Native Americans used Augusta as a place to cross the Savannah River, because of its location on the fall line. In 1735 (two years after James Oglethorpe founded the Savannah), he sent troops up the Savannah River to build at at the head of the navigable part of the river. Nobel Jones was in charge of this job, and he created the settlement to provide a first line of defense against the Spanish and the French. Oglethorpe then named the town Augusta, in honor of Princess Augusta, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
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