The Appalachian Preservation Society
Alabama
The US50 - A guide to the fifty states. Spanish explorers are believed to have arrived at Mobile Bay in 1519, and the territory was visited in 1540 by the explorer Hernando de Soto. The first permanent European settlement in Alabama was founded by the French at Fort Louis de la Mobile in 1702. The British gained control of the area in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, but had to cede almost all the Alabama region to the U.S. after the American Revolution. The Confederacy was founded at Montgomery in February 1861 and, for a time, the city was the Confederate capital.
Alabama History On-Line. Alabama's Department of Archives and History.
Clickable map of Alabama. Click on the map to access information on a particular county.
Alabama Clickable Image Map. The home page of the Alabama information.
AlaWeb - State of Alabama - Agency Web Site List. Online Alabama State Agencies Index.
Wildernet - Alabama. Alabama lies in the heart of the nation's deep south. Its boundaries encompass diversity in landforms, flora and fauna, that support a wide variety of outdoor activities. Alabama's geography can be split into three regions: the northern region, which contain the southern ranges of the Appalachian Mountains; the central highlands, which are mainly forested areas; and the southern coastal plain, which includes rich farming lands and the delta region of Mobile. Each of these regions are differ in topography, but have always relied heavily on the major waterways that pervade the state.
Welcome to Alabama! Welcome to the State of Alabama's Official Web Site - AlaWeb! AlaWeb is your portal to Alabama state government information and check The Alabama Information Directory.
Welcome to Alabama! 1-800-ALABAMA. Your vacation begins here.
Alabama State Parks. Welcome to the official Alabama State Parks web site! Inside you will find helpful information for planning your family vacation, weekend getaway or your next business conference.
GSA Homepage. The Geological Survey of Alabama, established in 1848, is a data gathering and research agency that explores and evaluates the mineral, water, energy, biological, and other natural resources of the State of Alabama and conducts basic and applied research in these fields as a public service to citizens of the State.
State TopoView Alabama from the National Geophysical Data Center.
Alabama National Park Guide by State. Maps and information.
Alabama General Historical Information. Timelines and counties.
Alabama Information. Maps, counties, and other information.
Welcome to DeKalb County, Alabama - Gateway to the Appalachian Mountains! Home to Fort Payne, Mentone, DeSoto State Park, World's Longest Yardsale, Little River Canyon, summer camps. DeKalb County, Alabama was established January 9, 1836 from land that was ceded to the federal government by the Cherokee Nation and is named for Baron Johann Sebastian DeKalb, an American Revolutionary War hero.
Alabama Live's Parks Page North Alabama. Alabama's home on the net.
Early Alabama Historyand Migration. Alabama is bordered by Tennessee on the north, by Georgia on the east, by the Florida panhandle on the south, and by Mississippi on the west.
Welcome to myTopo.com! Search by placename or coordinate. Center and customize your map in our MapMaker. Preview your map before you buy.
Wildernet - Hiking, Camping, Fishing and Many Other Activities Throughout America's Public Lands. Our goal is to share our experience. Contains a clickable map for information on individual states. Information on lakes and reservoirs, national forests and parks, regions, state parks, wild refuges, description, recreation, climate, location, contact information, and links for all 50 states.
Archives and Preservation Resources from the National Archives and Records Administration.
National Archives and Records Administration Home Page. The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent federal agency that preserves our nation's history and defines us as a people by overseeing the management of all federal records.
Charters of Freedom Exhibit. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta, and the Founding Fathers Page that has biographies of each of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Census Bureau Home Page. State and National data, maps, census information, and economic information.
An interactive State Historic Sites Map for Alabama.
An early road map of Alabama.
Tiger Map of Alabama from the United States Census Bureau.
Using Maps in Genealogy a fact sheet from the United States Geologic Survey.
1815 map of Cherokee and Creek lands.
Alabama Civil War Roots contains information on Alabama's Civil War history.
Capitals of Alabama. As a separate territory and state since 1817, Alabama has had five capitals.
Virtual Perpetual Calendars will help determine the day and month of the year for genealogists.
The National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resources has the responsibility to inventory, map, and assess underwater cultural resources in the U.S. National Park system and to develop plans for management, preservation, and recreational use of submerged cultural resources.
State Map of Alabama historic sites.
The Species Corner: mammals found in the Gulf Coast.
Portrait of Marquis de LAFAYETTE an ardent supporter of American Revolution, voted Major General by Continental Congress, commanded light division in Battle of Yorktown, close associate of George Washington.
ALABAMA'S FIRST MANSION, the first official governor's mansion located at the corner of South and South Perry Streets in Montogmery. It was demolished in 1963.
Fort Gaines, where history spans three centuries.
Fort Blakeley, Alabama, scene of the last major battle of the Civil War.
Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. On the morning of 27 March 1814, General Andrew Jackson and an army of 3,300 men consisting of Tennessee militia, United States regulars and both Cherokee and Lower Creek allies attacked Chief Menawa and 1,000 Upper Creek or Red Stick warriors fortified in the "horseshoe" bend of the Tallapoosa River. To seal off the bend of the river, the Upper Creeks built an incredibly strong 400 yard long barricade made of dirt and logs.
Historic Fort Mitchell, Alabama. The Georgia Militia constructed the original Fort Mitchell during the Creek War of 1813-1814. This war began as a civil war between rival Creek Indian factions during the War of 1812. The Upper Creeks, or Red Sticks, of central Alabama, who were allied with both the British and Spanish, were at odds with the Lower Creeks of the Chattahoochee River Valley, who were more allied with the fledgling American government. The U.S. Army rebuilt Fort Mitchell on its original site and garrisoned it from 1825 until 1840, shortly after the Creek War of 1836 and the Indian Removal to the West. Fort Mitchell was, in fact, the embarkation point for the Lower Creek Nation onto the "Trail of Tears".
Tannehill Historical State Park contains many restored pioneer buildings.
Ft. Mims Massacre, August 30, 1813 commemorates the bloody battle. The fortification had been occupied by settlers, Indians, slaves and militia when a body of Creek Indians attacked. The Creek Indians put more than three hundred peopleto death, including women and children. This eventwas a chief cause of the Creek War of 1813-1814.
Historic Fort Mitchell, Alabama. The Georgia Militia constructed the original Fort Mitchell during the Creek War of 1813-1814. This war began as a civil war between rival Creek Indian factions during the War of 1812. The Upper Creeks, or Red Sticks, of central Alabama, who were allied with both the British and Spanish, were at odds with the Lower Creeks of the Chattahoochee River Valley, who were more allied with the fledgling American government. The U.S. Army rebuilt Fort Mitchell on its original site and garrisoned it from 1825 until 1840, shortly after the Creek War of 1836 and the Indian Removal to the West. The site is currently the scene of a historic preservation scandal.
The Creek War of 1812 and 1813 by Halbert and Ball, 1895.
Story of the Kimball Massacre. This account of the Kimbell-James Massacre comes from the book by Halbert and Ball entitled The Creek War of 1813 and 1814.
History of the Old Federal Road in Alabama. Back in 1806 when the Nation was still young and rapidly growing westward, a horse path for postal riders was opened through the Creek Nation stretching from middle Georgia to coastal Alabama. As the likelihood of another battle with Britain increased, the crucial need to quickly move troops to protect the American Gulf Coast was becoming more evident. In June 1810, Fort Stoddert's commanding officer Col. Richard Sparks was ordered by Secretary of War William Eustis to inspect and document these horse paths in order to mark a military road so that troops and supplies could be sent to defend the Gulf Coast. A second scouting party from Fort Stoddert was led by 1st Lt. John Roger Nelson Luckett. Luckett made the first significant survey for road construction in land that would later become Alabama. In addition to being charged to keep journal notes of each day of his trip, Luckett’s party carved Roman numerals into trees marking each mile along their journey. On July 11, 1811, Brigadier General Wade Hampton was directed to immediately begin construction of three wagon roads through the Creek Nation – the second of these roads became known as the Federal Road.
Fort Gaines, where history spans three centuries.
The site of Fort Toulouse/Fort Jackson Park has been occupied for more than three thousand years. In 1717, the French joined the Native American populations, building the first Fort Toulouse at the head of the Alabama River. Erosion of the Coosa River bank led to the rebuilding of the fort. The second Fort Toulouse was completed in 1751 and was occupied by the French until their defeat in the French and Indian War. The French withdrew from the fort in 1763 and were forced to leave it to decay.
Wetumpka, Alabama - Fort Toulouse-Jackson Park. Competition among European nations in the New World for the "most valuable strategic position in the Southwest" set the stage for the rich history of the park. At this intersection of trade routes, troops mutinied, treaties were signed and great nations held each other at bay.
Old Mobile Archaeology. In January 1702, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville established a settlement called Mobile, which served as the capital of the French colony of Louisiane for almost a decade, until its abandonment in 1711.
Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies preserves and promotes the history and the cultures of Louisiana's Florida Parishes, southwestern Mississippi and surrounding areas through scholarly research, lectures, and publishing.
The French Colonials on the Coast contains snippets of French colonial history on the Gulf of Mexico.
Hernando De Soto, Spanish Conquest of North America. De Soto led the first Europeans into America in 1540.
Robert de la Salle [1643-1687] was a French explorer. He sailed down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the region for France. He named the area Louisiana after King Louis XIV. De la Salle was responsible for the first European settlements in the area. He and two other French traders built Fort Crevecoeur on the Illinois River near Peoria in 1680, and Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock in 1682. LaSalle was killed by his own men in 1687.
Bartram Among The Creeks. Excerpted from Bartram's Travels, the journal of William Bartram, late 18th century botanist, of Philadelphia, who traveled the Carolinas, Georgia, East and West Florida, collecting botanic specimens and recording his adventures.
What Bartram saw from Peter Hamilton's, "COLONIAL MOBILE".
Hernando De Soto's Midwest Conquest Trails: Alabama; Tennessee; Kentucky; Indiana; Illinois; and Georgia.
Spanish Colonization. The Spanish colonization of North America began in Florida (map of 1625) and along the Gulf Coast as well as in central Mexico. By the end of the Fifteenth Century, Spain was moving into the Borderlands of the southwest (contemporary New Mexico). Their colonization methods, first developed in the reconquest of their homeland from the Moors (the Reconquista), were dramatically modified by their experiences in the Caribbean and in Mexico and Peru. Governmental institutions and processes evolved to deal with the problems of governing effectively from a distance.
MUSCOGEE CREEKS. The original inhabitants of most of Alabama and Georgia.
Albert James Pickett's History of Alabama (also the history of Georgia and Mississippi), published 1851.
Russell Cave National Monument is an archeological treasure containing evidence as to how prehistoric Indians lived in the Southeast for almost 10,000 years. Virtually, no other place in the region holds such a rich record offering clues to how prehistoric Indians fed, clothed and protected themselves.
Southeast Genealogy online's State of Alabama contains Alabama History; County Formation Maps; County Census Maps; and the Military History of Alabama.
The Opelousas Militia of Louisana in the 1770's - 1780's.
Soldiers of the American Revolution from Louisiana.
Cabeza de Vaca's Journey to the Southwest.