The early settlement of Middle Georgia was principally by emigrants
from Virginia and North Carolina. These were a rough, poor, but honest
people, with little or no fortunes, and who were quite as limited in
education as in fortune. Their necessities made them industrious and
frugal. Lands were procured at the expense of surveying; the soil was
virgin and productive; rude cabins, built of poles, constituted not
only their dwellings but every necessary outbuilding. Those who first
ventured beyond the Ogeechee generally selected some spot where a good
spring of water was found, not overlooked by an elevation so close as
to afford an opportunity to the Indians, then very troublesome, to
fire into the little stockade forts erected around these springs for
their security against the secret attacks of the prowling and
merciless Creeks and Cherokees.

Usually several families united in building and living in these forts.
As soon as this protection was completed, the work of clearing away
the surrounding forest was commenced, that the land should afford a
field for cultivation. While thus employed, sentinels were stationed
at such points in the neighborhood as afforded the best opportunity
for descrying the approach of Indians, and the watch was most careful.
When those employed in hunting (for every community had its hunters)
discovered, or thought they had discovered signs of the presence of
the savages, scouts were immediately sent out to discover if they were
lurking anywhere in the neighborhood. This was the most arduous and
perilous duty of the pioneers, and not unfrequently the scout, or spy
as he was usually termed, went to return no more. When seed-time came,
corn, a small patch of cotton and another of flax were planted, and
cultivation continued under the same surveillance.