 Fort Butler, originally named Camp Huntington, was established in July 1836 by General John E. Wool and a force of Tennessee volunteer militia sent to the region to keep order after the ratification of the Treaty of New Echota.The camp was abandoned after a month but then reoccupied in 1837 and renamed Fort Butler after Benjamin Butler.The site was of strategic importance because there the Unicoi Turnpike crossed the Hiwassee River at Christie Ford as well as the road up Valley River to the Cherokee "Valley Towns."