The Burning of Greensborough
Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
The Burning of Greensborough. During the early years of its settlement, Greensborough and Greene County suffered greatly from depredations committed by Indians who occupied the West bank of the Oconee River about eight miles from here. Most tragic of these was the destruction of Greensborough and the murder of its inhabitants in 1787. At the time the town consisted of 20 cabins, a log court house and a fort for protection against hostile Indians. The Treaty of Shoulderbone Creek, entered into in November, 1786, by the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, caused great dissatisfaction among the Indians. Hostilities increased, and in the summer of 1787 Indians crossed the Oconee River, swooped down upon Greensborough, murdered many of its citizens and burned every house. Later, some of the guilty Indians were captured and turned over to the authorities, who placed them in jail. There is no further record of the results of the capture. 055-12 GEORICAL HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1953
Erected by Georgia Historical Commission
The Story
In the summer of 1787, amid frontier tensions along the Oconee River, Creek warriors crossed into the young settlement of Greensborough—then just twenty cabins, a log courthouse, and a fort—and burned it, killing many inhabitants. The violence flowed from the disputed Treaty of Shoulderbone Creek of 1786, which the Creeks bitterly resented. Some of those involved were later captured and jailed, though the record of their fate runs out.
Why it matters
The raid captures the brutal, contested nature of Georgia's western frontier in the 1780s, when settlement pressed hard against Creek lands and treaties failed to hold the peace.
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Related events
- · Burning of Greensborough
- · Treaty of Shoulderbone Creek
Themes & tags
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