Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Rescued by Indians
GEORGIA AND ALABAMA, 1757
The story has it that William Bonar, who made this map, was sent to the French Fort Toulouse
to find out useful military information but, although disguised as a pack-horseman, he was
caught and arrested as a spy. Simply labelled 'French fort' on the map at a fork in the river to
the left of centre, Fort Toulouse had been built by the French earlier in the 18th century at a
natural meeting point of rivers and Indian nations, to try to counter the growing influence of
the neighbouring British colonies of Georgia and Carolina. At the point when this map was
drawn, France and Britain were opposed in the Seven Years War.
The middle drawing to the right of the map is a building shown in plan, which may be
an attempt by Bonar to record Fort Toulouse as noted during his captivity there. Bonar was
rescued by a party of pro-English Creek Indians (or Muscogee), at the request of South Caro-
lina's governor, Samuel Pepper, to whom Bonar was acting as an aide. Bonar would later
