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You can now see this centuries old document at Fort Hawkins

By Nadia Pressley
Mercer University history professor Eric Klingelhofer, right, reads the 1804 handwritten letter by military contractor Thomas Maunger to Congress informing them of conditions in Middle Georgia at the time. Klingelhofer said he received the letter from his father, a collector, and he gave it to Mercer University years later. It will be on display soon at the Fort Hawkins visitor center.
Mercer University history professor Eric Klingelhofer, right, reads the 1804 handwritten letter by military contractor Thomas Maunger to Congress informing them of conditions in Middle Georgia at the time. Klingelhofer said he received the letter from his father, a collector, and he gave it to Mercer University years later. It will be on display soon at the Fort Hawkins visitor center. Beau Cabell bcabell@macon.com

When he moved to Georgia in the 1980s to teach at Mercer University, Eric Klingelhofer brought with him something his father thought he might appreciate.

This token turned out to be an important part of Fort Hawkins and Macon’s history.

On Tuesday, Klingelhofer and the Mercer University library gave Fort Hawkins a centuries-old copy of a historic document from 1804 that outlined the conditions of the land on which the fort, and later the city of Macon, was founded on. The copy was produced at the same time as the original.

Judy Smith, chairwoman of the Fort Hawkins commission and foundation, said the document is so significant because it predates the building of the fort in 1806.

“Having a document that old is amazing to me,” Smith said.

Fort Hawkins was a United States military trading post located near the Ocmulgee River. It was used until the 1820s, and a replica was created in 1938, which still stands at the historical site today.

Klingelhofer, senior research fellow for historical archeology, said his father thought the document would be a suitable parting gift as he moved to Georgia to teach history at Mercer. He doesn’t know exactly where his father got the document, he said, but his father was an avid buyer and seller of old items and manuscripts through established dealers.

For the last 33 years the documents were housed in Mercer University's library archives for safekeeping and were not available to the public.

Keeping it at Fort Hawkins wasn’t an option until the new welcome center was built in 2014.

“Keeping it in that old, windy, unheated block house was not a good idea. It would never have lasted,” Klingelhofer said.

The document will now be preserved and displayed for all to see.

“I never dreamed we would receive anything like that,” Smith said.

This story was originally published July 3, 2018 at 5:28 PM with the headline "You can now see this centuries old document at Fort Hawkins."

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