USA > Alabama > The formative period in Alabama, 1815-1828 > Part 3
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It is worth our while to know whence the various immi- grants came into the Alabama country; by what routes they reached their destination; and in what part of the territory they settled. Although statistics cannot be produced. a fairly reliable idea may be had from various accounts which, in the main, agree.
8 Pickett Papers, Sketch of Win. Bibb, by John D. Bibb.
9 Indian Office files, R. J. Meigs to Louis Winston, June 12, 1815.
10 Jackson Papers, Instructions from Wm. H. Crawford, Jan. 27, 1816; Indian Office files, A. Jackson to Wm. H. Crawford, July 4, 1816; Ibid., R. J. Meigs to Louis Winston, June 12, 1815.
11 An interesting letter from Clabon Harris to General Jackson, Fort Claiborne, Jan. 12, 1816, gives an account of the conditions of some of the squatters. This is in the Jackson Papers.
12 Meek MS .. Early Settlement of Alabama.
13 Indian Office files. Cherokee Chiefs to R. J. Meigs, March 20, 1817; Ibid., Samuel Riley to R. J. Meigs; Jackson Papers, E. P. Gaines to A. Jackson, March 6, 1817.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
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EMBRYO TOWN OF COLUMBUS ON THE CHATTAHOOCHIE From Camera Lucida by Capt. Basil Hall, R. N., 1828.
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THE IMMIGRANTS
The two roads through Misissippi Territory for which Con- gress made appropriations in 1806 were continuations of es- tablished routes of travel. 14 That from Nashville to Natchez crossed the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals and was known as the "Natchez Trace." It was a continuation of the "Ken- tucky Trace" which passed from Nashville through Lexington, to Maysville, and thence by the Old National Road through Co- lumbus, Zanesville, and Wheeling, then on to Pittsburgh. Fol- lowing the general course of the Mississippi, the Natchez Trace was the principal highway for the region which it traversed. As a matter of fact, however, it was hardly more than a bridle path through the woods and did not deserve to be called a road.
The highway along the route from Athens to New Orleans which followed the direction of the Alabama River and passed through the Tombigbee settlements, came to be known as the "Federal Road."13 Beyond Athens, the route passed north- eastward through Greenville, Salisbury, Charlotte, and Fred- ericksburg, then on to Washington, Baltimore, and Philadel- phia. Thus it traversed the piedmont region of the South At- lantic states and connected the Southwest with the commercial centers of the East.
Diverging from this route just beyond the Georgia line, an- other highway passed eastward of it and connected the South- ern capitals which stood at the fall line of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic. Extending through Milledgeville, Augusta, Columbia, Raleigh, and Richmond, this again united with the piedmont route just before reaching Washington.
But there was still another means of access to the Alabama country which was of great importance. Diverging from the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia highway, this road passed southwest- ward through the Valley of Virginia, then followed the course of the Holston river to Knoxville. From Knoxville the orig- inal highway passed westward to Nashville, but with the formation of Madison County, a spur was extended southward to Huntsville, and this soon came to be an important route of travel.
14 The map given here is based upon that prepared by John Melish for 1818, but it has been compared with all those in the Library of Con- gress for the period covered. Information as to principal routes of. communication is based also upon the accounts of travel available to the writer.
15 It seems that this road was not actually opened until 1811. See Phillips, Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, 69; and Ball, Clarke County, 134.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
Now, a man coming into Alabama from the piedmont region of Georgia would have the choice of two routes. He could go by the Federal Road into the Alabama-Tombigbee basin or he could take a road which passed from Augusta to Athens, cross- ed the Tennessee River where Chattanooga now stands, and led on to Nashville.16 The highway crossed the road from Knox- ville to Huntsville and gave access to the fertile Tennessee Val- ley region. The Georgia men who helped to settle Madison County in 1809 took this route,17 but the later emigration of Georgia planters was mostly into the southern part of Ala- bama, and they passed along the Federal Road.
The first lands of the Creek cession which were put on sale were disposed of at Milledgeville, Georgia, and they lay along the upper course of the Alabama River in the neighborhood of the later Montgomery County.18 It is easy to understand, therefore, how it was that the Georgia planters established a predominance in this region from the first. With this as a nucleus, the immigrants from Georgia seem to have followed the route of the Federal Road and they came to form perhaps the strongest element in the population of all the southeastern counties of Alabama.19
Men from the piedmont region of South Carolina also had two routes open to them. They could take the, fall-line road through Columbia or the piedmont road through Greenville and reach the Alabama basin by the Federal Road. But if they wished to reach the Tennessee Valley, they could pass northward from Greenville, through Saluda Gap in the Blue Ridge where it borders North and South Carolina, then to the site of Asheville, and along the course of the French Broad to Knoxville, and thence to Huntsville.2" Immigrants came by both of these routes, and, appearing to have avoided the settle- ments of those who preceded them in the Tennessee Valley and in the Alabama River basin, the majority of them passed on from both directions into the central hilly region or the basin of the Black Warrior and upper Tombigbee Rivers.
16 Phillips, Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt,, 68-69.
17 Betts, History of Huntsville, 21.
18 Land Office, Record of Proclamations, May 24, 1807.
19 The account given here of the distribution of population in Ala- bama agrees, in general, with the available statements concerning dif- ferent localities; and with the general statements to be found in Garrett's Reminiscenees, 35; and in the Meek MS. on the Early Settlement of Ala- bama. See also Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 456-457; and Smith, Pick- ens County, 37-39.
20 Phillips, Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, 63.
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THE IMMIGRANTS
Men coming from North Carolina could have taken the route along the French Broad to Knoxville, and thence to Huntsville; but since this road traversed only the mountainous western re- gion of the State, it is probable that most of the immigrants from North Carolina found the highway from Raleigh through Columbus and Augusta to the Federal Road more convenient. These men, like those from South Carolina, found the central region of Alabama most attractive.
The Virginians who came from the Valley followed their highway through Cumberland Gap and down the Holston to Knoxville, thence gaining access to the Tennessee Valley. Some of these passed on down to the Black Warrior and Tom- bigbee Valleys. For Virginians from the piedmont region, it was more convenient to take one of the eastern roads leading to southern Alabama, whence they could make their way into the Tombigbee-Warrior region if they so desired.
Of course the Tennessee Valley was most easily accessible to the men just over the line, and consequently Tennesseeans had a predominance in this section. Some bought lands in the Valley, while others passed beyond into the hilly region and be- came squatters upon the National domain, for the lands in the valley were put upon the market principally in 1818, but those south of it were not sold for several years afterward. Here back-woods communities were established in the isolated val- leys, and frontier conditions of life prevailed for a long time.
The principal route of travel connecting the Tennessee Val- ley with the Alabama-Tombigbee region was a road passing southwestward from Huntsville through Jones Valley to the town of Tuscaloosa, which grew up at the head of boat naviga- tion upon the Black Warrior. It was along this route that the principal settlements were made in the central hilly region. At first the Tennesseeans predominated here, but South Caro- linians soon came in so numerously as to outnumber the Ten- nesseeans in some localities. The struggle for suprem- acy between these elements in Blount and Jefferson Counties provoked open hostilities before it was settled. Finally, the Tennesseeans came to predominate in Blount, while the South Carolinians had the majority in Jefferson County.21
As in this case, most communities had their local color, and the state whence one came was always a matter of signifi-
21 Meek MS. Early Settlement of Alabama; Powell, History of Blount County, 37.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
cance. In the Tombigbee-Warrior region, North Carolinians, South Carolinians, and Virginians mingled in varying propor- tions, but together formed a predominating population-ele- ment which had its own characteristics. As late as 1856, Greene County, at the conjunction of the Black Warrior with the Tombigbee, had a population of 438 native South Carolin- ians, 357 Alabamians, 348 North Carolinians, 92 Georgians, 45 Tennesseeans, 24 Kentuckians, 12 men from Connecticut, 37 from Ireland, and 10 from Germany.22
The presence of a small number of foreigners is character- istic of the early period, and so is the presence of New Eng- landers. The cosmopolitan population was confined to the trading towns where the merchants were largely Yankees.23 This was especially true of Mobile, where the transient popula- tion was turbulent and varied. A community of Germans was established at Dutch Bend on the Alabama River ;24 and De- mopolis, on the Tombigbee, was founded by a band of Napol- eonic refugees. However, such segregated community-build- ing was not characteristic.
Finally, in spite of the mixture which was produced by the flow of immigration into Alabama, three areas can be distin- guished which show peculiarities due partly to the predomi- nant element in the population. In the Tennessee Valley the preponderance of Tennesseeans gave a strongly democratic flavor to political ideas; in the Tombigbee-Warrior region, the Carolina-Virginia predominance seems to be indicated by a flavor of conservatism in things political; while the influence of Georgia politics is clearly discernible in Montgomery Coun- ty. However, there are other factors which played a more im- portant part in shaping opinions and politics than did the orig- in of the population, the effect of which, indeed, is often en- tirely obliterated.
22 Snedecor, Directory of Greene County, 1856.
23 Alabama Republican, Aug. 15, 1823, Extract of a letter to the Ed- itor of the Newburyport ( Mass.) Herald, dated Claiborne (A), March, 1823; Jackson Papers, Col. Will King to A. Jackson, Nov. 23, 1821.
24 Blue MS., I, Autauga County, 4.
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CHAPTER IV.
THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY
The question of the division of the Territory came up as ear- ly as 1803, for in that year the Tombigbee settlers sent a pe- tition to Congress praying that they might be separated from the community upon the Mississippi.' The petition was renew- ed in 1809, the petitioners stating that they had a government in name only, that they were entirely neglected by the authori- ties of the Territory." This attitude was perfectly natural, for the Tombigbee settlement was widely separated from that about Natchez, and, being in a minority in the legislature, it was unable to make its needs felt at so great a distance.
In 1809 Madison County was opened up in the Tennessee Valley; and in 1810 West Florida was annexed to the United States. This country was claimed as a part of the Louisiana purchase, but the title was most flimsy. It seemed, however, that war with England was approaching, and since French and English armies were fighting over the throne of Spain, West Florida in Spanish hands was a menace to our southern coast. England might use the Gulf ports as a base through which to treat with hostile Indians, and thereby the situation of our frontier settlements in this region was rendered critical in case of hostilities. A declaration of independence by a band of men, largely Americans, who had migrated into West Florida, gave Madison the excuse which he eagerly accepted as a way out of the difficult situation. A proclamation declared the Spanish province annexed to the United States, and General Claiborne occupied the country as far east as the Pearl River."
The newly-acquired region was joined to the Territory of Orleans for administrative purposes. In 1811, this territory became the State of Louisiana, and more than four hundred West Floridians petitioned Congress that their district might be annexed to Mississippi Territory.+ Until this time the Mississippi delegate had been working in Congress for admis- sion to the Union without division, but here the intersectional
1 Annals of Congress, 8 Cong., 1 Sess., 624.
Ibid., 11 Cong., Pt. 1, 695.
3 McMaster, History of the United States, III, 371, et seq.
+ American State Papers, Miscellaneous, II, 155.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
rivalry in Congress came into play. The House, where, the North was in the majority, showed itself, even at this early date, willing to provide for the admission of the undivided Territory. But in the Senate the South, having lost its hold upon the House, was trying to maintain an equality. This could be accomplished only by the admission of a slave state every time a free state was admitted, and from this point of view, it was desirable to carve as many states as possible from southern territory. Consequently, the Senate insisted that Mississippi Territory be divided.
The combination of this situation with the West Florida ·. annexation suggested a new idea to Poindexter, the Terri- torial delegate; and he brought forward a proposition for di- 'vision by a line running due east from the mouth of the Ya- zoo. The southern portion, with West Florida annexed, was to be admitted to the Union at once, while the northern portion was to be given a territorial government.5
This move called down a storm upon the author's head. The Madison County inhabitants would, it is true, have been glad enough to see the plan carried through, leaving them with a territorial government to administer alone.6 But to be tied permanently to the Mississippi River region with its separate interests was the last thing desired by the Tombig- bee settlers. Opposition was quickly expressed in this quar- ter, and it was seconded by many in the Natchez region who felt that the frontier settlements were yet too young to sup- port the burden of state government."
There were other reasons, too, why many opposed the in- stitution of state government at this time. In 1795 the leg- islature of Georgia had made large grants of land in the Mississippi country to certain speculating companies which came to be known as the "Yazoo" land companies. Exten- sive graft in connection with the deal having been exposed, the next session of the legislature repealed the grants and de- prived the companies of their charters. This was supposed to have ended the matter, but in 1809 the Federal Supreme Court, in the case of Fletcher vs. Peck, declared that the re- peal of the grants was a breach of contract, and therefore for-
5 American State Papers, Misc., II. 163-164.
" Mississippi Transcripts. J. W. Walker to Geo. Poindexter. Dec. 23, 1812.
" Claiborne. Mississippi, 350; Transcripts, Cowles Mead to Geo. Poin- dexter, Dec. 23, 1812
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1737674
THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY
bidden by the Constitution. The claimants under the com- panies at once appealed to Congress for relief, but John Ran- dolph, of Roanoke, made the case his pet antipathy and pre- vented anything being done until 1814.
When, in 1802, Georgia ceded to the United States her claim to the Mississippi region, it was provided in the agree- ment that all completed British and Spanish grants should hold good. Actual settlers were to be provided for, and all claims arising under the act of Georgia which established Bourbon County in the ceded region were to be validated. In addition to this, five million acres of land were set aside for the satisfaction of any other claimants under acts of Georgia, to be appropriated as Congress might see fit. The Yazoo claimants were the chief possible beneficiaries under this pro- vision, but it was long before the matter was put at rest."
In 1811 many titles to land in Mississippi Territory were threatened by the Yazoo claimants, and many others were threatened by a conflict between British and Spanish grants. A number of actual settlers held tracts under Spanish grants which had been superseded by grants under the British ad- ministration. These British claims had never been estab- lished, but the matter was subject to judicial determination, and it caused uneasiness to many who lived upon the land.
Because of this uncertainty of land tenure, courts of Fed- eral jurisdiction were not established in Mississippi Terri- tory, and though the delegate in Congress pressed for a com- promise of the British claims, nothing was accomplished up to the time when Mississippi was admitted to the Union. It was the dread of Federal courts, therefore, and of British and Yazoo claimants which caused many men to oppose admis- sion to statehood in 1812.9
But in spite of all these objections, an act providing for the admission of the undivided Territory was passed by the House and sent up to the Senate in this year. The Senate committee to which the bill was referred advised division along the line of the Tombigbee River, and proposed that the question lie over until the next session.10
Georgia, in granting her claim to the United States, had provided that the whole territory be admitted into the Union
" Treat, The National Land System. 355-364.
Washington Republica . Sept. 9. 1815, March 13, and April 17, 1816. April 9, 1817.
10 American State Papers, Misc., II, 182.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
as a single state as soon as its population should amount to sixty thousand whites. In view of the action of the Senate. - Poindexter now brought in a resolution that Congress secure Georgia's permission to a division of the Territory.11 The res- · olution passed both Houses, and within the year Georgia's ac- quiescence was reported to the Senate. But the War of 1812 coming on at this time, its depression was added to the argu- ments of those who wished to postpone the question of state- hood. Thus, from 1812 to 1815 the matter was not agitated to any great extent.
When the question of admission was again brought before Congress in 1815, two things had happened to change the sit- uation. In 1812 so much of West Florida as lay between the . Pearl and Perdido Rivers was added to the Territory, and in 1814 Congress settled the Yazoo Claims by appropriating five million dollars in serip to be distributed to the claimants under the several companies and redeemed in payment on the first lands to be sold in Mississippi Territory.
Though the British ciaims still threatened many of the set- tlers, the prospects of peace and immigration now caused the Territorial delegate, Dr. Lattimore, who had opposed ad- mission when first elected in 1813, to come out in favor of the admission without division.12 Petitions to that effect were .sent up by the legislature, and in 1816 the House passed a bill framed in accordance with that policy. But the attitude of the Senate had not changed. The commitee to which the bill was referred again proposed division by a north and south line, and the question of admission was again postponed.13
Lattimore now saw the uselessness of working along the old line, and expressed himself as willing to accept division if Congress insisted upon it.1+ But, in the meantime, the sit- uation had changed at home. The extensive Creek cession of 1814 and the smaller cessions from the Cherokees, Chicka- saws. and Choctaws in 1816 had opened up a great stretch of country comprising most of the eastern part of the Territory. The settlers upon the Tombigbee now expected to see their river basin become, in a short while, more populous than the region bordering the Mississippi. They accordingly antici-
11 Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., 1 Sess., II, 1480.
12 Washington Republican, April 5 and April 26. 1815.
13 Annals of Congress, 14 Cong., 1 Sess., 352; Washington Republican. April 16, 1817.
14 Washington Republican, May 22 and May 29. 1816.
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THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY
pated control of the legislature and the removal of the capi- tal to St. Stephens. .
Such a prospect was by no means pleasing to the men who lived between Pearl River and the Mississippi. So great- ly did they dread the threatened preponderance of the east- ern section of the Territory that they gave up their old enthu- siasm for a single state and supported Lattimore on the ques- tion of division. This, they now believed, was the only way to keep their capital near the banks of the Mississippi.
On the other hand, the Tombigbee settlers now appeared much alarmed at the prospect of division. Meetings were held in several places, and the counties were urged to send dele- gates to assemble in convention at Ford's on Pearl River. . Here a gathering of delegates took place in October, but Madi- son and the counties west of the Pearl were not represented. Resolutions opposing division were drawn up and Judge Har- ry Toulmin was sent to Washington to present the memorial of the convention, and to work for its cause when the matter should be brought up again.15
When Congress assembled in December, the House commit- tee to which the Mississippi question was referred expressed itself as being in favor of a division of the Territory, with im- mediate admission of the western portion and a territorial government for the eastern half. The agitated question was as to the demarcation. Lattimore proposed a line running due north from the Gulf to the northwest corner of Washington County, then following the Choctaw boundary to the Tombig- bee. Toulmin wished a line that would give Wayne, Greene, and Jackson Counties to the eastern government, and some at- tempt was made to fix upon the Pascagoula as the boundary. The counties in dispute were much nearer the Tombigbee than they were to the Mississippi, and it was argued that it would be an unnnecessary inconvenience to their inhabitants to have to look to a capital upon the great River, when St. Stephens was so much closer.1; In the end, Lattimore was more successful than Toulmin and, though giving some ground, he came near to having his way. The line was fixed so as to run due north from the Gulf to the northwest corner of Wash- ington County, thence directly to the point where Bear Creek
15 Washington Republican, Nov. 13, 1816; Jackson Papers, James Ti- tus to Andrew Jackson, Dec. 5. 1816.
16 Darby, Immigrant's Guide, 107-113; Washington Republican, Jan. 22, Feb. 26, March 5, 1817.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
flows into the Tennessee, then along the course of the river to the Tennessee line.
It will be noticed that the present boundary does not run due north from the Gulf, but slightly northwest instead. This is because it was found that the line, as originally es- tablished, encroached slightly upon Wayne, Greene, and Jack- son Counties. In order to remedy this, the Alabama enabling act of 1819 changed it so as to make it run southeastward from the northwest corner of Washington County and to strike the Gulf at a point ten miles east of the mouth of the Pascagoula.17
The act establishing Alabama Territory was approved March 3, 1817.1\' All laws applying to the old Mississippi Ter- ritory were to remain in force until they might be changed. Officials holding places under the old government for eastern districts were to retain their positions until they should be re- placed, and William Wyatt Bibb, of Georgia, was appointed Governor.
Bibb had just previously resigned his seat in the United States Senate because his vote for a bill increasing the sal- aries of Senators aroused a storm of indignation at home. His colleague, Charles Tait, was under the same condemnation, but, urged by John W. Walker, of Huntsville, he remained un- til the end of his term and saw Alabama safely admitted to the Union. Then, retiring from public life in Georgia, he purchas- ed a plantation upon the Alabama and moved into the new state.19 It was Senator Tait, who, in 1802, had notified the Sen- ate of Georgia's consent to a division of Mississippi Territory and who piloted through that body the final bill which provid- ed for division in 1817. Both Tait and Bibb were staunch friends of William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, and it was likely through his influence that the lat- ter was appointed Governor of Alabama Territory.
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