Cheaha State Park and Alabama's highest point.

Check out this great new story on Cheaha State Park, the highest point in Alabama, courtesy of www.twoegg.tv

December 7, 1941: Alabamians at Pearl Harbor

U.S.S. Arizona in flames on December 7, 1941
Courtesy of the National Park Service

The speech delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt one day after the surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, still touches deep into the hearts of Americans:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, December 8, 1941.

The total loss of life during the attack was listed as 2,390.  Another ----- men and women were wounded. The majority of these were sailors in the U.S. Navy, most of them dying aboard the U.S.S. Arizona. The casualty list includes 49 civilians killed with another 35 wounded. Included among the dead civilians were children as young as 7 months.

Explosion aboard the U.S.S. Shaw
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

The servicemen and women and civilians killed came from every state and the then Territory of Hawai'i. Among them were dozens of Alabamians.

I have not been able to find a complete list of all servicemen from Alabama killed at Pearl Harbor, but the following men are known to have died aboard the U.S.S. Arizona.  If you know of others, please let me know and I will add them:

Adams, Robert Franklin

Benson, James Thomas

Bibby, Charles Henry

Bishop, Millard Charles

Black, James Theron

Blankenship, Theron A.

Boyd, Charles Andrew

Broadhead, Johnnie Cecil

Chandler, Donald Ross

Frizzell, Robert Niven

Hindman, Frank Weaver

Holland, Claude Herbert, Jr.

Holmes, Lowell D.

Hughes, Lewis Burton, Jr.

Isom, Luther James

Johnson, Samuel Earle

Jones, Daniel Pugh

Jones, Woodrow Wilson

McCary, William Moore

McGrady, S.W.G.

Morris, Owen Newton

Murdock, Charles Luther

Murdock, Melvin Elijah

Nichols, Alfred Rose

Nichols, Louis Duffie

Peleschak, Michael

Penton, Howard Lee.

Putnam, Avis Boyd

Rogers, Thomas Sprugeon

Shores, Ireland (or Irland?), Jr.

South, Charles Braxton

Wilson, Comer A.

Woolf, Norman Bragg

Others from Alabama known to have been killed in the attack include:

John Arnold Austin of Warrior, who gave his own life aboard U.S.S. Oklahoma to save the lives of 15 of his shipmates. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

Julius Ellsberry of Birmingham, one of 62 black servicemen who gave their lives at Pearl Harbor. He died aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma.

If you would like to review the complete casualty lists for Pearl Harbor, the National Park Service maintains an excellent listing at http://www.nps.gov/valr/historyculture/people.htm.

You can learn more about Pearl Harbor, which is now part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument at http://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm.

An excellent place in Alabama to learn more about World War II is the Battleship U.S.S. Alabama at Mobile Bay. To learn more, please visit: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/battleshipalabama.html.

Media Attacks Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Alabama

Cemetery at Confederate Memorial Park

A number of outlets of the national media have leveled fairly partisan attacks on the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek (for an example see the HuffingtonPost).

The park preserves the site of the Alabama Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans, which was opened in 1902 to provide a home and care for the state's thousands of aging Confederate veterans. Contrary to what is being said about the home on blogs and message boards today, it was NEVER operated by the Confederacy and the tax that supported it was NEVER a "Confederate tax."

Entrance to Confederate Memorial Park

The home was, however, a place where elderly and disabled veterans could go to live safely and receive care. It gave them a place where they could share stories and live with their friends and former brothers in arms in the last years of their lives. It was a show of mercy on the part of the people of Alabama and was funded by a tax that was part of the 1901 Alabama State Constitution.

A small portion of the proceeds of that tax are used today to preserve the grounds and maintain the two cemeteries there, where over 300 of the veterans who died at the home are buried today.

Museum at Confederate Memorial Park

Some, however, feel that no money should be used to care for the graves or preserve this unique historic site and are calling for its elimination from the state budget, even though the tax that cares for the grounds is part of the state constitution and has been for more than 100 years.

If you live in Alabama, I encourage you to call or write your local legislator to express your support for the park. If you live elsewhere, please write or call the Governor of Alabama to do the same. This is a blatant effort to stop caring for the graves of more than 300 Southern veterans, while still collecting and keeping the tax money intended for that purpose!

If you are passing up and down I-65 between Montgomery and Birmingham, I also encourage you to stop by for a visit of the grounds and the beautiful museum that interprets not Confederate history, but offers a balanced view of the War Between the States in Alabama. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/confederatepark.

Old Columbia Jail - Civil War era jail in Columbia, Alabama

Old Columbia Jail

One of the oldest and most unique structures in the Wiregrass area of Southeast Alabama is the little wooden jail in the Chattahoochee River town of Columbia.

Believed to date from the early 1860s, the jail was standing when the War Between the States swept across Alabama and the nation. Columbia at that time was a thriving riverboat port that served as a receiving and shipping point for the commerce and people of a significant part of the Wiregrass area.

Iron Spikes in the Jail Door

Built of wood with iron spikes studded in its walls to help discourage escape attempts, the jail contained only two cells, with light and ventilation provided by windows and a single door. Modern for its time, it must have been an incredibly miserable place to be confined during the hot Alabama summers.

Remarkably, the little structure survived through the years and was restored as part of a local Bicentennial project. It is thought to be one of the oldest surviving wooden jails not only in Alabama, but in the entire Deep South.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/columbiajail.

Fort Gaines Historic Site - Dauphin Island, Alabama

Cannon at Fort Gaines, Alabama

General Edmund Pendleton Gaines (1777-1849) was one of the most significant figures in both Alabama and U.S. history, and while he did not live long enough to figure in the Civil War, his name did.
Born during the American Revolution, Gaines was a hero of the War of 1812 who also fought in the First and Second Seminole Wars and the Mexican War. Along the way, he was the officer who arrested fugitive former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr in Alabama in 1807.

Gaines was at the pinnacle of his military fame in 1819 when the U.S. Government began construction of a fort on the east end of Dauphin Island. One of two major defenses designed to protect Mobile Bay from foreign attack, the masonry citadel was named in honor of the major general.  Gaines died in 1849 and was buried in Mobile's Church Street Graveyard. Fort Gaines, however, continues to stand to this day.

Fort Gaines

Designed by military engineers to operate with Fort Morgan, a second masonry fortification on the west end of Mobile Point, Fort Gaines was located so close to the water that its builders encountered significant difficulties in its construction. Forty years after work on the citadel had begun, it was still not finished when Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861.

Confederates completed the fort in 1862 and manned it as one of their key defenses against a Union attack on Mobile Bay. That attack came in August of 1864, when 1,500 Union soldiers landed on Dauphin Island and began their advance on Fort Gaines. Confederate troops skirmished with them as they slowly advanced, before falling back into the defenses of the main fort itself.

Fort Gaines

Two days later, on August 5, 1864, the fleet of Union Admiral David G. Farragut stormed through barrages of shot and shell from Forts Gaines and Morgain and entered Mobile Bay. It was during the monumental encounter, remembered as the Battle of Mobile Bay, that Farragut issued his immortal battle command, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

The soldiers in Fort Gaines bore witness as the famed Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Tennessee steamed out to engage Farragut's fleet in one of the greatest ship to ship battles of all time. The Tennessee was eventually captured and the fort held out only another three days, as Union ironclads moved up to point blank range and bombarded its masonry walls.  The white flag rose over Fort Gaines on August 8, 1864.

The history of the old fort continued, but never again would U.S. possession of Dauphin Island be contested. Now a historic site maintained by the Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board, Fort Gaines is open to the public daily. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgainesal.

The Battle of Spanish Fort, Alabama - March & April, 1865

Confederate Earthworks at Spanish Fort

One of the largest battles of the Civil War in Alabama was underway in earnest 146 years ago this week.

For most of the month of March in 1865, Union troops had slowly pushed their way north up the East Shore of Mobile Bay. Led by General E.R.S. Canby, the 32,000 soldiers were determined to break up and capture the Confederate defenses at Spanish Fort and old Blakeley, a critical step towards the final capture of the port of Mobile.  Simultaneously, a column of 13,000 men moved north from Pensacola, Florida, to break the railroad connecting Mobile with Montgomery and complete the encirclement of the Confederate forces.

The movement was very slow and it took Canby weeks to march his command from a jump off point on the Fish River to within sight of the massive Confederate earthworks at Spanish Fort.  The Union general had no way of knowing it, but he was opposed by a Southern force of only a couple of thousand men, but they were commanded by a bold and enterprising officer in General Randall L. Gibson.

Battle Markers at Mobile Bay Overlook

Facing sharp skirmishing from Gibson's Confederates, the Federals began to encircle Spanish Fort on March 27, 1865, officially opening the battle. It took 12 days for Canby to complete this process, dig siege positions and get his artillery into place. As a result, it was not until April 8, 1865, that he opened his bombardment of Spanish Fort with 90 cannon. The Confederates had 47 guns, but many of these were positioned to defend the river channel that led below the bluff. The replied to the Union fire as best they could.

The 8th Iowa broke through the Southern outer lines late in the day on April 8th, 1865, and General Gibson knew that his bluff was about to be exposed. Completely undetected by Canby's pickets, he withdrew his force from Spanish Fort that night, using an already prepared footbridge to slip away across the channel to nearby Fort Huger.

With only a couple of thousand men, Gibson had delayed the Union campaign up the East Shore of Mobile Bay for more than one full month. The Federals had no idea that they outnumbered him by 14 to 1. It was one of the most impressive performances by a Confederate general during the entire war.

To learn more about the Battle of Spanish Fort, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/spanishfort.

Confederate States of America formed in Montgomery 150 years ago today

Alabama State Capitol Building

The historic Alabama State Capitol Building became the capitol of a new nation 150 years ago today when delegates from seven Southern states met in Montgomery and declared themselves a provisional legislature for the Confederate States of America.

The so-far bloodless revolution in the Deep South had begun in December of 1860 when South Carolina declared its independence from the United States. The Palmetto State was followed on the road of secession by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, with each of the states agreeing to send delegates to a meeting in Montgomery on February 4, 1861.

First National Flag of the Confederacy

Alabama's Secession Convention had extended the invitation when the state left the Union in January. The purpose was to consider measures for the common defense and support of the newly independent states.

As a large crowd gathered outside the historic building and military companies paraded on Dexter Avenue, the delegates met 150 years ago today and declared themselves a provisional legislature for a new nation called the Confederate States of America. They authorized a committee to begin work on the drafting of the Confederate Constitution and laid the groundwork for establishing a new national government. The new Constitution would take four days to draft and its approval would be followed on February 11th by the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as the first President of the Confederacy.

The historic building where the delegates met remains in use as the State Capitol of Alabama to this day. To learn more about its role as the First Capitol of the Confederacy, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomerycapitol1.

Alabama State Capitol & the Secession of Alabama - Montgomery, Alabama

Alabama State Capitol

It was 150 years ago this week that delegates meeting at the historic State Capitol in Montgomery voted to approve Alabama's secession from the Union.

The secession vote took place on January 11, 1861, as Alabama became the fourth state to leave the Union. South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida had already done so. The Alabama secession document holds a unique place in Southern history, however, as it also included an invitation for other Southern states to convene in Montgomery on February 4, 1861, to consider measures for the "common peace and security." This invitation, of course, led to the formation of the Confederate States of America and the designation of Montgomery as the first capital of the new nation.

The Alabama Ordinance of Secession was also unique in that it specifically named the election of Abraham Lincoln as President and Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President as the primary reasons for the state's departure from the Union.

Where Jefferson Davis took the Oath of Office

The Alabama State Capitol stands today as one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the nation. Built in 1851 on "Goat Hill" at the end of Dexter Avenue in Montgomery, the structure includes an interior spiral stairway built by noted African-American engineer and builder Horace King. It is noteworthy that King had received his freedom from slavery through a special act of the Alabama State Legislature.

Jefferson Davis took the oath of office as President of the Confederacy on the front portico of the building (a bronze star marks the spot) and it was hear that decisions were made leading to the firing on Fort Sumter in April of 1861 that officially ignited the Civil War (or War Between the States).

The Alabama State Capitol later played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement and remains in use today as the center of government in the state. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomerycapitol2.

If you are interested in learning more about the events of the War Between the States as they happened, please follow this link to check in daily with our new online journal: Civil War Daily!

Fort Payne's Old Fort - A Reminder of the Trail of Tears

While many have heard of Fort Payne, Alabama - thanks largely to the success of the famous country music group Alabama and the growing popularity of nearby Little River Canyon National Preserve - far fewer are aware of how the city got its name.

There once really was a fort named Fort Payne. Built in 1838 at the site of the present city of the same name, it consisted of a rough log house or cabin surrounded by a log stockade. The U.S. Army was then engaged in forcing the Cherokee people west at bayonet point along the long and tragic Trail of Tears to new land in what is now Oklahoma. As the Alabama militia moved to support this operation, Captain James Rogers and 22 state militiamen built Fort Payne.

The fort was occupied only from April until October of 1838, but unlike most of the stockades thrown up at points where the Cherokee were concentrated for movement west, some traces of it can still be seen. A stone chimney and a few other stone ruins mark the site of the fort, which also lives on in the name of the modern city of Fort Payne.

To learn more of the story of the original Fort Payne, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortpayne3.

The Face in the Window - Ghost Story in Carrollton, Alabama

The famed Face in the Window of the old Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton is the visible reminder of one of Alabama's best known ghost stories.

Included in Kathryn Tucker Windham's popular book, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, the story of the mysterious face had been popular for more than 100 years. It is said to be the earthly representation of Henry Wells, a man suspected of setting fire to the county's previous courthouse that had stood on the same spot.

As the story goes, Wells was suspected of burning the Pickens County Courthouse on November 16, 1876. The people of the county had just raised enough money to replace the courthouse burned during the Civil War and were infuriated by the act. When Wells was implicated in the act, according to the legend, a lynch mob gathered. By this time construction was underway on the building that still stands and he fled into its attic to hide. As he was peering out on the lynch mob below, lightning struck the building and permanently etched his terrified face into the pane of glass.

Scientists say it is impossible for such a thing to happen, yet the face has remained there for more than 130 years. An arrow on the outside wall of the old courthouse even points it out to curious visitors.

So what can be told about the real story of the mysterious Face in the Window?  Read more at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/faceinthewindow.
 

Lowndesboro - Alabama's Historic Antebellum Town

Located just north of U.S. 80 between Montgomery and Selma, Lowndesboro is one of the best preserved antebellum communities in Alabama.

Founded not long after the 1814 signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson that forced the Creek Nation to give up the surrounding lands, the settlement was long known as McGill's Hill. In 1832, however, the residents voted to rename their town Lowndesboro.

Almost miraculously, Lowndesboro was spared devastation at the hands of General James H. Wilson's Union raiders during the closing days of the Civil War. Local legend credits a town doctor with saving the town by falsely telling Wilson's men that a smallpox outbreak was taking place in Lowndesboro. Rather than risk catching the feared disease, the Union troops passed on quickly. The community was spared and today boasts one of the finest collections of antebellum homes and structures in the country.

In addition to a unique variety of types of antebellum structures, Lowndesboro is also home to the dome from Alabama's first state capitol building. The dome was moved to the steeple of the old C.M.E. Church in Lowndesboro after Old Cahawba lost its status as state capital in favor of Tuscaloosa and eventually Montgomery. The copper-plated dome is all that remains of the state's original capitol, with the possible exception of some underground ruins at Old Cahawba.  Along with many other historic landmarks, it is located along Broad Street in Lowndesboro.

To learn more about the historic town, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/lowndesboro.

Swann Covered Bridge - Blount County, Alabama

The sight of the historic Swann Covered Bridge stretching across the gorge carved by the Locust Fork of the Warrior River in Blount County is one of the most impressive in Alabama.

Built in 1933 to link the communities of Cleveland and Joy, the bridge is the longest surviving covered bridge in Alabama and is one of three still standing in Blount County. It is located near the modern city of Cleveland about 30 miles northeast of Birmingham.

Charming and picturesque today, covered bridges were developed by our ancestors as a way of extending the lives of wooden bridges. In the days before concrete and steel were commonly used in bridge construction, most spans were made of wood. As such, they were susceptible to rot from rain, snow and the elements in general. To better protect the flooring so the bridges would last longer, early bridge builders began fitting the structures with covers.

The Swann Covered Bridge, also sometimes called the Joy Covered Bridge because it was on the road to Joy, was built by Forrest and Zelmer C. Tidwell. Over 300 feet long, it features a main spain that is an impressive 75 feet long. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Easily accessible from U.S. Highway 231 at Cleveland, the bridge no longer carries traffic but is popular for sightseeing and photography. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/swann.

Fort Mims State Historic Site - Tensaw, Alabama

Not far from Mobile and the booming East Shore of Mobile Bay, an often overlooked historic site is actually one of the most important in Alabama.

Fort Mims State Historic Site is a small park preserving the scene of the bloody Fort Mims Massacre of 1813. The event sparked a dramatic confrontation between the United States and portions of the Creek Nation that is remembered today as the Creek War of 1813-1814. The conflict ended with Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, a document that opened much of Alabama and Georgia to white settlement.

Located near Boatyard Lake in the community of Tensaw, Fort Mims was a haphazard log stockade thrown up around the home of Samuel Mims in 1813. Violence was then spreading in the Creek Nation as an increasing number of towns and warriors threw their support behind the Creek Prophet Josiah Francis. A follower of the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa (brother of Tecumseh), Francis was the leader of a religious movement among the Creeks that focused on a withdrawal from white society and a return to native ways. He had established his headquarters at Holy Ground, a village overlooking the Alabama River between today's cities of Montgomery and Selma. His followers were called Red Sticks, because they displayed red war clubs in their towns as a sign of war.

An attack by Mississippi Territorial Militia on a Red Stick supply party at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama, infuriated the families of the slain warriors. As a result, a large force of Red Sticks set out for Fort Mims to seek revenge.

The attack came on August 30, 1813, when William Weatherford and other Creek leaders launched an attack on the poorly designed stockade. The inhabitants of the fort had just sounded the bell for their midday meal when war cries sounded from a nearby ravine. Columns of warriors stormed forward. The commander of the fort, Major Daniel Beasley tried to close the open gates, but sand had drifted against them and he was struck down before he could dig it away.

By the time the battle was over, hundreds of men, women and children were dead, along with an unknown number of Red Stick warriors. News of the attack electrified the frontier, bringing the United States fully into the Creek War. To learn more about this significant historic site in Alabama, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmims1.

Waterfalls of Alabama - History and Scenic Views

Waterfalls probably do not usually come to mind when many people think of Alabama, but the state is actually home to a surprisingly large number of beautiful falls and cascades.

Formed where streams and rivers flow over bluffs or steep hillsides as they make their way down through the state and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico, these stunning natural features have long played an important role in the history of Alabama.

Early Native Americans, for example, frequented the waterfalls. At DeSoto Falls near Fort Payne and Mentone, for example, there are even the remains of unusual manmade caves in the walls of the steep bluff surrounding the huge waterfall. It is generally thought that these were carved out by prehistoric Indians, although some believe they were left behind by Prince Madoc, a Welsh explorer who true believers think reached the New World hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus.

As time passed and the American frontier pushed west, early settlers made use of the strong currents of the falls. At Little River Falls, for example, a water-powered mill once stood. Residents used it to both grind grain and saw the old growth trees of the state into lumber for building homes and businesses.

Today, the waterfalls provide enjoyment for visitors from around the world. Some, like Noccalula Falls in Gadsden and Little River Falls near Mentone are easy to reach and offer paved paths and fenced overlooks. Others, like those around Cheaha State Park in the mountains of the Talladega National Forest, require a hike into the forest but are beautifully preserved in their natural state.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/alabamawaterfalls.

Fort Toulouse - Wetumpka, Alabama

In 1717, a party of French soldiers arrived at the head of the Alabama River near the modern cities of Wetumpka and Montgomery.

Their mission was to establish a permanent presence for the King of France in the deep wilderness of Alabama, then under the control of the Creek Nation. The French had cultivated strong ties with the Alabamas (also spelled Alibamos), who lived around the point where the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers joined to form the Alabama. A branch of the Upper Creeks, but possessing their own languages and customs, the Alabamas were actually a conglomeration of several smaller tribes.

The French needed a presence among them to half English expansion into the Creek country, which was then claimed not only by the Creeks and the French, but by the English and Spanish as well. A log fort called Fort Toulouse, named for the Count de Toulouse who was a son of King Louis XIV, was built on the Coosa River side of the point of land formed by the confluence of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa Rivers.

Despite its remote position deep in the wilderness that then covered virtually all of Alabama, the little settlement at Fort Toulouse survived for more than 45 years. The French built homes, cultivated gardens, intermarried with Indian women and engaged in trading and exploring. Although Fort Toulouse was surrounded by stockade walls and armed with small pieces of cannon, it owed its general survival to the goodwill of the Alabama who remained strongly loyal to the French despite the increasing influence of the English among the Creeks.

Over time, the fort was rebuilt at least once as the Coosa River slowly eroded away the bluff on which it stood. Archaeologists have found the remains of one of the corner bastions (angled projections that extended from the corners of the fort to allow infantry and cannon to sweep the walls in the event of an attack) of the original fort as well as buried traces of the second. Their work at the site has allowed modern interpreters to reconstruct Fort Toulouse so that visitors today can see the important early structure as it originally appeared.

Fort Toulouse was evacuated by the French in 1763 due to the treaty that ended the French and Indian War. Their homes and gardens were reclaimed by the forest and the fort itself soon rotted away. By the end of the century, the only remains still to be seen were a few old cannon abandoned at the site.

To learn more about Fort Toulouse and the other historic features of the site, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/forttoulouse.

Welcome!

Beginning on Monday, April 26th, I will start posting here about the fascinating history, historic sites and points of interest in Alabama.

Alabama is one of our nation's most beautiful states, with terrain that begins in the mountains of the northeast corner of the state and ends on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In between is a region that is one of the most historic in the United States. From early French and Spanish settlements to powerful prehistoric Native American chiefdoms and from battlefields of the American Revolution to battlefields and forts of the War Between the States, Alabama boasts a vast array of historic sites and points of interest. National parks commemorate the Creek War of 1813-1814 and the Selma to Montgomery March during the Civil Rights Era, as well as the contributions of Dr. George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen.

Be sure to watch for our posts starting tomorrow. Until then you can always learn more about Alabama at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/Alabama1.