Cullman Alabama

Cullman is a city in Cullman County. Cullman is located along Interstate 65, about 50 miles north of Birmingham and about 55 miles south of Huntsville.

Cullman was founded by Col. Johann Gottfried Cullmann, a German refugee who came to America in 1866. While working at a bookstore in Cincinnati, Ohio, he began formulating ideas of a special colony of working people – specifically a place for immigrants from countries such as his native Germany.
In the time before European settlement, the area that today includes Cullman was originally in the territory of the Cherokee Nation.

Cullman Alabama History

The region was traversed by a trail known as the Black Warrior’s Path¹, which led from the Tennessee River near the present location of Florence, Alabama, to a point on the Black Warrior River south of Cullman. This trail figured significantly in Cherokee history, and it featured prominently in the American Indian Wars prior to the establishment of the state of Alabama and the relocation of several American Indian tribes, including the Creek people westward along the Trail of Tears. During the Creek War in 1813, General Andrew Jackson of the U.S. Army dispatched a contingent of troops down the trail, one of which included the frontiersman Davy Crockett.

During the Civil War, the future location of Cullman was the site of the minor Battle of Day’s Gap. On April 30, 1863, Union forces under the command of Colonel Abel Streight won a victory over forces under Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. This battle was part of a campaign and chase known collectively as Streight’s Raid. Although Streight got the upper hand in this battle, Forrest would have the last laugh. In one of the more humorous moments of the war, Streight sought a truce and negotiations with Forrest in present-day Cherokee County near present-day Gaylesville. Although Streight’s force was larger than Forrest’s, while the two were negotiating, Forrest had his troops march repeatedly in a circuitous route past the site of the talks. Thinking himself to be badly outnumbered, Streight surrendered to Forrest on the spot.

Black Warrior’s Path/Mitchell Trace

Black Warrior’s Path began near Florence, Alabama and continued southeast through Lawrence County.

Gen. Andrew Jackson, Col. John Coffee and frontiersman Davy Crockett used the road during the Creek Indian War, and it was later a major thoroughfare during the Creek Indian Removal.

1219 County Road 187
Danville, AL 35619
Phone: 256-905-2494Website:
Black Warrior’s Path/Mitchell Trace

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_{Photo Credit: 300 Block of 1st Avenue SE in Cullman, Alabama by  Chris Pruitt}