Savannah-based, nonprofit Lamar Institute, led the institute's excavation at the Fort Argyle site in 1996, in a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program. Later, in 2018-19, the Army hired a company called LG2 Environmental Solutions to do an even larger excavation, and he again was hired to run the project and write the report.
The site is on one side of the Ogeechee River, along a bend in the river, as Elliott showed with aerial photographs.
The first Fort Argyle had been built to the north in Effingham County in 1733 — the same year that the British immigrants who founded the Georgia colony arrived at what became Savannah — by British Rangers, soldiers who "ranged" between established settlements. But that site, which has never been found — was abandoned after Gen. James Oglethorpe declared that the troops had messed up by downing too many trees into the river, obstructing the approach, Elliott said.
"The second Fort Argyle" — the first at the now known site in Bryan County — "was built in the 1733-1734 era, by the South Carolina Rangers, because Georgia didn't have an army yet," he said. "There were no Georgia Rangers in 1733."
The South Carolina troops built the fort and garrisoned it until 1737. After Oglethorpe was assigned military control and a small Georgia army was created, it was garrisoned by Georgia Rangers from 1737 until about 1767, except for "a gap in there somewhere where there was probably nobody at home," said Elliott.
But Fort Argyle weathered two wars: the War of Jenkins' Ear, from the late 1730s into the 1740s, between the British and Spanish in North America and the Caribbean, and King George's War, which is considered part of the French and Indian Wars, in the mid-to-late 1740s.
"In 1767 the Rangers were disbanded, the fort was abandoned, and never used again, at least not officially," said Elliott. "It wasn't active at all during the Revolutionary War."
The actual location of the fort wasn't rediscovered until 1985. "It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, even though nobody new where it was," he said.
Forts A, B and C
The archaeological digs, including the extensive one in 1996 and the even larger one in 2018-19, which was done with an eye toward the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on the eroding and often muddy location, revealed that at least three fort structures existed in different times.
"Fort A," circa 1733-1738, occupied by South Carolina Rangers, was the smallest fort and had an irregular, non-rectangular shape. "Fort B," circa 1740-1748, occupied by Georgia Rangers, was intermediate in size, and rectangular. "Fort C," circa 1754-1767, also manned by Georgia Rangers, was possibly largest, and of archeologically undetermined shape, all of these descriptions being given in one of Elliott's slides.
But he also displayed a list of Georgia Forts from descriptions given in 1762 by Royal Gov. James Wright, who described Fort Argyle as measuring 110-by-110-feet, giving it a square footprint. A 1742 listing showed 20 Georgia Rangers assigned to what would apparently have been "Fort B."
Elliott also projected photographs of some of the numerous, mostly small, artifacts recovered at the site: fragments of ceramic pipestems, dated to circa 1750, and of finely decorated English-made porcelain tableware, probably used by officers; lead musket balls; and small flints used to strike sparks and light the gunpowder in the flintlock mechanisms. Only one chimney base, double-sided for two hearths, was found at the site, despite a historical record that 10,000 bricks were once delivered there.
But the site was plowed-over for decades and portions have eroded into the river.
3 scholarship winners
This year's three Bulloch County Historical Society, or BCHS, Scholarship winners had actually received their scholarship checks earlier during events at their high schools. But the society invited them and family members to attend the BCHS meeting and be recognized by the membership.
This year, about 20 graduating high school seniors had applied, reported Matt Hube, from the BCHS Scholarship Committee.
Writing an essay on one of two questions was a key part of the selection criteria, which also included grade point averages, class ranking and two letters of recommendation. The essay questions were: 1. If you could travel to another moment in history, when and where would you like to go? Why? Take us there; and 2. If you could have a conversation in a quiet corner of Starbucks with some famous Georgian, whom would you choose and what would you like to learn from him or her?
William "Will" James, now a 2024 Statesboro High School graduate, won the $2,000 first-place scholarship.
His essay began: "If I could travel in time to another moment in history, I would go to Israel in 5 B.C. I would like to visit right before Jesus was born until his death. This would allow me to understand the culture and ways of life back then so I can understand the full Bethlehem story and the rest of Jesus' life."
Will Ellis, now a Bulloch Academy graduate, won the $1,500 second-place scholarship.
His essay began: "If given the ability to have a conversation with any famous Georgian, I would most definitely choose to speak with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Conversing with him would allow me the chance to learn from and draw inspiration from his visionary leadership, unwavering commitment to justice, and enduring legacy."
John Daniel Lane, now a Statesboro High School graduate, won the $1,000 third-place scholarship.
His essay began: "If I could have a conversation in a quiet corner of Starbucks with some famous Georgian, I would choose former Governor of Georgia and former President Jimmy Carter. There is so much I would like to learn from him, ranging from his childhood to his time in politics to his commitment to helping those less fortunate than him and his attention to peaceful ways to solve conflicts and promote awareness of inequities. …"