Chapter Two - Pope THE CHEROKEE WAR In 1759, a garrisoned fort was established at Ninety Six, where a trading post had existed since 1750. Smaller forts were built by the settlers as refuges for the scattered inhabitants in the Fork between the Broad and Saluda. On the Enoree, there were five: Aubrey's, Gordon's, Musgrove's, and two erected by the Penningtons. On Broad, John Pearson had a fort, while Jacob Brooks maintained one on Bush River not far from the present city of Newberry. William Turner's fort was at the mouth of Little River. Sporadic attacks by the Indians had deterred settlement of the upcountry from 1755 until war erupted in 1759. On February 1, 1760, the first blow fell upon the new settlers of Long Cane in Abbeville County. About one hundred fifty settlers, including the Calhouns, made the fatal mistake of trying to flee with their loaded wagons. They were attacked near a crossing of the creek, twenty-three settlers were killed, and nearly as many were captured. A similar ambush resulted in like casualties among another group crossing Stevens Creek. Ninety Six withstood attack. ----------------------- footnote: 1. O'Neall, op.cit., p. 57. Meriwether, op. cit., p. 212 and p. 234n, puts Turner's Fort on Little Saluda near its mouth. Larry E. Ivers, Colonial Forts of South Carolina, 1670-1775, Tricentennial Booklet Number 3, Columbia, S.C., 1970, pp. 18, 19 and 74, follows Meriwether. I am confident Meriwether confused the Little Saluda with Little River; both are tributaries of the Saluda but lie on opposite sides of the river. William Turner was granted 250 acres on North side of Saluda River on May 15, 1751. The plat shows this land was on north side of Little River, the certificate of John Pearson, D.S., reciting that the land was on the north side of Saluda River and bounded on all sides by vacant land. Royal Grants, IV, 353; Plats, V, 108. Up to the outbreak of the Cherokee War he had been granted 150 acres on the Pigeon Roost near Beaver Dam Creek and eighty-three acres adjoining his first grant. Royal Grants, VI, 75 and VIII, 111; Plats, V, 473 and VI, 93. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com