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On the last
day of December, 1773, a band of Westmoreland County Virginians
reached the primeval forest that stood on the present site of
Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, and on New Year's Day they began the arduous work of
conquering the wilderness. As a precaution against Indian
forays, great trees were felled for a stockaded fortification
which was called Fort Heard in honor of one of the Virginia
families.
The Heards, reputedly descendants of William the
Conqueror, had settled in Virginia in 1720 as neighbors of
George Washington's family, from whom they had obtained Arabian
horses.
JOHN HEARD, JR., with his wife and sons,
BARNARD, JESSE,
and STEPHEN, was included in the group that migrated to Georgia. JESSE remained at Fort Heard, which stood just north of what is
now the public square. STEPHEN, who had done military service
under GEORGE WASHINGTON, soon left and settled on Fishing Creek,
eight miles away, where he built another stockade, this one
called Heard's Fort. |
