Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South

Mobile Bay appears in outline on Waldeemueller Map.

Rio del Espiritu (probably Mobile Bay and River) appears on map [1520] drawn by Pineda following visit along Gulf of Mexico in 1519.

De Narvaez arrives at Mobile Bay.

Hernando De Soto and his army, first white men to tra- verse Alabama region, arrive.

Battle of Mauvila; Tuscaloosa slain.

Rio del Espiritu Sancto shown on map by Cabot.

De Luna establishes Spanish settlement on Mobile Bay.

De Luna settlement on Mobile Bay abandoned.

Charles I makes Carolina grant to Sir Robert Heath overlapping Spanish Alabama territory.

Second Carolina grant from Charles II to Carteret and others.

Iberville discovers Massacre, now Dauphin Island.

Bienville builds settlement at Fort Louis de la Mobile.

Fort Louis de la Mobile moved to present site of Mobile.

La Mothe Cadillac, governor of Mobile; Bienville, lieutenant governor.

Fort Toulouse built near site of present Wetumpka.

Ship Marechal de Villars, the De Serigny flagship, lands first shipload of slaves on Dauphin Island.

Ship Hercules lands slaves in Mobile.

Name of Fort Louis de la Mobile changed to Fort Conde la Mobile.

New Orleans becomes capital of Louisiana.

Alabama territory included in Georgia grant to Oglethorpe and others "in trust for the poor."

Disastrous hurricane and epidemic sweeps Mobile.

Fort Tombecbe (now Epes) on Tombecbe (Tombigbee) River built by Bienville.

At the south end of the bridge is Jones Bluff, the Site of Fort Tombigbee. Bienville, governor of Louisiana Territory, sent a company of soldiers and artisans under Colonel M. Lussier to erect the fort in 1735 as a supply depot and permanent trading post.

In April, 1736, Bienville himself set out from Mobile on what was planned as a punitive expedition against the Chickasaw. In the fleet of more than 60 boats, the most imposing ever seen on the Tombigbee at that time, he brought soldiers, adventurers, loafers, convicts, sailors, Canadian woodsmen, monks, and priests. After a brief stop at Fort Tombigbee the company proceeded to Ackia, in present eastern Mississippi, and was defeated by the aroused Chickasaw with the loss of many men. Bienville retreated to the fort and then returned to Mobile, leaving behind a garrison of 30 French and 20 Swiss soldiers under De Berthel.

In the fleet of more than 60 boats, the most imposing ever seen on the Tombigbee at that time, he [Bienville] brought soldiers, adventurers, loafers, convicts, sailors, Canadian woodsmen, monks, and priests. After a brief stop at Fort Tombigbee the company proceeded to Ackia, in present eastern Mississippi, and was defeated by the aroused Chickasaw with the loss of many men. Bienville retreated to the fort and then returned to Mobile, leaving behind a garrison of 30 French and 20 Swiss soldiers under De Berthel.

In 1752, when the Chickasaw were again giving trouble, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who had succeeded Bienville as governor, invaded their country and was also defeated. He likewise returned to Mobile by way of Fort Tombigbee, and ordered the post enlarged and strengthened.

Mobile ceded to Great Britain by Treaty of Paris.

At the close of the French and Indian Wars, in 1763, the British were given possession of the fort [Tombigbee] and renamed it Fort York. After 5 years of occupation they removed the garrison and left it undefended for the remaining 15 years of their domination.

At the close of the French and Indian Wars, in 1763, the British were given possession of the fort [Tombigbee] and renamed it Fort York. After 5 years of occupation they removed the garrison and left it undefended for the remaining 15 years of their domination.

Galvez captures Mobile. City under Spanish rule 33 years.

Britain cedes United States all territory east of Mississippi except Florida.

When the Spaniards took over this region in 1783, they rebuilt the post and called it Fort Confederation. Later, when the boundary of the Spanish Territory was fixed on parallel 310, Americans occupied the old defense.

United States-Choctaw treaty sets aside special land grants for Choctaw Nation and extends to them protection due United States citizens.

1807 St. Stephens platted on site of Spanish fort (built about 1788).

Andrew Ellicott appointed commissioner to determine southern boundary between United States and Spain.

Territory of Mississippi created; Winthrop Sargent governor; Natchez, capital.

Andrew Ellicott completes survey of 31st parallel. Spanish garrison at Fort St. Stephens relieved by U. S. troops.

First county (Washington) in Alabama established.

First cotton gin in Alabama erected at Coosada Bluff, present Montgomery County, by Abram Mordecai.

Fort Confederation [Tombigbee]… Here, in 1802, was negotiated one of the series of treaties by which the United States absorbed the Choctaw lands at a price of one broken promise per square mile. The Colonial Dames of America have placed on the site a marker with the inscription: "Here Civilization and Savagery met and the Wilderness Beheld the Glory of France."

Georgia cedes to United States all territory between 31st and 35th parallels for $1,250,000.

Jefferson College, Autauga County, AL founded.

1807 St. Stephens platted on site of Spanish fort (built about 1788).

Indian wars in Alabama.

General James Wilkinson captures Mobile from Spain.

Battle of Burnt Corn in Alabama.

Fort Mims Massacre; 500 killed in Alabama.

Battle of Holy Ground in Alabama.

Battle of Horseshoe Bend; General Andrew Jackson defeats Creek Indians; 20-year peace follows.

Creek Indians cede to United States nearly half of present State of Alabama. Fort Jackson erected on site of Fort Toulouse. Monroe County organized.

Chickasaw relinquish claim to territory south of Tennessee.

Alabama Territory created; William Wyatt Bibb governor; John Crowell, delegate to Congress; capital, St. Stephens.

French Vine and Olive Colony Company, formed by Napoleonic exiles, settled on 92,160 acres of land in Marengo County by Congressional grant.

Alabama admitted into Union.

University of Alabama chartered.

Patrol system established [in AL] to prevent escape of slaves.

Disastrous fire sweeps Mobile.

1829 Methodist Protestant church organized.

1829 Methodist Protestant church organized.

Among the cedars that cover the rolling earth of this section, the Choctaw gathered in 1831 for three days of lamentation before they began the long trip westward, away from their ancestral homeland.

University of Alabama opened.

First Alabama railroad begun.

Creek and Chickasaw Indians cede to United States all right to territory east of Mississippi.

Cherokee cede lands in Cherokee, DeKalb and Marshall Counties under Echota Treaty.

Creek Indians commit sporadic depredations in East Alabama. Transfer of Indians to Western reservations begun.

Choctaw cede to Alabama all their lands east of Mississippi.

Imprisonment for debt abolished in [AL?].

Disastrous drought. Yellow fever epidemic, 686 die in Mobile; ruinous fire in Mobile.

Yellow fever epidemic in Mobile; 764 die.