Mobile, Alabama

“ Mobile, the only seaport of the state, has a channel 30 ft. deep, on which the national government spends large sums of money; yet an increasing amount of Alabama cotton is sent to New Orleans for shipment, and Pensacola, Florida, receives much of the lumber.
Population.—In 1880 the inhabitants of Alabama numbered 1,262,505; in 1890, 1,513,017, an increase of 17%; in 1900, 1,828,697, a further increase of 20%. This population is notable for its large proportion of negroes (45·23%) , its insignificant foreign element (·08%) , and the small percentage of urban inhabitants (10%) . ”

“ Well, the election came off in August, and everything went all right, and now the colored people in Mobile can have anything they want. There is the best feeling between the races. I tell you we should get on beautifully if the politicians would let us alone. It is politics that has made all the trouble in Alabama and in Mobile. ”

“ For more than a year Cloud had trouble in the schools of Mobile. The Mobile schools (always independent of the state system) were under the control of a school board appointed by the military authorities in 1865. When all offices and contracts were vacated, G. L. Putnam, a member of the Board of Education, and also connected with the Emerson Institute, which was conducted at Mobile by the American Missionary Association, had secured the enactment, because he wanted the position, of a school law providing for a superintendent of education for Mobile County. ”

“ In Mobile some kind of civil government must have been set up under the direction of the military authorities, for we hear of an order issued by General Andrews that in all courts and judicial proceedings in the District of Mobile the negro should have the same standing as the whites. ”

“ It flows W. as far as Selma, then S.W. until, about 45 m. from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee to form the Mobile and Tensas rivers, which discharge into Mobile Bay. The course of the Alabama is tortuous; its width varies from 200 to 300 yds., its depth from 3 to 7 ft.; its length by the United States Survey is 312 m., by steamboat measurement, 420 m. The river crosses the richest agricultural and timber districts of the state, and railways connect it with the mineral regions of north central Alabama. ”

“ The wealthy people were found in the Tennessee valley, in the Black Belt extending across the centre of the state, and in Mobile, the one large town. They were (except a few of the Mobilians) all slaveholders. The poorer white people went to the less fertile districts of north and southeast Alabama, where land was cheap, preferring to work their own poor farms rather than to work for some one else on better land. But nearly every slave county had its colony of poorer whites, who were invariably settled on the least fertile soils. ”

“ Over the greater part of Alabama there were no class distinctions before 1860; the state was too young. In the wilderness classes had fused and the successful men were often those never heard of in the [Pg 7] older states. A candidate of “the plain people” was always elected, because all were frontier people. This does not mean that in Huntsville, Montgomery, Greensboro, and Mobile there were not the beginnings of an aristocracy based on education, wealth, and family descent. But these were very small spots on the map of Alabama, and there were no heartburnings over social inequalities. ”

“ This was accordingly done, vivacity ran high amidst sparkling wines and merriment unconfined, and the gay throng in the banquet hall little resembled a colony driven by disaster from their native land, and so recently exposed to death.
At Mobile, the McDonough was dismissed, and plans were at once adopted to provide flatboats and barges to convey the company up the winding Tom [Pg 549] bigbee to their future home among the wilds of Western Alabama. Of their future experiences we shall hear later. ”

“ For three years the Federal lines touched the northern part of the state only, and, as no railroads connected north and south Alabama, contraband trade was difficult in that direction. Mobile, the only port of the state, was closely blockaded by a strong Federal fleet. The railroad communications with other states were poor, and the Confederate government usually kept the railroads busy in the public service. Consequently, the people of Alabama were forced to develop certain industries in order to secure the necessaries of life. ”

“ Manufactures of open-hearth steel and of cotton goods have greatly advanced in recent years.
Transportation. The state is traversed by about 5,225 miles of railway. The rivers of the state furnish 1,500 miles of navigable waters, the main streams, the Alabama and the Tombigbee, connecting with the port of Mobile through the Mobile River.
Education. Alabama maintains separate schools for white and colored children, and applies the public school fund in exact proportion to the two classes of schools. ”

“ The city of Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, has assumed such a sudden importance as the capital of the Southern Confederacy and the seat of the federal operations of the new government, that we give below a brief sketch of its locality and surroundings. It is situated on the left bank of the Alabama River, 331 miles by water from Mobile, and 830 miles from Washington, D. C. It is the second city in the State in respect to trade and population, and is one of the most flourishing inland towns of the Southern States, possessing great facilities for communications with the surrounding country. ”

“ There were 7.81 miles for every 100 square miles of territory, and 22.55 miles for every 10,000 inhabitants. Almost every trunk line of the South passes through Birmingham. There is a State Railroad Commission, which fixes rates, but railroads are not bound to adopt them. In case of damage suits, however, the rates fixed by the commission are prima facie reasonable. Mobile is the only seaport, and the chief exports are cotton, coal, and lumber. New Orleans takes the bulk of the cotton for export trade, and Pensaeola the lumber. ”

“ A city charter, dated the 17th of December 1819, was granted by the first state legislature of Alabama, and Mobile became the commercial emporium for Alabama and Mississippi, its cotton exports increasing from 7000 bales in 1818 to 100,000 in 1830 and 450,000 in 1840. ”

“ Alabama is bounded on the south by Florida and the gulf of Mexico; west by Mississippi; east by Georgia, and north by Tennessee. It lies between thirty degrees twelve minutes and thirty-five degrees north latitude; and eighty-five degrees and eighty-eight degrees thirty minutes west longitude. Its breadth is one hundred and sixty, and its length two hundred and eighty miles; the whole area including forty-six thousand square miles. This state is divided into forty-six counties. Tuscaloosa is the seat of government. Mobile is the great commercial depot, and the only town of consequence. ”

“ Slaves were regularly impressed by the Confederate officials acting in coöperation with the state authorities, for work on fortifications and for other public service. Several thousand were at work at Mobile at various times. They were secured usually by requisition on the state government, which then impressed them. In December, 1864, Alabama was asked for 2500 negroes for the Confederate service. [446] The people [Pg 175] were morbidly sensitive about their slave property, and there was much discontent at the impressment of slaves, even though they were paid for. ”

“ While sharing fully in the hardships of the early colonizers of south Alabama, Mr. Travis, as a minister of the gospel, led in all movements in the emergence of that region from chaotic conditions to the higher plane of advanced society. Himself denied the advantages of an education, he was the foremost in all movements to provide for general [Pg 97] instruction. He was the founder of the town of Evergreen, now a bustling little center on the Louisville and Nashville Railway, between Montgomery and Mobile. ”

“ Mobile county may become indebted and may issue bonds for the construction or improvement of concrete or better than concrete surfaced public roads, and concrete or better than concrete public bridges in said county, and for the construction of bridges and roadway necessary to provide a public road for vehicular travel between the highlands of Mobile and Baldwin counties, in an amount not to exceed six and one-half per centum of the assessed value of the property situated in Mobile county. ”

“ Mobile, as the only port in the State, has extensive commercial interests, particularly in its export trade. The exports in 1901, principally lumber, cotton and cotton products, live stock and meat products, breadstuffs and naval stores, were valued at nearly $12,000,000, while imports amounted to about $3,000,000. The commerce of the city has been promoted by extensive improvements in the harbor and in the channel through the bay, both of which are now accessible for large vessels. According to the census of 1900, Mobile was the third manufacturing city in Alabama. ”

“ No incorporated municipality in Mobile county shall have power to levy, impose, or collect a privilege license tax upon or in respect of the employees of an employer which is measured by or based on income derived from wages, salaries, commissions, or bonuses, for personal services rendered, unless the levying thereof shall have been authorized before the enactment of such ordinance by a vote of the duly qualified electors of the city or town at an election held for such purpose, in the manner prescribed by the city or town council or commission. ”

“ For the purposes of this amendment, the words "elected Mobile County official" shall mean any person elected to a full-time Mobile County office, including the sheriff, and shall include any person appointed to serve the remaining term of an elected county official, but shall not include a judge, district attorney, legislator, constable, school board member, any official elected from a judicial circuit, or any official who is allowed by law to participate in any other retirement system." ”

“ The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by general or local laws fix, alter and regulate the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries to be charged or received by the sheriff of Mobile county, and including the right to place said officer on a salary basis and provide that the fees, fines and forfeitures received or collected by said officer be paid into the treasury of Mobile county, Alabama, and to fix and provide the amount and method of compensation of such officer. ”

“ The citizens were not wanting in enterprise. Andrew Dexter, the leading spirit, foresaw the metropolitan importance of the town and promptly laid aside a square, on which the State Capitol was subsequently to be erected, as he confidently believed. By 1821 steamboats were making regular trips from Mobile to Montgomery, and in the same year the Montgomery Republican was issued by Jonathan Battelle. ”

“ Mobile Temper and Trade—Inducements of Alabama to Emigrants. Between Meridian and Mobile, the railroad passes only very small tracts of land that appear at all inviting to Northern eyes. Much of the country is grown up in pine. Possibly lumbermen might find it a good location, but planters are likely to keep away from it.
All in all, however, Alabama offers better inducements to the Northern emigrant than almost any of the other Southern States. The feeling against Northerners is not so bitter as through most of the South. ”

“ WALLER, TOM, Pvt., Honoraville, Alabama. WEIR, WILLIE, Pvt., Bessemer, Alabama. WHEELER, WILLIE F., Pvt., Bessemer, Alabama. WHITED, HOMER, Pvt., Bessemer, Alabama. WHITEHEAD, SAM, Pvt., Bessemer, Alabama. WINDHAM, SAMUEL C., Pvt., Oakland, Alabama. WILCOX, CURTIS P., Pvt., Mobile, Alabama. WILLBANKS, ROLGIER, Pvt., Walnut, Mississippi. WOODRUFF, ALTO, Pvt., Mt. Willing, Alabama. WOODS, OSCAR L., Pvt., Coal Valley, Alabama. WOOLEY, KNOX E., Pvt., Montevalo, Alabama. WORSHAM, JAMES B., Pvt., Camilla, Georgia. YANSEY, CLAUD, Cook, Huntsville, Alabama, YOUNG, JOHN O., Sgt., Birmingham, Alabama. ”

“ MERRETT, ALVIS M., Bugler, Alabama City, Alabama. 429MEYERS, OSCAR, Corp., Edgewater, Alabama. MILNER, JAMES P., Pvt., Columbiana, Alabama. MILSTEAD, JAMES R., Pvt., Acton, Alabama. MITCHELL, LUKE, Mechanic, Guntersville, Alabama. MOORE, CARL, Pvt., Jasper, Alabama. MORROW, PETTUS, Pvt., Summerfield, Alabama. MURPHEY, NELSON, Pvt., Eolin, Alabama. MURPHEY, WILLIAM I., Pvt., Dublin, Georgia. NEELY, ROBERT E., Pvt., 1904 Ave. E South, Birmingham, Alabama. NEWMAN, CLIFFORD, Corp., 358 George St., Mobile, Alabama. NICHOLS, JAMES P., Pvt., Thomaston, Alabama. ”

“ A returned successful Californian was something of a show, a rather annoying feature of my stay in Mobile, which prompted an early exit for Camden and out to Pine Apple where our people lived. After a nice visit, finding the old folks up in pretty good shape, I started for New Orleans, with a view of resuming my medical studies. Upon my arrival at Mobile, I found poor brother William down with pneumonia. ”

“ For the population of the State by counties, see back of map.
Cities. The census of 1900 gives the following figures for the population of the largest cities: Mobile. 38,469; Birmingham, 38,415, and Montgomery, 30,346.
Government. The present Constitution was adopted by a vote of the people in November, 1901. The right of suffrage is restricted to those who have resided two years in the State, one year in the county, and three months in the precinct or ward, and have paid the required poll tax and registered. ”

“ In 1798 Congress organized the region included between the Mississippi River on the west, the Chattahoochee on the east, the 31st parallel on the south, and a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo into Mississippi Territory, and in 1804 extended its northern boundary to Tennessee; in April, 1813, the Mobile district was taken from the Spanish by the United States and annexed to Mississippi territory. ”