USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 12
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In 1806, the ambitious schemes of Aaron Burr had created much excite- ment throughout the territories. After the completion of his term as vice-president, this remarkable man turned his restless spirit toward the southwest. Much conjecture and speculation have existed as to his real designs; his friends giving him credit for the best of purposes, and oth- ers insisting that he intended the establishment of a great empire, to include Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and much if not all of the territory , from which the gulf states have since been formed.
His purpose seems to have been to collect a body of followers, conquer Texas, perhaps Mexico, and establish a government with himself at the head. Associated with this plan was the hope that the western states, falling away from the union, would ultimately cast their lot with him, making New Orleans the capital of the new nation. He was not the first, nor was he the last, to be captivated by the idea of a Mexican republic or monarchy, with its possibilities for the accumulation of vast wealth and extraordinary power. Glowing anticipations of success in founding a great, prosperous and powerful government were indulged in by his ad- miring friends and followers, and a number of adventurous young men from the frontier states and territories flocked to him. It was said that he had actually concluded negotiations for a tract of land on Washita river for $40,000 as a rendezvous for his followers. Events advanced rapidly and Burr's plans were nearly ripe for excecution, when in Novem- ber, 1806, the president, who had not been entirely unaware of the whole proceeding, issued a proclamation condemning it, and the leaders were arrested.
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Burr was arrested in Mississippi and arraigned; but the grand jury, after investigating the charges, presented a written opinion that "Aaron Burr had not been guilty of any crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the United States or of the Mississippi territory." Burr then pro- ceeded to Alabama, where he was again arrested near Fort Stoddard in Washington county, by Captain Gaines, afterward Major-General Gaines, United States army. After a delay of two weeks, Captain Gaines organ- ized an escort of nine picked men, who started with the illustrious pris- oner overland to Richmond. The journey occupied twenty-one days, with several thrilling experiences; and while the story of his capture may not properly belong to military history, it is at least possible that had not Burr's plans, been thwarted. the whole history of the southwest would have been quite different.
In spite of the unpopularity caused by his duel with Hamilton, he possessed extraordinary magnetism, and his audacity, his plausibility, and his fascinating manners captivated the southern people, with whom he was a great favorite. It was a most delicate mission to convey him to Richmond as a prisoner, but it was accomplished with great tact, and on his arrival there he was indicted for treason. At his trial, in August, 1807, he assisted in his own defense; and he was finally acquitted, but his fortunes and reputation were irretrievably ruined.
One of the most powerful agents in provoking hostilities between the whites and the Indians was Tecumseh. He was of Shawnee parentage and was born in the forests of Ohio in 1768. His career of hostility to the whites was commenced about the year 1789, from which period he was continually engaged in intrigues against the Americans. Possessing a fine form and commanding appearance with a great sagacity and a relent- less hatred of the American colonists, he exercised wonderful influence among the native tribes. After many conferences with the British, at Detroit, in October, 1812, Tecumseh went south to stir up the southern tribes against the settlers. The Seminoles, Creeks, Choctaws, and other tribes listened to the fiery arguments of the Shawnee chief and became gradually worked up to a high pitch of hatred and revenge. All the set- tlements were in danger and there were frequent outrages perpetrated by the excited savages. The first battle in the bloody war with the Creeks was the battle of Burnt Corn in July, 1813, in which the Americans under the command of Colonel James Caller were unsuccessful. On the 30th of July, Colonel Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers and was sent from Baton Rouge for the defense of Mobile. His men were chiefly sustained by supplies raised by mortgages on his own property. He constructed a series of forts and took every precau- tion to secure the safety of the people.
On August 30, 1813, occurred one of the most shocking massacres recorded in history, the unfortunate affair at Fort Mims. This fort was situated near Lake Tensaw about a mile east of the Alabama river. It
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was located in an unhealthy place and was insufficiently defended. The whole population, consisting of whites, Indians, soldiers, officers and negroes, amounted to five hundred and fifty-three souls, many of whom were helpless women and children. At noon just as the whole garrison was off guard, some dining , others amusing themselves, the fort was attacked by a thousand Creek warriors, under the leadership of the famous William Weatherford. The inmates defended themselves with desperate courage, but were unable to cope with the overwhelming num- bers, and only twenty-two of them escaped the fearful slaughter which followed. The assault lasted five hours, and when night closed. where the happy peaceful settlement had stood, there was nothing left but a pile of smoking ruins filled with mutilated corpses.
This was followed by many other atrocities, and so great was the ter- ror of the people that the whole population was soon crowded into a few forts. Dispatches were sent to Nashville, and General Jackson, at the head of a large force, quickly made his way to the seat of war.
On the 3d of November, General Coffee, with nine hundred men, crossed the Coosa and advanced upon the Tallashatchee towns in an ex- tended double column, completely defeated the enemy and destroyed their villages. Four days later occurred the battle of Talladega, and on the 18th, General White captured and destroyed a Hillabee town. Gen- eral Floyd, at the head of the Georgia militia, about the same time gained a great victory over the Indians Tat Autossee on the Talapoosa, the metrop- olis and sacred city of the Creeks. In December General Claiborne, with the Mississippi troops and a body of Choctaws, attacked the town of Eccanachaca or "Holy Ground," Weatherford's stronghold, defeated the Indians, burned the town and devastated the surrounding country.
The opening of the new year witnessed the commencement of a new campaign. January 21, General Jackson, with reinforcements, encamped on Emuckfau creek, twelve miles from the Horseshoe bend of the Talla- poosa, where the hostile Indians were collected in large numbers. Here they were attacked vigorously by the enemy, but a furious charge of the cavalry under General Coffee routed the Indians, driving them back with great slaughter. These attacks were continually repeated and the advance upon the Horseshoe bend was for a time abandoned. January 27th, the Creeks. who called themselves Red Sticks from the war tokens used by the tribe, attacked General Floyd at Camp Defiance, drove in the senti- nels and produced . much alarm, but the Americans soon rallied and repulsed them with great slaughter.
Early in March Jackson was appointed a major-general in the United States service, and was reinforced by some regular troops. He deter- mined to end the power of the Creeks by exterminating them in their stronghold. The Horseshoe bend was admirably situated for defense, was strongly fortified against attack and was garrisoned by about one thousand warriors. The mounted men and nearly all the allied Indians, under
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General Coffee, surrounded the bend on the opposite bank, and Jackson, with the artillery. advanced upon the works from the land side. In a few hours the conflict ended with the complete rout and destruction of the Indians. It is believed that not more than twenty of the latter escaped with their lives. The Americans lost fifty-four killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. This famous battle entirely destroyed the power of the Creeks, and virtually ended the war in Alabama. Meanwhile Colonel Pearson, with his North Carolina militia, Major Uriah Blue, with the Thirty-ninth infantry, and several other commanders, had quieted the savages in different parts of the state. The army returned to the ren- dezvous at the old French fort Tallassee, six miles above the mouth of the Coosa, where Fort Jackson was erected. a treaty of peace was made with the Creeks, and the army was disbanded.
The war with Great Britain was now raging. General Jackson, being placed in command of the southern army, proceeded down the Alabama river and took up his headquarters at Mobile, which was attacked by the British fleet, September 15, 1814.
At the end of a tongue of land in Mobile bay, about thirty miles from the city, there had been raised a redoubt called Fort Bowyer, mounting twenty guns and accommodating a garrison of one hundred and sixty men. It had long been deserted and unused, but Jackson, discerning what good use might be made of this exposed point by an invading army, put it in a state of defense under the command of Major Lawrence, with one hun- dred and thirty men. It was besieged on the 12th of September by a squadron of two sloops and two brigs, and a body of seven hundred and thirty British and Indians under Colonel Nichols, but was defended with so much energy that the besiegers retired with a loss of two hundred men and one of their ships. In the following February, after the fall of New Orleans, it was invested by a force of thirty-eight war vessels and 5,000 soldiers and surrendered, but remained in the hands of the British only a few weeks.
Suspecting that the Spaniards of Pensacola were harboring the Brit- ish and their Indian allies, General Jackson proceeded in that direction with a force of 4,000 men, entered the city, drove the English from Fort Barancas and the vicinity, and after securing the neutrality of the Span- iards, set out for New Orleans, where a crowning glory awaited his victorious army.
Important treaties were made with the Indians in 1816, which led to an immediate and steady flow of immigration into the country. By an act of congress, March 1. 1817, the limits of the territory of Alabama, with its present boundaries, were defined. In 1818, there was much uneasiness excited by outrages committed by roving bands of Muscogees in Conecuh county; but these were soon put a stop to by a few resolute citizens. A constitution was framed in 1819, and the state of Alabama
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was admitted into the union, December 14, 1819, the first governor being Hon. William Wyatt Bibb.
The treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, in September, 1830, relieved the state of another of the great Indian tribos, the Choctaws, who, abandon- ing their old hunting grounds proceeded to the west. In 1832, the Creeks made a cession of all their lands, and in 1835 the Cherokees ceded their lands. But the considerations upon which these cessions were made gave rise to grave controversies between the state and federal government, and finally led to a violent outbreak on the part of the discontented sav- ages. Tuskegee, Macon county, was the rendezvous of the militia during the Creek trouble, and 1,500 men assembled there and marched to Fort Mitchell. Joseph P. Frazier, in 1836, raised a mounted regiment to sup- press the Creeks, and in the two succeeding years numbers of Alabami- ans volunteered their services to assist in the Seminole war in Florida. In 1838, the removal of the Cherokees, peaceably accomplished by the volunteer force of 1.500 men under General Patterson of Madison county, and Philpot of Morgan county, freed the state from a formidable obstacle to its growth and prosperity.
In the war of Texan independence, 1836, several companies from Ala- bama assisted the patriots; almost all of these perished in Texas, many of them being victims of the Goliad massacre, an atrocious murder of three hundred and thirty defenseless prisoners, which has branded the name of Santa Anna with undying infamy. Two members of the Hunts- ville volunteers, Bennett Butler and Milton Irish. escaped the massacre. Captain Shackleford, who was also a physician, was spared to attend to the wants of the wounded Mexicans, and to his notes historians are greatly indebted for valuable information in regard to this disastrous campaign.
A large number of Alabamians participated in the war with Mexico in regiments from other states; but only one regiment-as such-was re- ceived into the federal service, and that did not have the honor of par- taking fully in either of the two brilliant campaigns of the war. The Thirteenth United States infantry was officered to some extent by Ala- bamians. Its lieutenant-colonel was Jones M. Withers, and among its officers were Hugh L. Clay, Egbert I. Jones and Nicholas Davis. Colonel Withers was a native of Madison county; he was educated in Huntsville and was appointed a cadet at West Point by President Jackson. He grad- uated in 1835, served on General Patterson's staff during the Creek troubles and volunteered for service in the Mexican war. During the late war, he was chosen colonel of the Third Alabama infantry, and was soon after com- missioned a brigadier and put in charge of the defenses of Mobile. He was assigned to a division of the western army and participated in the Kentucky campaign, and after the close of the war entered journalism, in which he engaged until his death in 1890, in Mobile. Ala.
Colonel Hugh L. Clay was a nephew of Colonel Withers, a son of Gov. Clement C. Clay. an accomplished and popular lawyer. In 1861, he was
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appointed major in the adjutant general's department of the regular Con- federate army, and was afterward promoted to the rank of colonel. He performed very important duties and was a distinguished officer. He was tendered the rank and command of a brigadier-general, but declined the honor and preferment.
Egbert I. Jones was a native of Limestone county. After the Mexican war he practiced law until 1861, when he was chosen captain of a Madison company, and then colonel of the Fourth Alabama infantry. No troops fought more bravely or won greater distinction than the Fourth Alabama. This gallant regiment and its heroic commander will be long revered and remembered by the people of the state.
During the battle of Manassas, Colonel Jones directed his regiment with great coolness and bravery, giving his orders with the most perfect composure amid the shock and surge of this terrific conflict; but toward the close of the day he received a wound, from which he subsequently died.
Nicholas Davis was also a resident of Limestone county. He was a member of the provisional congress of the Confederate government and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Nineteenth Alabama, which position he declined, but commanded a battalion for a time.
Hon. Jeremiah Clements of Madison county, a man of brilliant talents, afterward distinguished in the house of representatives and the United States senate, was colonel of the Ninth 'regulars. He had previously served with great distinction in Texas. During the Civil war, he was appointed major-general of the state troops, but was engaged in no active service, and before his death, near the close of the war, he had become well known for his union sentiments.
The First Alabama regiment of volunteers for the Mexican war was organized at Mobile, June, 1846, for twelve months. Its colonel was John R. Coffey of Jackson county. Other officers were Lieutenant-Colonel Richard G. Earle, Major Goode Bryan, Adjutant Hugh P. Watson and Captains Sydenham Moore, Andrew P. Pickens, Hugh Cunningham, E. T. Smith, Zack Thomason, William G. Coleman, R. M. Jones, William H. Ketchum, D. P. Baldwin, and J. D. Shelley. William H. Forney was a . first lieutenant in this regiment.
Many of these afterward served in the Civil war. Major Goode Bryan became a distinguished brigadier-general of the Confederacy. Sydenham Moore, after serving his state in congress, resigned his seat there at the opening of the war and returned home; he was elected colonel of the Eleventh Alabama infantry and died of wounds received at the battle of Seven Pines.
William H. Forney served throughout the late war with great distinc- tion, was rapidly promoted from captain to brigadier-general, and since the war has served the people of Alabama for two years as state senator and for eighteen years as a representative in congress.
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Richard Gordon Earle enlisted in the Confederate service as a captain in the Second Alabama cavalry. He was promoted and was killed at Kingston, Ga., while in command of his regiment.
Colonel Coffey's regiment proceeded to Mexico, was in General Pillow's brigade and afterward served under General Shields. A battalion was organized in 1847 by Colonel Siebels of Montgomery; it reached Vera Cruz too late to join Scott's forces, but did garrison duty, principally at Orizaba, until the end of hostilities. Among its officers were Robert A. Hardaway, Thomas E. Irby, Tennent Lomax, John G. Barr, Daniel Gibbs and Blanton McAlpine. Captain Tennent Lomax was one of the most distinguished in this galaxy of brilliant young soldiers. While in Mex- ico he was for several months military governor of Orizaba. After the Mexican war, he entered journalism; but his genius was for military tactics. Shortly after the Harper's Ferry raid, he organized the Second volunteers, and to him was entrusted the delicate duty of taking posses- sion of the navy yard and forts at Pensacola at the opening of the war. Fort Barancas and Fort McRae fell into his hands. In April, 1861, he was elected colonel of the Third Alabama infantry, proceeded with his regiment to Virginia, and was killed in the battle of Seven Pines. His commission as brigadier-general was sent to him on the day of his death, but he failed to receive it. Colonel Lomax was a splendid specimen of manhood, both intellectually and physically, and his death was a great loss to the Confederate cause.
Besides the regiments already mentioned as serving in the war with Mexico, there were independent companies under Captains Desha, Elmore and Platt, a company of mounted volunteers under Captain James McGee, and a battalion of volunteers commanded by Colonel Philip H. Raiford, Captains Curtis, Downman and Ligon. Among the Alabamians who lost their lives in Mexico, were Lieutenant John L. May, and Lieutenant William R. King, the former at Matamoras on 1846, and the latter at Ori- zaba in 1848. In addition to these, many of the soldiers contracted in the malarial districts, the tierra caliente, as it is called by the Mexicans, diseases from which they never fully recovered.
In January, 1861, Governor Moore seized the forts and arsenals of the state. Fort Morgan, occupying the site of old Fort Bowyer, was garri- soned by five hundred and fifty men and sixty guns under the command of Brigadier-General Page. Fort Gaines, on Dauphin island, was also put in a state of defense. Alabama was full of volunteers busily drilling and preparing for war, when the secession ordinance was passed January 11, 1860. On February 4, 1861, the Alabama convention met in Montgom- ery. and in a short time a constitution for the Confederate states was adopted. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president and the machinery of government of the new nation went into operation at Mont- gomery, the capital being removed to Richmond the following July. Thus the state of Alabama witnessed the inauguration of the Confederacy; and
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on her soil four years later was fought the last contest of the most memorable war of this century.
By the seventh of October. 1861. the state had furnished fully 27,000 men to the Confederate cause; many of these were mere boys and the majority of the troops were drawn from the very flower of the land. By the fortune of war they were widely scattered-some of them taking part in most of the great battles of the war. There were sixty Alabama regi ments of infantry, and three of mounted infantry, thirteen of cavalry, six battalions and twenty batteries. Besides these. there were-many Alabama companies consolidated with those from other states in five Confederate regiments, two of these being cavalry. Many of the regiments were under the command of veterans of the Mexican war, and many were given to officers fresh from West Point. Before the close of 1863, nearly 9,000 of these soldiers had been killed or died of wounds and exposure.
The First Alabama infantry was organized for one year under the command of Col. Henry D. Clayton; and during the year 1861 remained on duty at Pensacola. Being called upon to re-enlist at the end of the year, seven of the companies did so. The regiment was then ordered to Tennessee and took part in the fight at Island Ten, in March, 1862. Many were captured, and the remnant fought at Fort Pillow and Corinth. Exchanged in September, they rendezvoused at Jackson, Miss., having lost three hundred by death in prison and other casualities. They were ordered to Port Hudson, where they were again captured, the officers being kept in prison until the return of peace. The exchanged men, six hundred and ten in number, joined Gen. Johnson and fought at New Hope, Kennesaw, Peach Tree creek, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, Averys- boro and Bentonville. Major Knox. the only one of the officers who escaped after being captured at Port Hudson, was killed while in com- mand at Franklin. This regiment was greatly distinguished in the des- perate assault upon the Federal lines at Atlanta. It lost very heavily in the many battles in which it was engaged, and only about one hundred were left to surrender at Goldsboro.
The Second Alabama, under the command of Col. Harry Maury of Mobile, served at Fort Morgan, manning the heavy artillery in 1861. It was disbanded at Fort Pillow, and the men became scattered through other regiments.
The Third Alabama, organized at Montgomery in April, 1861, was ordered to Virignia. It took part in the battle of Seven Pines, where. it lost two gallant officers, Col. Lomax and Capt. R. B. Johnson. At the bloody battle of Malvern Hill it lost two hundred and seven in killed, wounded and missing. It fought at Fredericksburg, Gettsyburg, the Wil- derness, Spottsylvania and second Cold Harbor, and was with Gen. Early in his advance on Washington. At Winchester it lost heavily, and it protected the retreat from Cedar Hill. It was in the trenches at Peters- burg and surrendered, forty strong, at Appomatox. Col. J. M. Withers,
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its first commander, was promoted early in the war to a brigade, after- ward to a division.
The Fourth Alabama was organized at Dalton, Ga., in May, 1861, and proceeded at once to Virginia. It fought at Manassas, Seven Pines, Cold Harbor, second Manassas, Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Chicka- mauga, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Petersburg, 202 men surren- dering at Appomatox. Many of its officers were killed in battle. Col. Egbert I. Jones and Capt. Lindsey fell at Manassas; Maj. Coleman and Capt. Kidd at Chickamauga; Col. McLemore at Boonsboro; Capt. Bayless E. Brown at the Wilderness; Capt. J. Sullivan at Sharpsburg; Capt. J. Keith at Fredericksburg; Capt. A. Murray at Petersburg; Capt. Will- iam Lee at Malvern Hill; Capt. G. B. Martin at Seven Pines; Capt. W. W. Leftwich at Gettysburg and Capt. H. Armistead at Cold Harbor.
The Fifth Alabama was organized at Montgomery, May 5, 1861, and proceeded at once to Pensacola. It was ordered to Virginia and took post near Manassas Junction, remaining in that vicinity during the fall and winter. The first engagement, in which it suffered severely, was Seven Pines, where it lost 27 killed and 128 wounded. It fought at Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, the second Manassas, Boonsboro, Sharps- burg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, second Cold Harbor, the advance on Washington and the battle of Winchester. After wintering in the trenches of Petersburg, it surrendered, about thirty strong, at Appomatox. Among its officers lost in battle were Col. C. C. Pegues, killed at Cold Harbor; Capt. N. R. E. Ferguson at the Wilder- ness; Capt. George Reed, near Winchester; Capt. William T. Renfro at Chancellorsville; Capt. D. W. Johnson at Cold Harbor, and Capt. J. M. Gilchrist at second Cold Harbor. Gen. Rodes, who organized this regi- ment, may be considered the most distinguished of Alabama's gallant sons. Upon his arrival in Virginia, he was transferred to the command of a brigade, comprising the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Twelfth and Twenty-sixth infantry regiments; and under his leadership they participated in the most brilliant actions of the war. Gen. Rodes was disabled by a wound at Seven Pines, but returned to his command in time to take part in the battles of Boonsboro and Sharpsburg. At Chancellorsville, in command of a division, he led the famous charge on Hooker's line, and he was com- missioned major-general for his conduct at this battle. At Gettysburg, Gen. Lee sent an officer to thank him for his magnificent charges. Gen. Rodes also took a most conspicuous part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, second Cold Harbor, Castleman's Ferry and Kernstown. At Winchester he received a mortal wound and died, lamented not only by his own state but by the entire south.
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