History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 90

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: 724

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Relics of mica have been found in Atlantic States that must have come from a far west- ern region. Sea shells that can only come from the Gulf of Mexico have been found in Ohio mounds. Obsidian relics have been found in Alabama that can only be referred to the Yellowstone region. Relics, too, of shell have been found in Alabama that show an undoubted intercourse with the prehistoric Shawnees of Cumberland River in Tennessee. White quartz arrow points have been found on a village site in Mississippi that certainly came by tribal traffic from the Indians of Alabama.

An account will now be given of some of the Indian trails of Alabama, the facts given, assembled from ancient maps, from ancient books, and from pioneer traditions. This account from the very nature of things is necessarily imperfect, as there can be no doubt that there were numerous other trails, not recorded on maps and in books and not preserved in border tradition. Still the ones that are given will serve to show that the red man of Alabama had a wide intercourse, not only within the bounds of his own tribe, but like the Greek Ulysses of old, he was often a much traveled man, even in the far distant tribes of the East, North, and West.

The Great Southern Trading and Migration Trail led from the mouth of St. John's River, Florida, to the mouth of Red River in Lou- isiana. It crossed the Apalachicola River just below the confluence of the Chattahoochie and Flint, and the Mobile River a few miles above Mobile. It is intimately associated with Mobile Colonial history. Apart from its association with war and traffic, it was the great migration trail used by the Southern Indian tribes and sub-tribes that settled in Louisiana after the fall of French dominion in Mobile.

A trail branched from the great migration trail at the Apalachicola crossing and ran northwest to the Alibamo towns. This trail

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was the great route of intercommunication between the Creeks and the Seminoles.

A continuation of the Apalachicola-Alibamo trail ran from the lower Coosada towns north- westerly by way of Oo-e-asa to Buttahatchee River and thence continued to the Chickasaw Nation. A Chickasaw Indian traveling this trail would have no difficulty in going to the Coosada and Alibamo towns, and thence to the mouth of St. John's River in Florida.

The Great Pensacola Trading Path, known in pioneer days as the wolf trail, was the most noted trail in Alabama. It led from the Alibamo towns, a group of villages occu- pying the site of Montgomery, down to Pen- sacola, and was much used by the Creek Indians, and the traders. By the latter it was enlarged into a horse path, and after- wards it became an American road, much of which is still used. The battle of Burnt Corn occurred on this trail. The present railroad from Montgomery to Pensacola follows closely the lines of the old trail.

A western branch of this trail deflected at Bluff Springs in Escambia County, Florida, and ran northwesterly to the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers.

The Mobile Tuckabatchie Trading Path crossed the wolf trail at Flomaton, passed through Brewton, continuing for some dis- tance on the divide between Persimmon and Pigeon Creeks, crossing the latter creek about eight miles southeast of Greenville and thence on to its terminus at Tuckabatchie. The rail- road from Mobile to Brewton follows closely the line of the old trading path.

The big Trading Path, from Mobile to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, ran about a mile west of Citronelle, thence by Isney in Choctaw County and on to Coosha town in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, thence to Ply- mouth in Lowndes County, Mississippi, thence to the Chickasaw towns. Much of the trad- ing path, then an Indian trail, was traveled by Henri de Tonti in 1702. In American times it became a horse path for traders, afterwards the greater part was used as a post road by the government, and eventually a large part of it was converted into what was known as the Tennessee road.

The Alamuchee-Creek Trail crossed the Tombigbee at the shoals a short distance above the influx of Chickasawhogue in Ma- rengo county. According to local tradition this trail, trending easterly, crossed the Ala- bama River just below the influx of Cahaba, thence to old Town Creek and thence to the Alibamo towns, the site of modern Montgom- ery. The part of the trail leading from Montgomery to Cahaba was certainly the trail traveled by De Soto, and in more recent times a part of the trail formed the basis of the American road leading from Linden to Adams and Martins.

The Great Tombigbee War Crossing was at Black Bluff, Socteloosa, about two miles be- low the influx of Sukinatcha. Several trails from the Choctaw country converged at this crossing and then continuing as one trail for some distance to the east of the river, where the trail forked, one branch leading to Ok-

fuskee on the Tallapoosa and the other to Coosada on the Alabama. This crossing was greatly used by the Creeks and Choctaws in their wars.

After the surrender of Fort Toulouse, large numbers of Coosadas (Coshattees) and Aliba- mos settled at Black Bluff, and for some dis- tance thence down the river. At the outbreak of the Creek-Choctaw war of 1766 these Tom- higbee settlers received such rough treatment from both belligerents that they returned to their former homes on the Alabama.

The Great Savannah-Mississippi River Trail led from Savannah up to the northern part of Effingham County, thence went west to Tuckabatchie, thence continuing its course to its terminus at Milliken's Bend on the Mis- sissippi-a trail equal in length to the Great Southern Migration Trail.

Two great trails from the east united at Flat Rock in Franklin County, Alabama, and thence continued west to the Chickasaw Na- tion. One of these trails came from the Chattahoochie to Little Okfuskee thence to Flat Rock. The other, the High Town trail, started from Tellico in Monroe county, East Tennessee, thence southwest to Coosa town, and from it to Flat Rock.

The Great Cumberland River War trail led from the Hickory Ground up the east side of Coosa River up to Turkey town, thence to the well-known Creek crossing on the Ten- nessee River, near the mouth of Town Creek, above Guntersville, thence to the Cumberland settlements in Tennessee. There were three other crossings on the Tennessee River, one at Guntersville, one two miles below it, and one at Ditto's Landing. But the one near the mouth of Town Creek was the most noted and most used by war parties in their raids against the Cumberland Settlements.

A trail led northwardly from the Coshattee towns and united with the Cumberland war trail in Marshall County. This was the trail used by the Coshattee war parties.

A trail led from Will's Town, a Cherokee town, and united with the Cumberland war trail at the Creek crossing.

A trail led from the Creek crossing on the Tennessee to Nickajack, thence the trail con- tinued to Tellico Blockhouse. That part of the trail from the Creek crossing to Larkins Landing in Jackson County was afterwards a public road and was the first mail route established in Marshall County.

The Great Charleston-Chickasaw Trail crossed Savannah River at Augusta, whence the trail ran to Okfuskee in the upper Creek country. From this town it ran to Coosa, thence to Squaw shoals on the Black War- rior, thence to the old Chickasaw crossing at Cotton Gin. It was first traveled by Col. Welsh in 1698, and afterwards used by the English traders. At the crossing on the Chat- tahoochie a branch of the trail ran to the Alibamo towns.

White Settlement; Pioneer Road Begin- nings; and Early Territorial and State Road Extension. The foregoing presents in brief, but in as accurate and complete form as in short compass can now be done, the highways

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of the Southern Indian country about 1775. It was with conditions of land travel and transportation as here indicated that the Colo- nial and Provincial trade had been carried on about one hundred years, and with these and slowly changing conditions that the settle- ment of this vast area was to go on for the next quarter of a century.

At the outbreak of the American Revolu- tion in 1776 there was not a white settlement within the limits of the present States of Ala- bama and Mississippi, and in West Florida, save at Mobile, Natchez and Pensacola. Here and there, however, throughout this vast ter- ritory were occasional white settlers, usually traders or trappers, but their stay in any one locality was never permanent. During the progress of hostilities between the colonies and Great Britain, and immediately following its close, from time to time, small portions of refugees from Georgia, and the Carolinas, drifted into what was vaguely known as the Georgia Western Country, and located them- selves in the Alabama-Tombigbee basin. Their actual settlements were in the present Clarke, Baldwin and Washington Counties. In Pickett's Alabama is an interesting pic- ture of these first settlements.

The close of the Revolution found the number increasing, and the Spaniards en- couraged further immigration. The Choctaw Indians had in 1765 ceded a tract of land West of the Mobile River and extending North to the Sintabogue in the present Wash- ington County. Grants of lands in this ces- sion were made, and later, cessions were made indiscriminately in the delta country, now in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon and twenty miles north and several miles east and west.

By 1798 when the Mississippi Territory was formed, these settlements had expanded until there were several hundred souls in the Tombigbee country. The social, economic and political affairs of these people demanded regulation, and on June 4, 1800, Washington County was laid out by executive proclama- tion. It embraced practically all of the present South Alabama, north of line 31 degrees.

Contemporaneously with the growth of these settlements in the heart of the present Alabama, was the general growth of what is historically known as the Old South-West, perhaps the most remarkable and fascinating period in the annals of American settlement. From the Atlantic seaboard the pressure of population westward found. its way into the Northwest, the present states of Kentucky and Tennessee, and down the Mississippi River to the Natchez country.

The migration into the Alabama section of the Mississippi territory moved rapidly until checked by the Creek War of 1813-14. Up to that time five counties had been formed. The short, sharp and swift series of cam- paigns under Jackson, Coffee, Floyd, and Clai- borne ending with the battle of the Horse Shoe Bend March 27, 1814, broke the Creek power, and within the next five years more than one hundred thousand people had lo- cated in Alabama. The Alabama Territory

had been formed March 3, 1817, and Dec. 14, 1819, a joint resolution was adopted admitting the State into the Federal Union.

The coming of the pioneers, their settle- ment in groups here and there throughout those parts of the State then open to immi- grants, and the formation of towns, all af- fected directly the location and opening up of permanent roads, but at the same time the early Indian trails and the government roads had themselves in a measure shaped. and directed the trend of settlement.

The evolution therefore of the pioneer road from the old Indian trails, paths and trade routes was not only an easy, but a natural process. The coming of the white settlers was along these highways, if they could be so dignified. Some came, however, by the river routes. Another very natural condition was the planting of little settlements along or near the trails. At first there were no vehicles, but with the larger movements of immigrants and the coming of the wealthier class, the rolling hogshead, the gig and the wagon were employed. The widening of the trails, the selection of new routes, the erection of ferries, the laying of causeways and the opening of houses of entertainment followed.

Twenty-two counties were in existence when the Constitution was adopted in 1819. The Legislatures of 1819, 1820 and 1821 created ten more. Those represented more or less contiguous groups of settlements, while at the same time their boundaries were in part determined by physical conditions. County seats were located largely from reasons of convenience to the people, both as regards streams and roads. The latter therefore both determined and were determined by town lo- cations.

Some of these highways will now be de- scribed:

Natchez Trace .- The oldest of these is what is known in Southern history as the Natchez Trace, or the Great Columbian High- way. Its Northern terminus was Nashville, Tennessee; its Southern, Natchez, Mississippi Territory. It was not only the earliest of the highways projected by the Federal gov- ernment in anticipation of and as a part of its policy of opening up the lower Mississippi and the Old Southwest, but it is to he com- pared with the Old Federal Road only in his- toric importance. Its route was southwest, passing the present towns of Franklin and Columbia, Tenn., and crossing the Tennessee River a few miles below Mussel Shoals at Colbert's Ferry. The authorization of the road is to be found in treaties with the Chickasaws and Choctaws dated October 24, 1801, and Dec. 17, 1801, respectively. This road constituted the first post route in the Southern country. It entered Alabama in the northern part of Lauderdale County, crossed the Tennessee River at Colbert's Ferry, and passed through the northwest section of the present Colbert (formerly Franklin) County.

Old Federal Road .- The second of the high ways in the Gulf country to receive Fed- eral recognition was what is historically known as the Old Federal Road. Originally

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an Indian trail, by treaty with the Creeks, Nov. 14, 1805, it was formally recognized as "a horsepath through the Creek county, from the Ocmulgee to the Mobile." By 1811 it had expanded to the other with emigrants from the western part of the territory.

It was the great highway from the South Atlantic seaboard and the interior of Geor- gia to the whole of South Alabama and South Mississippi. Its influence was far- reaching. In historic importance it is rivalled only by the Natchez Trace. For Alabama history proper it must take first rank. It survives and is in part still used. It en- tered the State at Fort Mitchell in Russell county, and passed in part through the pres- ent counties of Russell, Macon, Montgomery, Lowndes and Butler, formed a part of the boundary line between Monroe and Conecuh Counties, and continued through Baldwin and Washington Counties. Along its route in early days were located Fort Mitchell and Fort Bainbridge, Russell County, Fort Hull, Macon County, Mt. Meigs, Montgomery County, Fort Dale, Butler County, and Fort Montgom- ery in Baldwin County. Over it traveled Lorenzo Dow and wife, Peggy Dow, Vice- President Aaron Burr, Gen. LaFayette and other celebrities. About 1807, it was ex- tended westwardly from Old St. Stephen to Natchez.

Gen. Jackson's Old Military Road .- The Tennessee terminus of this road was the town of Columbia, where united it with or branched from the Natchez Trace. It ran southwest and a few miles east of the Natchez Trace, entering Alabama in the northern part of Lauderdale County and crossing the Ten- nessee River at Florence. It continued south- west through Tuscumbia, Colbert (formerly Franklin) County, Russellville, Franklin County ( where it crossed the Gaines Road or Trace), old Pikeville, Marion County, Sulli- gent (old Moscow), Lamar (then Marion) County, to Columbus, Miss.

The date and circumstances of its projec- tion and opening are obscure. It had evi- dently been opened up, in part at least, prior to April 27, 1816, on which date Congress made an appropriation "for the purpose of repairing and keeping in repair the road between Columbia, on Duck River, in the State of Tennessee, and Madisonville, in the State of Louisiana, by the Choctaw agency." Government work under this authorization and subsequent orders of the War Depart- ment began in June, 1817. The work was completed in January, 1820.

Gaines' Road, or Trace .- This road ex- tended from Melton's Bluff, at the head of Elk River shoals, on the South bend of the Tennessee River, in Lawrence County, to Cot- ton Gin Fort, on the Tombigbee River. It passed through Courtland, Lawrence County, near LaGrange, Colbert (then Franklin) County, and Russellville, Franklin County, where it crossed Gen. Jackson's Old Military Road. Under the treaty with the Chickasaws of Sept. 26, 1816, it became the eastern boun- dary of that tribe. It was originally a horse- path used for bringing merchandise from the

Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River, whence it was carried by boats to the Indian trading house at St. Stephens.

Pensacola and Fort Mitchell Road .- In the months of June, July and August, 1824, a road, 233 miles in length was constructed from Pensacola, Fla., to Fort Mitchell, Ala. It extended northeast through Covington, Pike, Barbour and Russell Counties, prob- ably passing old Montezuma, and Troy. The work of opening up this road seems to have been done under the direction of Capt. D. E. Burch, an Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. Army.

Other Roads .- From the great crossing places on the Tennessee, the Chattahoochee, the Alabama and the Tombigbee Rivers ra- diated many roads, extending into every sec- tion of the State. Tuscumbia, Elyton, Tus- caloosa, Montgomery, old Montezuma (Cov- ington County), Greensboro, Russellville, De- mopolis, and other points were important road centers. And long before the removal of the Creek Indians, thoroughfares pene- trated every section of East Alabama.

Among the early Indian trails which later became roads and some of which at the pres- ent time have become improved highways are:

Mobile and Hobuckintopa trail, from Mo- bile to the Old Choctaw village of that name, the site later of Old St. Stephen.

Hobuckintopa and Creek Nation trail, cross- ing the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers up into the Creek Country.

The Pascagoula trace, or the Chickasahay trading path, from Hobuckintopa to the Chickasahay River at the point four miles below its influx into Buckatunna Creek, thence down the east side of the Chickasahay River and the Pascagoula River, to the Gulf. The path was a part of the trail to the Creek Nation.

Coosa-Fort Tombeche trail, from Coosa town in Talladega County, to Tuscaloosa, thence direct to Fort Tombecbe.

Creek Nation-Yazoo trail, from the Upper Creek Country, crossing the Tombigbee River, near Warsaw, and thence going across the State of Mississippi to the mouth of the Ya- zoo River.

Coosada-Little Okfuskee trail, from Coo- sada by way of Weoka to Okfuskee, thence up to the Tallapoosa River, to Little Okfus- kee.

Coosada (Koassati)-Chickasaw trail, from Coosada up the west side of the Coosa River to the most northern Creek Settlement, thence to the Chickasaw Nation, and, it would seem by the way of Flat Rock.

Fort Toulouse-Lower Creek path, from Fort Toulouse to the falls of the Tallapoosa River (the present city of Tallassee) dividing a few miles beyond here, one branch leading to Cussetta (Kasihta) in the present Fort Benning Military Reservation, the other to Coweta (Kawita). The road later connected Fort Jackson with Fort Mitchell.

Walnut Hills-Nashville, from Walnut Hills on the Mississippi River, to Nashville, Tenn.,

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crossing the extreme northwestern corner of Alabama.

Broken Arrow-Coosa River path, from Broken Arrow-Liikatska-12 miles below Fort Mitehell on Chattahoochee River, through the present Oswichee community via Fort Mitchell to Tukabatchi, thence to Coosa River, northwest and above the Fort Jack- son-Fort Mitchell Path, up to Cosa town.

Chiaha-Alibamo Towns trail, from Chiaha on the Chattahoochee River, west to the Alibamo Towns near the present Montgom- ery. The road from Cussetta (Kasihta) covered the same path, and this was in part, later the Old Federal Road.

Chickasahay-Little Okfuskee trail from Chickasahay town to the Natchez Village in Talladega County, thence southeast to Lit- tle Okfuskee, thence to the Chattahoochee River settlements.

Upper Creek-Vicksburg path, from the Upper Creek Country, west through Pickens County, Ala., thence to Vicksburg on the Mis- sissippi. It was this path that Tecumseh traveled during his visit in 1811.

Little Okfuskee-Chickasaw Nation path, from the Chattahoochee River, through Little Okfuskee and Flat Rock, joining the High- town trail, and leading to Copper town in the Chickasaw Nation.

Hightown path, from High Shoals on the Apalache River to High Town in the fork of the Oostenalla and Etowa Rivers, the site of the modern Rome, Ga., thence to Turkey Town of the Cherokee County, to Coosa, thence to Flat Rock in the northwestern part of the State, thence to Copper Town of the Chickasaw Nation.

Chilako Nini trail, crossing the Upper Chat- tahoochee River at Horse Ford, which this word signifies, appears to be the upper main trail at the date of Bowen's map. This road led from Augusta, Georgia, to the Chickasaw Nation and in part traversed other roads re- ferred to herein.

Squaw Shoals trail, from Okfuskee, west and northwest to the Chickasaw Nation, crossing the Black Warrior River at the Squaw Shoals in the present Tuscaloosa County. Adair is the authority for the state- ment that the French had at one time con- templated establishing a garrison on the Black Warrior River. He says the place selected was the Shoals (Adair, American Indians, page 328.)

Mobile-Pensacola road. - Andrew Jack- son's army after his arrival at Mobile in 1814, proceeded to Pensacola. As no high- ways had been started at this early date, the army doubtless traversed an Indian trail, probably the one used in part from the Tensas settlements in Baldwin County to Pensacola and part of the Old Trading Path, up into the Nation, long in use.

Creek path, Coosa to Cumberland River Trail. This trail, noted in history as the Creek Path, led from Coosa Town, but may be considered as starting from the Hickory Ground. It ran northward to the present Red Hill in Marshall County, when was founded about 1790, Brown's Village, a well

known Cherokee town. At this place the trail divided, one branch crossing the Ten- nessee River, at Ditto's Landing, the other crossing it about two miles below Gunters- ville, and another crossing two or three miles above it. The Creek Path was the noted trail used by the Creeks living at Coosa and the Hickory Ground on their inroads into the Cumberland settlements in Tennessee.

The route of Jackson from Fayetteville, Tenn., to Fort Jackson. The army no doubt traversed already laid out paths, from Fay- etteville, Tenn., to Huntsville, crossing the Tennessee River, to Ditto's Landing, march- ing up the river to Thompson's Creek, where they established Fort Deposit, and going from thence to where they established Fort Strother, at the present Lock in St. Clair County, on the Coosa River. He marched thence southwest to Old Fort Toulouse, es- tablishing Fort Jackson, going here imme- diately from Horseshoe Bend, therefore must have used one of the trails leading from Coosada and the Alibamo towns up the Coosa River to the Northern Creek settlements.

In October, 1814, Colonel Coffee led over- land a part of the army from east Alabama to Mobile, and the other section of the army had proceeded from Fort Jackson in boats, after the Treaty in August. Colonel Coffee proceeded from Fort Jackson by the Alibamo towns trail, doubtless a part of old Apala- chicola-Alibamo towns road, and passed by Mount Vernon, therefore used a part of the Old Federal road opened during 1811 pre- viously.

REFERENCES .- Cary, map of the Mississippi Territory; Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creek Indians (1884), pp. 129, 136, 151, 152, et. sec .; Alabama History Commission, Re- port (1900); Cary, mop of Tennessee, 1818; Adair, American Indians (1775) ; Colyar, Life of Jackson (1904), vol. 2; Partin, Life of Jack- son (1861); Buell, Life of Jackson (1904) ; Bureau of American Ethnology, 18th Annual Report; Bowen, Map; Mitchell, Map (1755) ; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile (1910); Halbert Mss. in Alabama Department of Archives and History.

ROANOKE. Incorporated town and post office in the southeast corner of Randolph County, in sec. 35, N. 1/2 of sec. 26, SE. 14 of sec. 27, E. 12 of sec. 34, T. 21, R. 12; and on the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Rail- road, and the northern terminus of the La- fayette branch of the Central of Georgia Railway, about 20 miles from Wedowee, 18 miles north of Lafayette, and 35 miles north of Opelika. Altitude: 846 feet. Population: 1888-350; 1890-631; 1900-1,155; 1910 --- 2,034; 1916-3,538. It was incorporated by the legislature, December 13, 1900. It has a city hall, erected in 1897, a jail, muni- cipally owned electric light and water-works plants, a volunteer fire department, 5 miles of sanitary sewerage, and concrete sidewalks. Its tax rate is 5 mills and its bonded indebt- edness $35,000, due in 1921, with interest at 5 per cent, and $40,000, due in 1933 and 1934, with interest at 5 per cent. Its banks

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 90

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: 724

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: 724