Formation
of Union County, Georgia
The Cherokee Nation in Georgia, 1830
Naming
of Union County, Georgia
The Union
Party, a political party that
was in favor of adding (uniting)
new lands to the United States by removing all Indians from Georgia
and opening the area to white settlers, is the inspiration for the
county’s name. The Union Party supported President Andrew
Jackson for his policy of Indian removal and his desire for
national tariffs in defiance of states' rights. In 1832, John
Thomas a leader in the Union Party and the new county's State
Representative said, Name it Union, for
none but union-like men reside in it and so it was
done. Since
it was founded almost 30 years before the Civil War, Union County
obviously wasn’t named in sympathy for the North as is
sometimes mistaken.
The
History of Early Union County
The mysterious petroglyphs found at Trackrock Archeological Site
are evidence of Native American occupation of the area in
prehistoric times. In the early historic era, the North Georgia
mountains were inhabited mainly by the Cherokee and before them the
Creek. By the time of their removal, the Cherokee were
characterized as one the five "Civilized Tribes for their adoption
of white civilization including religion.
In 1802, the Georgia legislature signed a compact giving the
federal government all of her claims to western lands (future
Alabama and Mississippi) in exchange for the government's pledge to
extinguish all Indian titles to land within the state. Gold was
discovered within the Cherokee Nation in 1928. In 1830, the Indian
Removal Act was passed by the Congress of the United States of
America. President Andrew Jackson signed the bill into law. With
pressure from white settlers eager to pour in, part of the Cherokee
Nation's leadership agreed to a Removal Treaty in 1833. Beginning
in 1836, Jackson had the United States Army remove the Cherokee .
By 1837, all of the “Civilized Tribes: had removed to
Oklahoma.
Even
before the Removal, all of the land owned by
the Cherokee was divided up and given to whites during the final
Georgia Land Lottery of 1832. The Cherokee Nation had become
Cherokee County in the state of Georgia. Union County was carved
from Cherokee County in 1832. With Union County now open, white
settlers poured in through the mountains of North Carolina and
through South Carolina. Most of these families came directly or
indirectly from Virginia.
Considered worthless by many and remote even by the standards of
the day, many winners did not settle the land they had won but sold
it to others. The mountains of southern Appalachia was settled by
the only ones interested in the rugged, inaccessible land, people
of Scots-Irish, Germans and English descent. Pioneer life was
difficult and early settlers had to be hardy and self sufficient.
Most were farmers or the tradesmen necessary to support
agriculture; some were millers or gold miners. Personal hardships
were not uncommon. However
to these settlers, it was all worth it for the ownership of land
was the key to wealth and freedom.
Union
County Historical Society of Georgia, Copyright
2006