Fort Likens (Cherokee County, Alabama)

Cherokee County · Alabama · Cherokee Removal

Quick BriefFort Likens was a temporary wooden stockade constructed in April 1838 in Broomtown Valley near Barry Springs in Cherokee County, Alabama, to house soldiers who rounded up local Cherokee and forced them into nearby internment camps during the Trail of Tears. By late July 1838 the fort was dismantled, its logs salvaged for local construction; the site remains archaeologically documented but largely disturbed.

History & Significance

Fort Likens was one of five military posts established in Alabama to facilitate the 1838 forced removal of Cherokee people from their ancestral homeland. Built as a temporary stockade fort in 1838, it housed soldiers who participated in the Cherokee removal.

Construction began in April 1838, with the fort located in Broomtown Valley near Barry Springs and named for Captain Likens. The fort was constructed of chestnut logs made into a circular stockade with twenty-foot high walls.

Cherokee in the surrounding area were rounded up by soldiers from Fort Likens and forced into an internment camp at nearby Barry Springs; after being held there, they were moved to Fort Payne and eventually Indian Territory. By late July 1838, the Cherokee removal was essentially completed, and Fort Likens was no longer needed.

The fort was dismantled, and the logs were purchased by a local family and used to build two barns, a house, and fence posts. Archaeological investigations have been carried out at the site, and some military objects have been recovered.