  Artifacts Period Clothing Spring Celebration Authentic Sutler Gifts  A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.Old Fort Chamber of Commerce Old Fort Mountain Heritage Alliance McDowell County Tourism |
Spring Muster May 22nd Click here for event information and driving directions.. "Davidson's Fort represents a great opportunity for Western North Carolina to tell its Revolutionary War story through cultural re-enactments. This is a story not only important to North Carolina, but to the entire nation." Senator Joe Sam Queen, North Carolina General Assembly Welcome to Davidson's Fort!Around 1770 Samuel Davidson purchased a boundary of land, which included the present site of Old Fort, consisting of 640 acres or one square mile. A stockade was raised upon a portion of this land when and by whom is still not verified, most likely reinforced by the militia raised to attack the Cherokee. Read what the soldiers had to say about Davidson's Fort and their adventures during the Revolutionary War.On April 19, 1775, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. For six and a half years, the American colonists fought the British for their independence. They won that independence on October 19, 1781 when the British forces surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, this surrender would not have taken place without the brave North Carolina Militia. What had started as a fight for the rights of English people in the 13 colonies ended in the creation of an independent nation - the United States of America. This war is also called the American Revolution and the American War of Independence. Old Fort's place in history is unique because of its geographic location at the foot of the Blue Ridge, near the head of the Catawba River and close to the Continental Divide. The site of the furthest outpost and militia fort built to defend the colonials in the wilds of the frontier. In August of 1776, about 2,700 men between the ages of 16 and 60 gathered at Davidson's Fort (what is now Old Fort in McDowell County). They were put under the command of Griffith Rutherford, an Irish-born, middle-aged, newly appointed brigadier general who had served in the Colonial legislature and the Council of Safety, a newly formed military government that issued orders in lieu of a Department of Defense. Rutherford left about 300 of his militia to guard Davidson's Fort and set out for Western North Carolina on Sept. 1, 1776, with 2,400 men, pack horses, a herd of beef cattle, and weaponry that included long rifles, hatchets and small cannons. Lacking official uniforms, militia members took along their own clothing and weapons. Also included in the regiments were Catawba Indians, foes of the Cherokee who allied with the Colonials. (Michael Beadle, Rutherford Trace) The Smoky Mountain News. |
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