The Battle of Hobdy's Bridge, Alabama

Pea River at Hobdy's Bridge Battlefield

The last major battle of the long series of wars between the warriors of the Creek Nation and the whites took place in Alabama on March 24, 1837.
Spanning the Pea River between Pike and Barbour Counties, Hobdy's Bridge is still a named crossing place of the Pea River. A modern concrete bridge now carries traffic on State Road 130 across the river, but in 1837 the bridge was a long wooden span and causeway.

The tragic series of events leading to the battle began in February of 1837.  The forced removal of the entire Creek Nation to new lands in what is now Oklahoma was then underway.  An estimated 14,527 Creek men, women and children were already on the Trail of Tears, many of them seized during the Creek War of 1836 (or Second Creek War) that had erupted the previous spring.

Led by Neamathla, Jim Henry (later called James McHenry) and other key leaders of the Lower Creeks, warriors had fought against white forces along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia and Alabama. Their goal was to prevent their forced removal to the west, but despite early successes, their war ended in failure. The important leaders of the resistance were seized and thousands of men, women and children taken prisoner and forced into what were essentially concentration camps.

Marker at Bridge
Gives battle date incorrectly as 1836.

This process continued into 1837, when things took an even uglier turn. White outlaws raided several of the concentration camps. In one case, an elderly and blind man was killed and a young girl shot in the leg after she resisted attempts by the raiders to sexually assault her:

...The same men had in several instances accomplished their diabolical views upon the frightened women, and in many cases deprived them by force of finger-rings, ear-rings, and blankets. Many of their women and whole families, under a state of alarm, ran to the swamp, where the major part of them are still, and no doubt viewed as hostile. I have used every possible means to draw them out
without success.... - 1837 Account by U.S. Indian Agent.

Several hundred men, women and children fled into the Pea River swamps and began and desperate attempt to make their way to Florida. Outraged over the attacks, they were determined to fight their way through if that's what it took.

Pea River at Hobdy's Bridge Battlefield

The confrontation they prepared themselves for was not long in coming. Led by General William Wellborn (also spelled Wellborne and Welborne), a large force of volunteers and militia men left Eufaula to find and capture or kill the fleeing Creeks.

The camp of the refugees was found in in the swamps about one mile north of Hobdy's Bridge. Wellborn advanced in two columns, one moving up each side of the river from the bridge, The camp was located on a spot protected somewhat by two branches of the river. Fighting erupted as the soldiers approached and a vicious swamp battle resulted.

Modern Hobdy's Bridge near Louisville, Alabama

Wellborn reported that his men fought while wading through mud and water. The Creek warriors fought desperately to allow time for the women and children to escape. Some women joined in the fighting. One eyewitness account described a knife fight between soldiers and two of the women, both of whom were killed.

When the smoke finally cleared, the bodies of 23 Creek warriors were found in the swamp. Apparently this number did not include the two women knifed to death. Most of the people from the camp, however, disappeared into the swamp and could not be captured.

The Battle of Hobdy's Bridge was the last significant battle between the Creeks and the whites, but other fighting would follow as the desperate men, women and children from the camp made their way south into Florida.

To learn more about the battle, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/hobdys1.

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.

Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center - Fort Mitchell, Alabama

Perhaps the most beautiful and emotion-invoking monument in Alabama stands on a high ridge overlooking the Chattahoochee River valley at Fort Mitchell. It memorializes the last ceremonial fire of the Creek Nation before its removal west on the Trail of tears.

A centerpiece of the Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center, the Ceremonial Flame memorial reminds visitors of the significance of the land on which they are walking. This site, adjacent to the old U.S. Army post of Fort Mitchell, was where thousands of Creek men, women and children were assembled in camps before being moved west under military escort. Untold numbers of them died due to starvation, disease, exposure and other hardships before they reached the Indian Nations of today's Oklahoma.

Panels surrounding the memorial list the names from the final census of the Creeks before their "removal." They provide an startling reminder of how many Creek families once lived in Alabama and how many lost their homes in 1836-1838 when they were driven from their land.

The Heritage Center adjoins Fort Mitchell Historic Site, which features a beautiful visitor center/museum, restored frontier fort and other historic sites and exhibits. The two combine to create one of the most interesting and educational heritage attractions in Alabama.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ALChatt1.