men in simultaneous campaigns that wrecked that Indian nation. Jack's force, however, demonstrated that even Georgia, with its comparatively small population, could provide something toward a united Whig effort of the southern frontier.(n26) The majority of southern frontiersmen now supported the rebellion, as Scotsman Baika Harvey, a new arrival in Georgia, wrote to his Godfather in 1775. Experienced Militiamen Frontiersmen like Dooly had significant military experience to contribute to this new rebel army. Far from being a mob, the frontiersmen had decades of experience in military organization and discipline. Even his father in Virginia in the 1760s had been a member of the militia. Andrew Pickens, John Dooly's later ally had also served in the militia in the French and Indian War, alongside British regulars whose cruelty he found appalling. A record survives indicating that Pickens later kept careful accounts, as public property, of items captured in the fight at Kettle Creek. A formal morning report of Dooly's militia regiment in 1779 shows that it was a sophisticated organization with quartermasters, musicians, boatmen, blacksmiths, cow drivers, butchers, wagon masters, and deputy commissaries. Even his later subordinate, the illiterate Lt. Col. Elijah Clarke, had his routine orders placed in writing.(n28) Georgia's new Whig government would work to support and win over these people with money, munitions, commissions, and salt. In 1778, and during the years that followed, Dooly and his neighbors erected a string of forts to provide additional protection from Indian attack. Absalom Chappell remembered such extensive efforts made by the backcountry people at building defenses: "By their own voluntary labor the people of each neighborhood, when numerous enough, built what was dignified as a fort, a strong wooden stockade or blockhouse, entrenched, loop-holed, and surmounted with look-outs at the angles. Within this rude extemporized fortress ground enough was enclosed to allow room for huts or tents for the surrounding families when they should take refuge therein—a thing which continually occurred; and, indeed, it was often the case, that the fort became a permanent home for the women and children, while the men spent days in scouring the country, and tilling with their slaves, lands within convenient reach; at night betaking themselves to the stronghold for the society and protection of their families, as well as for their own safety."(n29) These forts served as only temporary refuge, however. A Mrs. Newton later related to Jeremiah Evarts that after she shut