Montgomery County lies on the north side of the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers which form the great Altamaha River, Montgomery's southern border.   This became the state's eighteenth county, its territory being taken from Washington County in 1793.

 

With the Revolutionary War still fresh in their minds, the founders named this county for General Richard Montgomery, who was mortally wounded at the siege of Quebec.  Mt. Vernon, the county seat, was named for George Washington's home on the Potomac River.

 

Montgomery County originally contained territory that was divided into the counties of Wheeler, Tattnall, Toombs, Emanuel, Treutlen, and Dodge.

 
The earliest permanent settlers were Scot Highlanders who had come from the North Carolina coastal region after the Revolution.  Their frontier community stayed so "unsettled" by Indian attacks that they built no public buildings until about 1815.  An 1821 house occupied by the Cooper and Conner families reveals that even at that date the occupants felt the need for gun ports on the upper floor.