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North Carolina-georgia

NC-28, Highlands, NC, USA
  North Carolina State Historical Marker
 
    North Carolina State
Historical Marker
    Marker Text:
" NORTH CAROLINA / Colonized, 1585-87, by first English settlers in America; permanently settled c. 1650; first to vote readiness for independence, Apr. 12, 1776 b/w GEORGIA / The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732, named for King George II of England, and settled in 1733. It was one of the 13 original states."
     An initiative of James Oglethorpe, Georgia was founded as a haven for debtors in England’s prisons and in time evolved into a colony with military and economic promise. Named for King George II, who chartered the colony in 1732, Georgia was initially home to 114 prisoners, selected for particular skills in order to ensure that the endeavor would survive. They founded what would become Savannah in 1733. The colony grew under the leadership of Oglethorpe and other trustees named by the King. Oglethorpe opened the colony to all religions and firmly opposed the introduction of slavery. The colony’s military importance emerged a few years later as Georgia came to be seen as a buffer between English settlements further north and Spanish settlements in Florida. As a result of successful skirmishes and maneuvers under Oglethorpe’s command, Georgians forced the Spanish to remain in Florida and further attempts by Spain to interfere with American colonies were halted.

     As the colonies of North Carolina and Georgia grew, disputes involving their borders became increasingly common and settlement of those issues increasingly important for backcountry landowners. The founding charter established by King George identified the northern boundary of Georgia as a course following the Savannah River. In 1783, Georgia’s legislature mandated that the boundary should follow the Savannah to its northernmost headwaters.

     Disputes soon arose not only with North Carolina, but also with South Carolina. Arguments were carried all the way to Congress on multiple occasions. The quarrels festered for years and, by 1804, residents of western sections of North Carolina and southern Georgia had resorted to violence and intimidation in what has come to be known as the “Walton War”. On June 15, 1807, officials of the two states met at the Buncombe County Courthouse and set out to fix the boundary along the 35th parallel. Most of the disputed lands were found to belong to North Carolina and Georgia relinquished its claims to the territory in 1808.


References:
The New Georgia Encyclopedia: http://www.newgeorgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Home.jsp
David L. Corbitt, The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 (1950)
Martin Reidinger, “The Walton War and the Georgia-North Carolina Boundary Dispute,” (unpublished manuscript, copy in the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1981)Marvin L. Skaggs, North Carolina Boundary Disputes Involving Her Southern Line (1941)
John Preston Arthur, Western North Carolina: A History (1914)
Daniel R. Goodloe, “The North Carolina and Georgia Boundary,” North Carolina Booklet, III, no. 12 (April 1904): 5-22
William S. Powell, North Carolina through Four Centuries (1989)