Fort King George
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Fort King George
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Front of the fort (reconstructed)
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| Location | McIntosh County, Georgia |
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| Nearest city | Darien, Georgia |
| Coordinates | 31°21′50″N 81°24′54″W / 31.36384°N 81.41493°WCoordinates: 31°21′50″N 81°24′54″W / 31.36384°N 81.41493°W |
| Area | 12 acres (4.9 ha) |
| Built | 1721 |
| Architect | Colonel John "Tuscarora Jack" Barnwell |
| Architectural style | Earthen palisade |
| NRHP Reference # | 71001101 |
| Added to NRHP | December 9, 1971 |
Fort King George is a fort located in the U.S. state of Georgia in McIntosh County, adjacent to Darien. The fort was built in 1721 along what is now known as the Darien River and served as the southernmost outpost of the British Empire in the Americas until 1727. The fort was constructed in what was then considered part of the colony of South Carolina, but was territory later settled as Georgia. It was part of a defensive line intended to encourage settlement along the colony's southern frontier, from the Savannah River to the Altamaha River. Great Britain, France, and Spain were competing to control the American Southeast, especially the Savannah-Altamaha River region.
Fort King George was a hardship for troops assigned there. A total of 140 officers (including Col. Barnwell) and soldiers died, mostly from camp diseases such as dysentery and malaria, due to poor sanitation (none from battle). The soldiers made up The Independent Company of South Carolina, an "invalid" company of elderly British Regulars, one hundred in all, sent over from Great Britain. Their suffering was largely caused by their own poor health, and inadequate provisions due to poor funding. Problems such as periodic river flooding, indolence, starvation, excessive alcoholism, desertion, enemy threats, and potential mutiny exacerbated hardships at the fort.
The fort was a model for General James Oglethorpe when he set up his southern defense system for Georgia, and established settlement along the Atlamaha River. In 1736, Ogelthorpe brought Scottish colonists to settle the site of the abandoned Fort King George. They called their village New Inverness, later named Darien. That same year, Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica on Saint Simons Island. Oglethorpe borrowed extensively from ideas laid out earlier when South Carolina imperialists, such as John Barnwell, Josheph Bowdler, and Francis Nicholson, planned Fort King George as part of a defensive system.
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