History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756

USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I > Part 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"Her armament consisted of eight guns; slx 32-pounders, in broadside, and two pivot-guns amidships; one on the forecastle, and the other abaft the main-mast-the former a 100- pounder rifled Blakeley, and the latter, a smooth-bore eight-inch. The Blakeley gun was so deficient in metal, compared with the weight of shot it threw, that, after the first few discharges, when it became a little heated, it was of comparatively small use to us, to such an extent were we obliged to reduce the charge of powder, on account of the recoil. The average crew of the Alabama, before the mast, was about 120 men; and she carried twenty-four officers, as follows: A Captain, four lieutenants, surgeon, paymaster, master, marine officer, 'four engineers, two midship- men, and four master's mates, a Captain's clerk, boatswain, gunner, sailmaker, and car-

penter. The cost of the ship, with everything complete, was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

The history of the activity of this vessel is as thrilling as a chapter from the literature of romance. Reed, in "The South in the Build- ing of the Nation," vol. 12, p. 377, says of Semmes that, "with this single small vessel, roving as cock of the ocean for twenty-two months, he maintained on the high seas an effective blockade of the enemy's commerce all over the globe, so terrifying the great ship- ping interests that, in 1871, they made the Treaty of Washington to amend the law of nations by barring any future Semmes a start from a neutral port." During her career about fifty-seven ships were burned, while many others were released on ransom bond. Since no ports were open for condemnation, Semmes burned his captures as permitted by international law. After almost circum- navigating the globe, he started on his return trip and found himself in the port of Cher- bourg, France. He was almost immediately blockaded by the Kearsarge. In response to the challenge of Semmes, Capt. John A. Win- slow, commanding the Kearsarge, gave battle, June 19, 1864. The latter vessel was superior in tonnage, and carried almost an equal arma- ment. Concealed chain armor rendered the Kearsarge in a measure ironclad. About noon the Alabama struck her colors, and Capt. Semmes and his men plunged into the sea. An English yacht owned by Mr. John Lan- caster, who had been a spectator, rescued about forty of them, including Capt. Semmes, and carried them to England. Nine of the crew of the Alabama were killed, ten drowned and twenty-one wounded. The latter were rescued by the enemy ship.

The celebrated Alabama claims grew out of the complaints of the United States against Great Britain, in part charging delay in seiz- ing Confederate vessels under construction in British ports. After negotiations extending from 1865 to 1869, there was a final agree- ment to submit all claims to five arbitrators. This body was known as the Geneva Tribunal. The arbitration convention contained a formal apology for the escape of the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers from British ports. The result of the arbitration was an award of $15,500,000 against Great Britain. John A. Bolles, solicitor of the U. S. Navy Department, thus wrote of Semmes and his activities:

"Not only did Semmes' official conduct con- form to the well-known policy of the Ameri- can navy, but it was directed by similar in- structions from the secretary of the Confed- erate navy. 'Do the enemy's commerce the greatest injury in the shortest time,' was Mr. Mallory's significant order to Semmes, in June, 1861, and never in naval history has such an order been so signally obeyed; never has there occurred so striking an example of the tremendous power of mischief possessed by a single cruiser acting upon this 'de- structive plan' as that furnished by the 'Sum- ter' and her successor, the 'Alabama,' under the command of Semmes, whose untiring activity, restless energy and fiery zeal found

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

no voyage too long, no movement too rapid or too prompt, no danger too great, no labor too wearisome in the accomplishment of the Confederate purpose to ruin our commerce by destroying our ships."

REFERENCES .- Semmes, Cruise of the Ala- bama and Sumter (1864); lbid, Memoirs of service afloat during the War between the States (1869) ; Dr. Colyer Meriwether, Raphael Semmes (Crisis Biographies, 1913); Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 413; Raphael S. Payne, In Library of Southern Literature (1909), vol. 11; Col. John C. Reed, in The South in the building of the Nation (1909), vol. 12; Lamb, Bio- graphical Dictionary of the United States (1903), vol. 7; and Mclaughlin and Hart, Cyclopedia of American government (1914), vol. 1, p. 23, vol. 2, p. 73.

ALABAMA, PERIODS OF HISTORY. Ala- bama history, from the time of the invasion of De Soto in 1540 until the present time, covers a long period of over 300 years. Dur- ing this time the Spanish, the French, the British, again the Spanish, the United States government, and the state of Georgia suc- cessively laid claim to its soil, either as a whole or in part, Alabama being a portion of that immense territory over which the mighty powers of Europe so long contended, in their vast schemes of conquest and lust of dominion. This long period of historic time, on careful examination, resolves itself into certain clear and well defined periods, each of which is singularly complete in itself, and easily susceptible of distinct and separate treatment. These periods are eight in num- ber.

1. De Soto has been called the discoverer of Alabama soil, and the history of his famous, though ill-fated expedition, which in- cludes his march through Alabama, has been made by all local historians the first period of Alabama history, but this is manifestly incorrect. It is now generally agreed by the best historians that Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca (See his Relacion Valladolid 1555, Paris, 1837), with his three or four compan- ions, the survivors of the expedition of Pani- filo de Narvaez in 1528, in their efforts to reach Mexico overland, passed from north Florida (See Fairbank's Florida) through Alabama and Mississippi, discovered the Mis- sissippi River, and passing through other states finally reached Mexico; and it is fur- ther, now generally regarded that the expedi- tion of De Soto and its full treatment legiti- mately belongs to the history of early voyages of conquest and discovery in America, of which it forms a very interesting chapter. This expedition certainly has no chrono- logical or other connection with the history of Alabama, as such, save that the events transpired in part on what is now its soil. So far as its narration is demanded of the Alabama historian, it should be regarded prin- cipally as an incident in treating of the early Indian inhabitants of the state; and, as it is the first and the last time the white man, in any numbers, is found here until the com- ing of the French in the year 1697, the his-

tory of the country and its inhabitants with an incidental notice of this expedition con- stitute the first period under the name, "The Country and Its Inhabitants Prior to the Coming of the French, 1538-1697."

2. After this "isolated chapter" over a cen- tury and a half pass before Alabama is again known in history. The French, a few years before the close of the seventeenth century, began the establishment of a system of colo- nies in the valley of the Mississippi and other parts of the then southwest, and during about sixty-five years fostered them with a solici- tious care, when in 1763, through the for- tunes of war, they lost all of their possessions in the new world. The causes that led to the spirit of colonization, the history and growth of those planted in Alabama, the war that brought about their acquisition by the British empire and the readjustment of the claims of the other European powers con- stitute the second period, under the name, "The French Period of Colonization, 1697- 1763."

3. At the close of the second period the British held all the land east of the Missis- sippi River, and continued to claim them until the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783, when the territory was ceded to the United States, with a southern boundary of line 31 degrees, north latitude; while the south of line 31 degrees, comprising East and West Florida, was ceded to Spain at the same time. That part of the ceded territory including Ala- bama was claimed in part by Georgia and in part by Spain, their claims conflicting and over- lapping, the former claiming under a colo- nial charter, and the latter by virtue of a cession made to it of the Floridas in 1783. This holding of the British, the cession to the United States, and the conflicting claims of the United States, Spain, Georgia and the Indians, together with an account of the growth of the country in settlement, popula- tion and its government during the time con- . stitute the third period, under the name "British Occupation and Final Cession to the United States, 1763-1798."

4. The history of the Mississippi territory created in 1798, its subsequent enlargement embracing all of the present states of Ala- bama and Mississippi, the reclaiming of Mo- hile from the Spanish, the Indian wars, the creation of the state of Mississippi, the crea- tion of the remaining portions into the Ala- hama territory, the progress, growth and gov- ernment of both territories until the admis- sion of Alabama into the union constitute the fourth period, under the name, "The Territorial Era, 1798-1819."

5. In 1819, the 4th day of December, Ala- bama became a member of the federal union, and remained so during a long and eventful number of years until, in 1861, she withdrew to become one of the Confederate states. The development and growth of the state in all of its departments for over forty years, its progress as compared with its sister states, its public men, its institutions, laws, tradi- tions and thought, ending in a severance of the state relation with the federal govern-

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

ment and the formation of a new gov- ernmental relation constitute the fifth period, under the name "The State of Alabama, 1819- 1861."

6. Alabama became a member of the Con- federate States government and remained so until after its downfall. The four years of life as one of the confederate states con- stitute the sixth period, under the name: "One of the Confederate States, 1861-1865."

7. After the close of hostilities and for nine long and bitter years the people of the state struggled with poverty, ruined fortunes, pernicious reconstruction laws and an element in political power foreign to them and their institutions. Fiually the dawn came in the rescue of the state and in the election of George S. Houston to the chief magistracy. The struggle during the reconstruction period constitute the seventh period, under the name: "The Days of Reconstruction, 1865- 1874."

8. From the election of Houston to the present its growth has been upward. Its his- tory during all the happy years since that time constitute the eighth and last period, under the name: "Our Own Times, 1874."

The foregoing analysis is believed to be es- sentially correct and sustained by the events themselves. Undoubtedly it is open to some objections, but such objections, if examined, will be found to depend upon the point of view, for after all an analysis of events de- pends upon the theory drawn by the historian or writer from the events themselves. To illustrate, suppose that one writer considered the most essential feature of the state's history to be the character of pursuits en- gaged in by the people, then he would say that it should be divided into several periods, the one before the War of Secession when the state was essentially agricultural, and the other comprising the present period of high industrial development. And still an- other might consider the proper division to be threefold: The provincial, the territorial and the state periods, a division adopted by Mr. Claiborne in his valuable history of Mis- sissippi. It would seem obvious that, in these two examples at least, an analysis on such a basis would he far from perfect; and that they are based on entirely irrational principles. The true principle of the analysis of historic time into periods is found in the stages of the growth of the particular state, with due and proper regard to influencing causes. Omitting reference to the first period, which is essentially prefatory and introdutory to the second period, which concerns itself with the first occupation of the white men, it is found that each of the foregoing periods is influenced and its entire course shaped by the particular governing power and, so dis- tinctly so, that with each period the whole face of the country undergoes a complete change. From 1697 to 1763 the French were possessed of the soil; the people were French, with possibly a few exceptions; all towns and other places bore French names; man- ners, customs, habits and the civilization

were essentially and wholly French; and during all those years there was building on the Gulf a splendid new France, an honor to mother state. In 1763, after the seven years' war, France lost all her possessions in the western world. The British in this year, by treaty, came into the ownership of the then southwest, with other territory, and on taking possession began at once the work of adjusting things after the English model. Names were changed; the French in large numbers moved away, and numbers of Anglo- Saxon colonists and traders began to flow into the newly acquired territory. With all of this, the period of French colonist domination in Alabama was ended forever; and the Brit- ish colonial system set in. The British gave comparatively little encouragement to immi- gration, still settlers came in slowly from over the sea and from the States, and gradually the British influence became supreme. During the American War of the Revolution this in- fluence was not broken down; with the growth of population it showed no abatement, and it was long after the war of 1783 that the people became distinctively enough American to de- mand the attention of the Federal congress in the matter of its government. With the creation of the Mississippi territory in 1798 is witnessed the last hour of the period of British influence and domination. The Mis- sissippi territory during the years of its ex- istence represents the distinct growth of a people from the conditions of horder life and civilization to the higher levels of constitu- tional government by the people. The state of Mississippi is formed; two years afterward Alabama entered the union, and the period of border life with its wild incidents, its rude justice and its imperfect government is at an end. Alabama is a sovereign state. From this time on there are no high dividing lines between the events of the years as they pass by, although everything is valuable and im- portant until the war between the states. Here a period of forty years of government under the federal union ends; then comes the period of awful conflict and its end; then the years of dire struggle and supreme effort; and after the dawn, the time that now is.

This statement is an attempt to show the method adopted by the writer in resolving Alabama history into his natural and essen- tial periods. It is not, therefore, a perfect analysis; in fact, the attainment of the perfect in the matter of the analysis of a series of events, such as run over the 300 and more years of Alabama history, is well nigh impos- sible. But after all, this writer is one that does not believe in the infallibility of the taste or the judgment in such a matter, and is happy in the recognition of the wide diversity both of taste and effort in the whole range of intellectual acquirement. What has been said by Augustine Birrell should ever he remem- hered: "Methods will differ, styles will differ. Nobody does anything like anybody else; but the end in view is generally the same, and the historian's end is truthful narration. Maxims he will have, if he is wise, never a one; and

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

as for a moral, if he tells his story well, it will need none; if he tell it ill, it will deserve none."

ALABAMA-STATE NAME. The etymol- ogy of this place name has evoked much dis- cussion among American philological students. It was the aboriginal name of a Muskhogean tribe of the Creek confederacy, whose habitat, when first known to European explorers, was in central Alabama. The principal river of the State received its name from the tribe, and the State in turn was named for the river.

Varied Name Forms .- The tribal name is spelled in various ways by the early explorers, traders, and chroniclers, and by the later writers, Spanish, French, English and Amer- ican. The name is first found in three of the narratives of DeSoto's expedition of 1540, but it is proper to observe, that the particu- lar use of the name, as so recorded, had ref- erence to a subdivision of the Chickasaws, and not the historic Alibamu towns first above referred to. The names are, however, identical. In the list of references given below it will be noted that in some cases the initial vowel is dropped, and that the letter "m" is used for "b," an interchange of these consonants being common in Indian languages.

Through the courtesy of Dr. Frederick W. Hodge, editor, the principal references to this name in the literature referred to, as given in the Handbook of American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 44, are here reproduced:

Aibamos .- Barcia, Ensayo (1723), p. 313. Ala. -H. R. Ex. Doc. 276, 24th Cong. (1836), p. 310, (probably an abbreviation.) Alabama .- Bar- tram, Travels (1791), p. 463. Ala Bamer .- Weatherford (1793) in American State Papers, Indian Affairs (1832), vol. 1, pp. 385. Albamas .- North Carolina (1721) Colonial Records (1886), vol. 2, pp. 422. Alebamah .- Charlevoix, New France (1872), vol. 6, p. 25. Alebamons .- Bou- dinot, Star in West (1816), p. 125. Alibam .- McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes (1854), vol. 3, p. 80. Alibamas .- Nuttall, Journal (1821), p. 287. Alibamies .- Schermerhorn (1812), in Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d series (1814), p. 152. Alibamo,- French, Historical Collections of Louisiana (1850), vol. 2, p. 104. Alibamons .- Dumont, Louisiana (1753), vol. 1, p. 134. Alibamous .- Smythlı, Tour in United States (1784), vol. 1, p. 348. Alibamus .- Brackenridge, Views of Louis- iana (1814), p. 82. Alibanio .- Smith, Coll. Docs. Hist. Florida (1857), vol. 1, p. 56. Alibanons .- N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist. (1858), vol. 10, p. 156. Alimamu .- Gentlemen of Elvas (1539) in Ha- kluyt Society Publications (1851), vol. 9, p. 87. Allibama. - Drake, Book of Indians (1848). Allibamis .- Sibley, Historical Sketches (1806), p. 81. Allibamons .- Bossu (1758), Travels in. Louisiana (1771), vol. 1, p. 219. Allibamous .- Coxe, Carolana (1741), p. 24. Atilamas .- Gat- schet, Creek Migration Legend (1888), vol. 2, p. 13 (Creek name). Aybamos .- Barcia, Ensayo (1723), p. 333. Ewemalas .- Coxe, Carolana (1741), p. 25. Habbamalas .- Spotswood (1720) in North Carolina Colonial Records (1886), vol. 2, p. 383. Halbama .- Vaugondy, map of Amer- ica, Nancy (1778). Holbamas .- Rivers, Early

History South Carolina (1874), p. 97. Limanu. -Ranjel (1541) in Bourne, Narratives of De Soto (1904), vol. 2, p. 136. Ma'-mo an-ya-di .- Dorsey, Biloxi MS. Dict., B. A. E., 1892 (Biloxi name). Ma'-mo han ya .- Ibid (another Biloxi name). Ma'-mo ha yan di' .- Ibid (another Bi- loxi name). Oke-choy-atte .- Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes (1851), vol. 1, p. 266. Olibahalies .- Coxe, Carolana (1741), p. 24.

Genesis .- According to recent investiga- tions of Indianologists, the tribal name, "Ala- bama," must be sought in the Choctaw tongue, as it was not uncommon for tribes to accept, as a national or tribal name, an appellation bestowed upon them by some contiguous tribe. The late Rev. Allen Wright, a highly educated Choctaw, translates the name as "Thicket-clearers," compounded of "Alba," a thicket or mass of vegetation, and "amo," to clear, to collect, to gather up.

Prof. Henry Sale Halbert, by independent study, about the same time, arrived at the same conclusion as that given by Mr. Wright, and he translates the name as "Vegetation- gatherers," that is, gatherers of vegetation in clearing land for agricultural purposes. The word "alba" means such small vegetation as herbs, plants, shrubs and bushes, which were gathered in clearing land, and the word can be applied collectively to a thicket. Hence the translation as given by the Rev. Mr. Wright and that of Prof. Halbert practically agree. The passive voice of "amo" is "almo." In elaborating his views in defense of his position, Prof. Halbert gives two examples of Choctaw local names, "Kantak almo" and "Oski almo," meaning respectively, China brier there gathered, and Cane there gath- ered. If the tribes or clans living at these localities had received special names from their avocations, they would have been known as Kantakamo and Oskamo, just as the noted Indian tribe in the prehistoric past could well have received the name "Alba amo," by fusion of vowels "Albamo," from some neigh- boring Choctaw-speaking tribe, not yet emerged from the hunting into the agricul- tural state.

Confirmatory of the position of Rev. Mr. Wright and the independent conclusions of Mr. Halbert, the definitions of "alba" and "amo" in Rev. Cyrus Byington's Dictionary of the Choctaw Language are given below. The manuscript of this work, prepared prior to 1856, has been published by the Bureau of American Ethnology, under the editorial di- rection of Dr. John R. Swanton and Mr. Hal- bert. The words and their definitions are as follows:

"alba, n., vegetation; herbs; plants; weeds.

"amo, v. t. pl., to pick; to pull; to trim; to mow; to reap, Matt. 6:26; to cut; to clip; to gather, Luke 6:44; to cut off; to crop; to rid; to shear; to slip; panki an aiamo, gather grapes of, Matt. 7:16; shumati akon aiamo, gather of thistles; tabli, sing.

"amo, n., a gatherer; a picker; a · shearer."

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

It is an interesting fact that the late Dr. Albert S. Gatschet, in Creek Migration Leg- end, vol. 1, p. 85, accepts the etymology of Rev. Mr. Wright as above set forth. Other experts in that dialect confess their inability to offer a solution.

Dr. Wm. S. Wyman, of Tuscaloosa, one of the best known students of the State, inclines to the belief that the word means Mulberry people. He says that on the oldest French maps the Alabama River is called "Coussa," from which he conjectures that the name Alabama was first given to it by the French, after they built Fort Toulouse in 1714. He says further that in Tristan de Luna's time (1559) the river was sometimes called "Oli- bahali," or "Ullibali," which is pretty close to the French form, "Alibamon," or "Alaba- mo." In the language of the Alabama tribe he says that "Ullebehalli" means Murberry people.

Inquiry among the early Indians them- selves appears to have been without results as to the meaning of the word. Gen. Thomas S. Woodward in his fascinating book, Rem- iniscences of the Creek, or Muscogee Indians (1859), p. 12, says: "I had heard Col. Haw- kins say in his time, that he had made every inquiry in his power to ascertain if Alabama had any other meaning than the mere name of an Indian town, but never could, unless the name-as it was possible-might be the Indian corruption of the Spanish words for good water, though he doubted that."

"Here We Rest."-The popular belief, which is incorporated in many current his- tories and geographies, is that "Alabama" signifies "Here We Rest." This very pleasing etymology obtained wide currency through the writings of Judge Alexander Beaufort Meek. But the very first suggestion of this meaning of the name, as far as is now known, is to be found in an issue of the Jacksonville Republican, Jacksonville, Ala., July 27, 1842. The real author of the suggestion has not been discovered. In 1868 the phrase found its way on the State seal, and in consequence it has been popularly accepted as the State motto. However, no philologist has found, in any Indian dialect, any word or phrase sim- ilar or akin to the word "Alabama," having such a meaning. While it must therefore, be discarded as philologically untenable, it may be retained in the realm of poetry and romance. The phrase has sometimes been referred to contemptuously as indicating a static, contented, or indolent condition, but the interpretation which would so restrict the word "rest" is wholly unwarranted. Its true meaning emphasizes intelligent choice, as if written, "Here we linger," or "Here we will abide," or "Here we will set up our House- hold Gods." This interpretation in very truth reflects the determination, or decision, of the Indian chieftain and his tribe, of whom the legend is preserved. When reaching the lordly Alabama River, having traveled many leagues, passed through many lands, and over many waters, he proudly exclaimed, "We will go no farther. Our wanderings are ended.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 756

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756