Colonel Homer V. Milton ordered the construction of Fort Decatur, located on the banks of the Tallapoosa River, in the spring of 1814. The fort was one of a chain of fortifications protecting a supply line stretching into central Georgia.

The site of Fort Decatur lies on the grounds of Auburn University's E.V. Smith Research Center in Macon
County, Alabama. It is marked by a stone monument placed

by the Alabama Anthropological Society placed in 1931.