Clemson University researchers will continue an archaeological and historical examination of Fort Rutledge on the Clemson University campus through a grant from the National Park Service. The South Carolina militia constructed the fort in the fall of 1776 after an engagement with Loyalist forces and their Cherokee allies.
Clemson faculty members David Markus and Joshua Catalano have worked to uncover the site’s history since fall 2018. They started the dig in summer 2020 near a stone marker built in 1908 to commemorate the fort’s existence. Markus, assistant professor, department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, said the initial dig suggests the fort was built near the existing monument about 50 yards from the Clemson pumping station.
Catalano, assistant professor, department of History and Geography, said the site was the staging ground for the South Carolina militia’s successful efforts to starve out and demoralize the Cherokee people after the Battle of Esseneca, named for the Cherokee town now submerged under the waters of Lake Hartwell.
Markus and Catalano, along with several undergraduate students, uncovered various tool heads, musket balls and projectile points including arrowheads. They also discovered clues about where to continue the dig in the future. Further study of historical records and increased use of non-invasive geophysics will allow for more efficient, larger-scale exploration to identify objects underground before digging begins.
Markus and Catalano have established an unofficial deadline to complete the dig and provide more concrete details on the fort in time for the United States semiquincentennial in 2026. They also plan to develop an interpretive plan that advances a more complete account of the site’s history by convening a group of stakeholders among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Nikwasi Initiative, and the Museum of the Cherokee in South Carolina. The researchers see this as a necessary, vital component of the work that will help to more accurately tell the story of the Cherokee people and Clemson.
“From an archaeological standpoint, Clemson is largely a 17,500-acre, untapped resource,” Markus said. “From the plantations like Fort Hill to Cherokee sites dating back to before the American Revolution, we have so much Upstate history right here within our property boundaries. This is the perfect opportunity to more fully incorporate the Revolution story and the Cherokee story into our campus’s historical narrative.”
Clemson Corner is a bimonthly column on all things Clemson University. From individuals reaching new heights, research breakthroughs and discoveries, or events that can bring us all together, you’ll be able to learn more about the people who make Clemson, Greenville and South Carolina such a special place.
