Forts of Alabama Table of Contents

Posted on April 26, 2021April 26, 2021 by Staff

FORTS OF ALABAMA

Abner Turner’s Fort

Turner’s Fort was some eight miles south and five west, in the west bend of the Tombigbee River, near the residence of Abner Turner. This fort was built of split pine logs doubled and contained two or three block-houses.

Camp Anniston

1862, Anniston. A Confederate camp and supply base.

Fort Armstrong

(1814), near Cedar Bluff

Fort Armstrong was built in October 1813 by soldiers under the command of General James White, who was serving under General John Alexander Cocke. The fort was named for John Armstrong Jr., who was the Secretary of War at that time. The fort was built to help protect the local Cherokee from incursions by Red Sticks but also in anticipation of a future assault on the Red Sticks. Boats were assembled at Fort Armstrong to transport supplies further down the Coosa River. Fort Armstrong was in turn supplied by wagons from Fort Ross.

Fort Bainbridge

Fort Bainbridge, believed to be named in honor of naval captain William Bainbridge, was a military supply fort located along the Federal Road on what is today the county line between Macon and Russell counties in Alabama.

Today, it remains unmarked and its legacy lies in a small unincorporated community, Boromville, that developed from it.

Wikipedia contributors, “Fort Bainbridge,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (accessed May 5, 2019).

Fort Belleville aka Fort John Bell

A settlers fort located six miles from Fort Autrey.

Fort Browder

Fort Browder, a small wooden fortification built in 1836 for protection in the last war with the Creek Indians and named for Isham Browder, a prominent local planter.

Fort Bibb

Located 15 miles west of Greenville. Named for Alabama Territorial Governor William Wyatt Bibb, Fort Bibb was built in winter 1817-1818 to protect settlers from Creek Indian attacks. It was said to be a stockade enclosing Capt. James Saffold’s home at the Flats (Pine Flats). Col. Sam Dale helped strengthen in spring 1818 as he and his militia built Fort Dale 13-14 miles northeast on the Federal Road. These forts were Butler County‘s first election sites in 1820.

Fort Bowyer / Fort Morgan

In the year 1813, on order of President Madison, Mobile Point from Spain by U.S. Regulars, under Gen. James Wilkinson, and militia, under Col. John Bowyer, a wood and earth stockade was quickly built. It was in the shape of a D and armed with cannon taken from Fort Charlotte in Mobile. It’s mission was to protect the entrance to Mobile Bay from the Gulf of Mexico.
Located on the east side of the entrance to Mobile Bay, Mobile Point, Baldwin County Alabama, 30 miles south of Mobile, Alabama.

Fort Bowyer was a short-lived earthen and stockade fortification that the United States Army erected in 1813 on Mobile Point, near the mouth of Mobile Bay in what is now Baldwin County, Alabama, but then was part of the Mississippi Territory. The British twice attacked the fort during the War of 1812. The first, unsuccessful attack, took place in September 1814 and led to the British changing their strategy and attacking New Orleans. The second attack, following their defeat at the Battle of New Orleans, was successful. However, it took place in February 1815, after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed but before the news had reached that part of America.

Between 1819 and 1834 the United States built a new masonry fortification, Fort Morgan, on the site of Fort Bowyer. Fort Morgan Historic Site lies at the end of Highway 180, twenty-two miles west of Highway 59 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Visitors may take a self-guided tour of the fort and view a small museum, which contains a small exhibit interpreting Fort Bowyer’s role in the War of 1812. Four historical markers on the park’s grounds interpret the fort as well.

Source: Wikipedia contributors, “Fort Bowyer,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Fort Carney (Josiah Carney’s Fort)

Also known as Fort Hawn, built by Josiah Carney, who settled on the River in 1809. Fort Carney housed about four hundred people. Located six miles south from Jackson, Alabama, in Clarke County, at Gullet’s Bluff, now called Carney Bluff, on the line of travel to Mount Vernon, Alabama.

Camp Albert G. Forse

Spanish American War Fort, Huntsville, Alabama

Catos Fort

Located on the west side of the Tombigbee River, five miles below Coffeeville, about a mile from the river.

Fort Charlotte (Fort Conde)

Built in the early 1700’s by Bienville, the French founder of Mobile. When the English captured the fort in 1763, the name was changed to Fort Charlotte. Seventeen years later (1780) the Spanish took possession. Located on the west bank of the Mobile River, Mobile County, Alabama, in the city of Mobile, Fort Conde was a classic 18th century brick and mortar square fort with large bastions on each corner, gunnery parapet, surrounding moat and outer earthworks.

Chinnaby’s Fort

1813, Near Oxford
An old Creek Indian defense in Calhoun County. Drake states that in 1813 a friendly Creek chief named Chinnaby had a kind of fort at Ten Islands on the Coosa River.

Fort Claiborne

1813 – 1814), Claiborne

A wooden stockade, two hundred feet square, defended by three block-houses and a half moon battery which commanded the river. Used as a staging area for the Battle of Holy Ground. A temporary Federal post during the Creek War, located on Weatherford Bluff (Alabama Heights) on the Alabama River at Limestone Creek.

Camp Clark

Spanish American War Camp Camp Clark was named after Brigadier General Louis L. Clark, Alabama National Guard.

Camp Coffee

A state militia fort. Site located south of Hobdy’s Bridge, about 8 miles from Williams. Old Camp Coffee is a camp in Bullock County Alabama. Old Camp Coffee is situated west of Norton and south of Whitesburg, and is west of Coffee Bluff (cliff).

A large group of Creek Indians had encamped at Hobdy’s Bridge while enroute to Florida instead of moving west to Indian Territory. The troops were dispatched to deal with them.

Latitude: 34.5501° or 34° 33′ 0.3″ north
Longitude: -86.5667° or 86° 34′ west

Camp Coppinger

Spanish American War Camp, Mobile, Alabama.

The camp was informally named after Major General John J. Coppinger, initial commanding officer of the 4th Corps. Some newspaper articles refer to the camp as “Camp Mobile” in the early days after it was established.

Fort Crawford

Fort Crawford once provided defense for Alabama settlers in what is today East Brewton, Alabama. While the exact location of historic Fort Crawford is unknown, locals claim it once stood on the banks of Murder Creek near the present-day location of First Baptist Church in East Brewton. Fort Crawford was already abandoned in 1817.

Source: Wikipedia contributors, “Fort Crawford (Alabama),” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Ft. Crawford Alabama Ghost Towns Part of the American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP) “Ghost Towns” Project

Fort Carney

Fort Carney was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, during the Creek War (part of the larger War of 1812). After Red Stick warriors began attacking settlers in the area, many families joined together to create protective stockades. Josiah Carney, who moved to Clarke County in 1809 from North Carolina, began building a stockade in 1813 at Carney’s Bluff. Carney’s Bluff was later known as Gullett’s Bluff. Fort Carney was also known as Fort Hawn or Fort Gullett. The fort site was located six miles south of Jackson on the road from Jackson to Mount Vernon.

Currys Fort

(1813), near Jackson
A settlers’ fort located about four miles south of town on the Tombigbee River.

Fort Dale

Fort Dale (1818-1818) – A Militia Fort established in 1818 near Greenville, Butler County, Alabama. Named Fort Dale after Colonel Samuel Dale who directed its establishment.

Fort Decatur

Located in Milstead, Macon County, Alabama. A War of 1812 militia fort established in 1814 near Milstead, Macon County, Alabama. Established in March 1814 on the east bank of the Tallapoosa River by Colonel Homer Y. Milton and Carolina Volunteer Militia. John Sevier, Tennessee’s first governor, died at the fort 24 Sep 1815 while arbitrating a boundary dispute between Georgia and the Creek Nation. He was buried at the fort and reburied at Knoxville in 1888. Abandoned in 1815.
Lat: 32.45222 Long: -85.87667

Citation:La Tourette, John. Map of the State of Alabama and West Florida. Montgomery, 1856

Fort Deposit

Built by General Andrew Jackson in September 1813 as a main base for his army.Located at the southern most point of the Tennessee River in Marshall County, Alabama near the present city of Guntersville, Alabama.

Fort Easley (Easley’s Fort)

This stockade was built in 1813 on a small plateau containing about three acres and located on Wood’s Bluff on the Tombigbee River in Clarke County. Fort Easley was on section ten or eleven, township eleven, range one west, at what is now called Wood’s Bluff. This fort was named, as were nearly all others, from a prominent settler in the neighborhood, and the bluff took its name from Major Wood, an officer in the Burnt Corn expedition. This stockade was on a small plateau containing about three acres. On the side next to the river the bluff is almost a perpendicular wall, there is a bold spring of water flowing from its side,’ and the descent is quite abrupt from this plateau above and below the stockade ground, making this fort a naturally strong position.

“General Claiborne visited this stockade about the last of August, having received a report that it would be attacked by the Indians. It is possible that some of the Creeks started this report to call attention away from the real fort which they designed to attack, that Fort Mims, which was fifty miles south and twelve miles east from Fort Easley.

The fort was evacuated after the Fort Mims massacre.

Camp Falkner

(1898), Birmingham
A Spanish-American War muster-out camp for state troops. Located in the East Lake area.

Thomas Gary’s Fort

(1818), Butler County
A settlers’ stockaded fort.

Fort Glass

Located on the eastern boundary of Clarke County Alabama, 225 yards south of Fort Madison. Small wooden stockade built by Zachariah Glass and his neighbors. Nah-hee, called a Tory Creek, an intelligent Indian, employed in the Creek war as a scout, assisting, it is said, in the building.

It’s dimensions were 60 yards by 40 yards, rectangular in shape. During August 1813 was occupied by Colonel Carson’s Regiment of two hundred mounted men.

Fort Gullett

During the Civil War, a Confederate fort named Fort Gullett was built on the site of Fort Carney. Fort Carney, 4 miles south of Jackson, Alabama, was built in 1813 as defense against the Indians. The fort was built in 1862 to protect the nearby salt wells and also served to prevent Federal gunboats from traveling up the Tombigbee River. The fort was abandoned in the later years of the Civil War.

Camp Hall’s Mill

Near present day Rangeline Road and Hwy 90 in Mobile Alabama. “Camp Halls Mill” that was just what it was referred to as by the locals in the area at the time.

Fort Hampton

Fort Hampton (1809-1817) – A U.S Army fort established by Colonel Reuben J. Meigs in 1809, west of Athens in Limestone County, Alabama.

Camp Hardaway

(1860’s), near Glenwood ?
A CSA training camp.

Fort Harker

Fort Harker, located near Stevenson, Alabama, was a military fortification built by the Union Army during the American Civil War. Constructed in the summer of 1862 by soldiers and freed slaves of the Army of the Cumberland, the fort helped secure strategic railroad lines to ensure the free movement of Union troops and supplies in southeastern Tennessee and northeastern Alabama. Union General William Rosecrans established his headquarters at Fort Harker in July, 1863, from where he directed a successful campaign against the position of Confederate General Braxton Bragg in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The fort would be abandoned after the war and fall into disrepair. After restoration, the site became a city park in 1985.

Camp Hilary A. Herbert

Spanish American War Camp, Montgomery, Alabama

Named for a former Secretary of the Navy. Herbert was an officer in the 8th Alabama Infantry during the Civil War.

Fort Hull

Fort Hull was constructed in January of 1814 to serve as a supply base for General John Floyd’s army. John Floyd (1769-1839) played an important military role in the Mississippi Territory (particularly what is now present-day Alabama) by leading troops in the battles of Autossee and at Calabee Creek during the Creek War of 1813-14.f

Colonel Homer V. Milton assumed command of the post once Floyd retreated back to Georgia following the Battle of Calabee Creek. The fort site is currently unmarked, and located on private property off County Road 45 in central Macon County, Alabama.

Fort Ingersoll

(1836), Phenix City

Fort Jackson

Wooden Stockade with blockhouse, built on the remains of the French Fort Toulouse (built in 1717) on April 17, 1814. At this site Red Stick Chief William Weatherford (Red Eagle) surrendered. On August 1, 1814 a general convention of the chiefs of the entire Creek Nation occurred with General Andrew Jackson to hear the final terms of the surrender and end of the Creek War. This surrender was signed on August 9, 1814.
Located at the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, Elmore County, Alabama; 4 miles southwest of Wetumpka, Alabama and 180 miles northeast of Mobile, Alabama.

Camp Johnston

Spanish American War Camp, Mobile, Alabama

Probably named after Joseph F. Johnston, who was governor of Alabama during Spanish American War. The other possibility is Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston.

Fort Sidney Johnston

(1862 – 1865), Oven Bluff
A CSA heavy-gun river defense on the Tombigbee River, west of Carlton. Built to prevent Union gunboats from ascending the river further inland. Constructed in the fall of 1862 as Oven Bluff Battery, formally named in June 1863. Not abandoned until after the fall of Mobile in April 1865, when its magazines were blown up by the garrison.

Landrums Fort / Mott’s Fort

A Creek War fort was built here in 1812 around the home of John Landrum. It was also the site of the first meeting of the county court which met in 1813 while Clarke County was still a part of the Mississippi Territory. These two wooden stockades were located eleven miles west from Fort Sinquefield; on section eighteen, township eight, range two east. Clark County, Alabama.
Turn off Co. Rd. 3 at the Winn Fire Station. Marker will be on left next to Berry’s Chapel A.M. Zion Church. N31°40’04.1”W087°54’42.2”

Mott’s Fort was in the same neighborhood. These both were small.

Fort Lavier

(1813), near Suggsville
A settlers’ stockaded fort located southeast of town on the Alabama River. Abandoned for Fort Madison after the attack on Fort Sinquefield. Built near the residence of Captain Lawson Lavier, who traded with the Choctaw Indians. It was built by himself and a few neighbors, but its locality is not known. Pickett names it, but no resident of Clarke County was found, in 1877, who knew anything of it.

Fort Leslie

Fort Leslie (1813-1814) – A Creek Indian War Fort established in 1813 near Talladega, Talladega County, Alabama. Named Fort Leslie after Alexander Leslie Jr.. Abandoned as a fortification in 1814. Also known as Leslie’s Station, Leslie’s Post, Fort Lashley, and Lashley’s Fort.

Established in the fall of 1813 by Alexander Leslie, Jr., a half blood Creek Indian, who built the fort around his home. The site was located about a mile from Talladega’s present day Court Square, on a knoll about 400 feet east of Fort Lashley Avenue, Hwy 21.

In November 1813, a number of non-hostile Creeks sought refuge in Fort Lashley, which then was surrounded by some 1,000 hostile Red Sticks Creeks, who demanded their surrender. When General Andrew Jackson was informed of the situation he assembled an army of 1,200 infantry and 800 cavalry who surrounded the hostiles on 9 Nov 1813. The Battle of Talladega casualties were 15 militiamen killed and about 299 Red Sticks killed.

Ft Louis de la Mobile

Fort Likens

(1838), Barry Springs
A Federal circular log stockade in “Brown’s Lower Valley” (Broomtown Valley) used for the Cherokee Removals on the “Trail of Tears”. Located near the springs on Mill Creek. No remains. The nearby Richard Barry log house (1838) was destroyed by fire in 1970. The Cherokee County Historical Society erected a marker here in the mid 1970s. Actual site is private property.
Historic Marker

Fort Lovell

(1838), near Cedar Bluff
A Federal log stockade near “Turkey Town“, used for the Cherokee Removals on the “Trail of Tears”. Probably located on what is now Williamson Island in Weiss Lake (Coosa River). No remains.

Fort Madison

(1813), near Suggsville

Located about ten miles east of Jackson, on County Road 35 in Clarke County. Six miles west of the Alabama River. About 55 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. Exact location: North-east corner of section one, township six, range three east of the St. Stephens meridian, on the water-shed line, which was then the eastern boundary of Clarke County.

Established during the Creek War (War of 1812) and commanded by Captain Sam Dale and Evan Austill. Choctaw chieftan Pushmataha often visited here.

Built around August 1813. During the Creek War was occupied by settlers. Wooden stockade, square in shape, 60×60 yards, about an acre of ground. A trench three feet in depth was dug around the outside and the bodies of pine trees cut about fifteen feet in length were placed perpendicularly in the trench side by side, making thus a wall of pine wood twelve feet in height. Portholes were cut at convenient distances so as to enable the defenders to look out, and in case of an attack to fire upon the besiegers. It was lighted at night by means of the abundant “pine-knot” placed upon scaffolds, covered with earth, when used would light up the area with a powerful white light.

Located in the center of a large Fort Madison neighborhood. First store located due east, six miles on the Alabama River in 1812. First gristmill located four miles north in 1812. First cotton gin located two miles north in 1813. Surrounded by the first plantations in the area.

Camp McClellan

United States Army Camp, located 5 miles north of Anniston which was founded in 1917. Upon the agreement of the citizens of Anniston to furnish land, water mains, electric lights, etc., the government of the United States agreed to locate a military camp at that point, where soldiers were to be trained for participation in World War I.

McGrews Fort

(1813) near Salitpa Alabama
in Section 1, Township 7, Range 1 west. Built by William and John McGrew, brothers. A settlers’ two-acre palisaded fort located in the corner of section one, township seven, range one west, about three miles north of Fort St. Stephens, in Clark County, Alabama; five miles north and eighteen west from Fort Madison.

Fort Mims

Located 35 miles northeast of Mobile, Alabama, in Baldwin County, Alabama, a ¼ quarter mile from the east bank of the Tensaw River. Built in July 1813, as a wooden stockade, square in shape, enclosing nearly an acre, with a protected blockhouse on the Southwest corner, with two large gates – one on the west wall and the other on the east wall. Stormed and taken by the Creeks on August 30, 1813.

On the east side of the Alabama, two miles below the cut off, a quarter of a mile from the Tensaw Boat Yard, was the ill-fated Fort Mims. When the erection of this stockade was commenced is uncertain, perhaps in July, and, according to Pickett, its last block house was never finished.

“This might be called No. I of the stockades erected especially for protection against the Creeks.

Fort Morgan

Fort Montgomery

(1814 – 1818), near Tensaw

The site of Fort Montgomery is just west of Highway 59 in Baldwin County, Alabama, about two miles southeast of Fort Mims. It was opposite the Alabama River “cutoff”.

Built in the fall of 1814 by Colonel Thomas H. Benton. This was the staging and assembly area for General Jackson’s army for the attack on Spanish Pensacola, Florida.
Located two miles north of Fort Mims site. Located 37 miles northeast of Mobile, Alabama, in Baldwin County, Alabama, near the east bank of the Tensaw River.

Rebuilt in 1817, including a new hospital.The site is unmarked.

Camp Montpelier

(1817 – 1820) near Little River Alabama
A Federal camp located seven miles northeast of Fort Montgomery, ten miles from the Alabama River, at the old townsite of Montpelier. Also known as Camp Montpelier and Fort Montpelier in different sources.

Mount Vernon

Headquarters for General Claiborne. Two Stockade forts were located here. Located 29 miles north of Mobile, Alabama in Mobile County.

Okfuskee Fort

(1735 – 1740 ?), near Alexander City
A British stockaded trading post on the west bank of the Tallapoosa River, opposite Sandy Creek, near the Upper Creek (Red Stick) village of Okfuskee, that tried to compete with the French at Fort Toulouse. It lasted only a few years, as the Upper Creeks were generally hostile to the British. Also spelled Okfuski. The actual site, 12 miles west of Dadeville, is now under the waters of Martin Lake.

Fort Opelika

(1865), Opelika
A CSA earthwork fort that was unfinished at the end of the war.

Fort Payne

(1835 – 1836, 1838, 1864), Fort Payne
A Federal stockade used for the Cherokee Removals on the “Trail of Tears”. Located at the Willstown Mission (built 1823) for the Cherokee. The ruins of the original log house (torn down in 1946) that was within the stockade remain on private property at the end of 4th Street SE off of Gault Ave.. A marker is located in City Park.

The CSA later built a small fort here to guard saltpeter works.

Fort Pierce

Fort Pierce was a small wooden stockade. It took its name from two brothers, William Pierce and John Pierce, who came from New England and made there their home in Spanish times. William Pierce was a weaver and John Pierce a teacher. Located two miles southeast of Fort Mims.

Camp Pollard

(1862) – 1865)

A substantial Confederate military training camp, north of town to protect the railroad lines. Also engaged as observation and suppy depot along the railroad. Established in May 1862 after the evacuation of Pensacola. t also was referred to as Camp Tattnall for Capt. John R. F. Tattnall, who commanded the camp.

Powell’s Fort

Powell’s Fort, aka James Powell’s Fort, was a settlers’ fort located about three miles south of Fort Carney near Oven Bluff (Latitude: 31.3618345°N Longitude: -87.8872201°W). The families of John McCaskey, of James Powell, of John Powell, and about three others, were in this small fort distant a mile from the river. After the fall of Fort Mims these families went to Carney’s Fort and then to Mt. Vernon. (1813 near Carlton Alabama)

Fort Powell

Fort Powell was located on a shell island at Grant’s Pass in Mobile Bay. The fort was not complete but would mount 5 rifled guns, 5 field howitzers and 2 long range guns. The emplacements were connected to the central magazine by tunnels.

Rankins’s Fort

This was a large wooden stockade and the most western of the river group of forts.
Located in Washington County, Alabama. Housed about five hundred and thirty people.

Fort Serof

Spanish outpost built by group from the Luna colony at Santa Maria de Ochuse. Believed to be located near Fort Morgan.

Fort Shackleford

1813, 1860’s), Escambia County
According to local tradition, a settlers’ stockaded fort. Also according to local tradition, a CSA work of the same name, at or near the same site. Undetermined location(s).

Camp Shipp

Spanish American War Camp, Anniston, Alabama

Named for Lt. William E. Shipp of the 10th Cavalry who was KIA on July 1, 1898 near Santiago, Cuba. He is buried at Lincolnton, North Carolina.

Fort Sinquefield

Located about ten miles north of Fort Madison, on the western side of Bassett’s Creek, Clark County, Alabama. Exact location: section thirteen, township eight, range three east. One mile northeast of Whatley, Alabama and about 65 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. Hwy 84 E on Fort Sinquefield Road is the site of an attack on settlers by Creek warriors during the Creek War. Made famous by Isaac Hayden who saved many settlers by leading a charge outside the fort with a pack of barking dogs.

A wooden stockade with a block-house built on a table-land or height of ground extending for a mile north and south. Eastward is a gentle slope which terminates finally in the Bassett’s Creek Valley. Westward are deep valleys and narrow, between large, high ridges of land. A spring supplied the fort with water is to the southwest, in one of the deep valleys, 275 yards away. The Creeks attacked this fort but was unable to take it.
Ninety feet distant from the stockade ground, in a northwest direction, are some graves. A few yards eastward of the forts location is supposed to be an old burial place, although the graves were not distinct in 1879.

Fort St Stephens

Located on the west bank of the Tombigbee River, on a high bluff, Washington County, Alabama, about 67 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. Established by the French about 1714, held afterwards by the Spanish, who made a settlement there about 1786, given up by the Spaniards to the Americans in 1799. Considered by the Creeks impregnable.

It is on the Banks of the Tombigbee River and situated on a high bluff that the Choctaw Indians called Hobucakintopa. In 1803 the Choctaw Trading House was established at Saint Stephens and the Choctaw Agency in 1805. The post was active in the deerskin trade, back when a “buck” was worth a dollar. Saint Stephens became the territorial capital in 1817.

Fort Stoddard

Located on the west bank of the Mobile River, Mobile County, Alabama, four miles due east of Mount Vernon, Alabama and 30 miles north of Mobile Alabama. Established by United States troops in July of 1799. This was a Stockade and bastion type. Port of entry into the United States where the Court of Admiralty was held.

In 1804 Captain Schuyler of New York was commander of the post of eighty men, Lt. Edmund P. Gaines, Lt. Reuben Chamberlain paymaster. Duties were exacted on imports and exports, (In 1807 Natchez, Mississippi planters paid for Kentucky flour at $4.00 a barrel, the same flour brought through Spanish Mobile, and brought up the river to Ft. Stoddart cost the Tombigbee planters sixteen dollars a barrell.

Fort Stonewall

(1862 – 1865), Choctaw Bluff
A CSA heavy-gun river defense on the Alabama River, east of Carlton Alabama. An earthen fort built to prevent Union gunboats from ascending the river further inland. Constructed in the fall of 1862 as Choctaw Bluff Battery, formally named in June 1863. Not abandoned until after the fall of Mobile in April 1865, when its magazines were blown up by the garrison.

A list of soldiers from the 15th Confederate Cavalry captured at Mount Pleasant (just east of Choctaw Bluff in Monroe County) appears in the National Archives microfilm for Alabama (M311) under the heading, “Fifteenth Alabama Cavalry”. This skirmish took place on April 11, 1865.

On modern-day maps, Choctaw Bluff appears to be on the Alabama River just E/NE of the Carlton community in Clarke County. It’s almost exactly east of Oven Bluff on the Tombigbee River, at the ten o’clock position of a tight bend in the Alabama River. The maps show a loop road running along the site.

Fort Strother

(1813 – 1814), near Ohatchee
Built by General Andrew Jackson in October of 1813 as an advanced supply base.
Located at the junction of the Coosa River and Canoe Creek in St. Clair County Alabama on the east end of Hines Mountain, about ten miles southwest of the present city of Gadsden, Alabama.

General Andrew Jackson’s base of operations during the First Creek War. Located four miles west of town on the Coosa River opposite Charchee Creek. The palisaded fort was 100 yards square enclosing eight hospital huts, a supply house, and 25 tents, as well as a large hog pen. Built after the Battle of Tallassahatchee, and before the Battle of Talladega. A stone marker (1913) was erected by the D.A.R..

Fort Tombeche

Fort Tombecbe (Fort de Tombecbé), also spelled Tombecbee and Tombeché, was a stockade fort located on the Tombigbee River near the border of French Louisiana, in what is now Sumter County, Alabama. It was constructed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1736-37 as trading post about 270 miles (430 km) upriver from Mobile, on an 80-foot (24 m) limestone bluff.

Source: Wikipedia contributors, “Fort Tombecbe,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Fort Toulouse

(1717 – 1763, 1814 – 1819), near Wetumpka
The original French fort, formally named Fort Toulouse aux Alibamons, was first constructed in 1717. It was garrisoned by 20-50 men. The fort was rebuilt in 1749-51 about 100 feet south of the first fort. The British held the post in 1763, but hostile Creeks (Red Sticks) prevented the British from actually using the fort. It was in ruins by 1775. American Fort Jackson (1814 – 1819) was built by the Carolina Brigade on the ruins of the first French fort, after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (March 1814). The Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed here in August 1814, ending the Creek threat to settlers. After the war, Jackson Town was settled and became the county seat of Montgomery County. The fort was used as the county jail. The town and fort were abandoned in 1819. The current structure on site is a replica of the second French fort, with the Commandant’s House and soldiers’ barracks. The actual site of the first French fort has been partially eroded away by the Coosa River. The earthworks and log guardhouse of the American fort have been partially reconstructed. The visitor center is in the Graves House (1825), relocated from Lowndes County. A large Mississippian Indian mound (circa AD 1100) is located at the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers. The park is located three miles south of town. Admission fee. See also Encyclopedia of Alabama

Turner’s Fort

Located eight miles south and five miles west of Fort Easley, in the West Bend Community two miles east of the Tombigbee River near the residence of Abner Turner, or about 72 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. Three miles distant, on the Tombigbee River was the Choctaw reservation known as Turkey Town.

This fort was built of split pine logs doubled and contained two or three block-houses. The Turner, Thornton, Pace and other families used this fort for protection.

It was held by the citizens of the neighborhood, thirteen men and some boys forming the garrison that expected to protect the women and children. In this stockade were members of the Turner, Thornton, Pace, and other families, early settlers in what became the delightful West Bend neighborhood. Here for a time resided Tandy Walker, who is mentioned in the Gaines records, who was ‘a most experienced and daring backwoodsman;’ but in the summer of 1813 he was connected with the affairs at Fort Madison.

“The inmates of the two forts, Turner’s and Easley’s, held religious services in their fort life. At Fort Easley a camp-meeting was held, probably in August, which some from the other stockades attended. The ‘love feast’ on Sunday morning was held outside the fort, but guards were stationed to give warning if any attacking party of Indians appeared.

Fort Tyler

Located on Alabama-Georgia border, it was site of one of last Civil War battles (April 16, 1865) to take place east of Mississippi.

The site of the Civil War-era Fort Tyler is seen on the outskirts of Lanett, Alabama in Chambers County. The fort was built between Lanett and West Point, Georgia, to defend the bridge crossing the Chattahoochee RIver. It was the last Confederate fort to be taken during the Battle of West Point on April 16, 1865.

Fort Warren

A settlers’ stockaded fort built by Richard Warren. Also known as Fort Burnt Corn. The probable site is located about one-half mile south of the junction of Monroe County Roads 5 and 42.

The “Battle of Burnt Corn”, July 1813, was actually fought near Appleton along Burnt Corn Creek in present-day Escambia County.

In 1816 Colonel Richard Warren constructed Fort Warren near Pine Orchard, approximately 6 miles north of Burnt Corn, for protection of settlers and travelers. Many settlers from Conecuh & Monroe Counties took refuge in this fort during the many Indian uprisings.

Camp Wheeler

Spanish American War Camp, Huntsville, Alabama

The camp was established in August 1898 and named after Major General Joseph Wheeler by Major General J.J. Coppinger on August 15, 1898. Wheeler was the second commanding general of the Fourth Corps.

It was renamed Camp Albert G. Forse when General Wheeler assumed command of the camp.

Fort White

(1813), near Grove Hill

A small wooden stockade built a short distance northeast of the present Grove Hill, Clark County, Alabama. A settlers’ stockaded fort located northeast of town. Abandoned after the attack on Fort Mims.

FORT WHITE was a short distance northeast of Grove Hill, on what became afterwards the Alston place, now the residence of Elijah P. Chapman.

Credit: www.clarkemuseum.com

Fort Williams

Fort Williams was a supply depot built in early 1814 in preparation for the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. It was located in Alabama on the southeast shore where Cedar Creek met the Coosa River, near Talladega Springs. The original site was submerged under Lay Lake with the 1914 construction of the Lay Dam 14 miles downstream.

Camp Winn

Confederate Camp, Shelby, Alabama

(1862 – 1865), near Shelby
A CSA training camp was established at the Shelby Springs Hotel and Spa (1839). The hotel itself was taken over as a military hospital in 1865. The resort reopened in 1869, but was closed in 1915. The site is now a cattle ranch off of AL 25.

Fort York

Sources

E Book Lossing’s The pictorial field-book of the war of 1812; or, Illustrations, by pen and pencil, of the history, biography, scenery, relics, and traditions of the last war for American independence by Lossing, Benson John, 1813-1891

E Book HISTORY of ALABAMA AND INCIDENTALLY OF GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD. BY Albert James Pickett

E Book THE CREEK WAR OF 1813 AND 1814 By H. S. HALBERT and T. H. BALL, Chicago, Illinois: Donohue & Henneberry; Montgomery, Alabama. White, Woodruff & Fowler 1895; and a facsimile reproduction by University of Alabama Press, May 30, 1995.^[5]

E Book Andrew Jackson : the gentle savage by Karsner, David, 1889-1941 Published 1929

E Book Red Eagle and the Wars With the Creek Indians of Alabama. by George Cary Eggleston

E Book Life and times of Gen. Sam Dale, the Mississippi partisan (1860) Author: Claiborne, J. F. H. (John Francis Hamtramck), 1809-1884

E Book A view of West Florida, embracing its geography, topography, &c. with an appendix, treating of its antiquities, land titles, and canals, and containing a map, exhibiting a chart of the coast, a plan of Pensacola, and the entrance of the harbor. by John Lee Williams. Published 1827 Library of Congress

E Book A concise natural history of East and West-Florida– Bernard Romans. “Concise Natural History can be placed firmly in the genre of colonial promotional literature. Romans’s book was an enthusiastic guide aimed at those seeking to establish modest holdings in the region:”^[6]

E Book The journal of Andrew Ellicott In 1796, George Washington commissioned Ellicott as the U.S. representative on the commission for the survey of the border between the Spanish territories in Florida and the United States ^[7]

Alabama Trails, War of 1812, Forts

Alabama Trails, War of 1812, Bibliography

Tennessee.Gov War of 1812 Regiments

Military Roads in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana Powell A. Casey

Find A Grave Memorial Stone at Ft. Mims

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