Tuscaloosa, Alabama

“ 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. ”

“ The governing body of Tuscaloosa county shall appoint and designate the election officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate and declare the result of, the elections as to any and all school districts in Tuscaloosa county other than in the city of Tuscaloosa and the school district in which the city of Tuscaloosa is located. All such elections shall otherwise be conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared as general elections are conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared in Alabama. ”

“ They were now approaching the town of Mobila, which was the capital of the Tuscaloosa kingdom. This town was probably situated at a place now called Choctaw Bluff, on the north or western side of the Alabama river, in the county of Clarke. At that point the Spaniards were at a distance of about twenty-five miles above the confluence of the Alabama and the Tombigbee, and about eighty-five miles from the bay of Pensacola. The town was beautifully situated upon a spacious plain, and consisted of eighty very large houses; each one of which, it was stated, would accommodate a thousand men. ”

“ The demand for competent legislators and men for the occupancy of other spheres, at a time when the population of the state was sparse, opened the door of opportunity to aspiring young men to which class Collier belonged. When only twenty-six he went as a representative from Tuscaloosa County, and so profound was the impression made by this [Pg 60] solid young man that the legislature, at the next session, elected him to a place on the supreme bench, a distinction the more pronounced because his competitor for the place was Judge Eli Shortridge. ”

“ Tuscaloosa County, the location of the State University, is said to have suffered worst of all. A strong organization of Ku Klux cleared it out. In the northern and western sections of the state politics were more likely to enter into the quarrels. The Radicals—white and black—were more apt to be disciplined because of politics than in the Black Belt. Negroes and offensive whites were warned not to vote the Radical ticket. There was a disposition to suppress, not to control, the negro vote as the Black Belt wanted to do. There were more frequent collisions, more instances of violence. ”

“ Schools taught by native whites, most of whom were of good character, were established at Tuskegee, Auburn, Opelika, Salem, Greenville, Demopolis, Evergreen, Mount Meigs, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Marion, Arbahatchee, Prattville, Haynesville, and King’s Station,—in all twenty schools. ”

“ CHANCEY, CLAUD, Pvt., Enterprise, Alabama. CHISM, REYNOLDS, Pvt., Calera, Alabama. CHISM, ARCHIE, Corp., Tuscaloosa, Alabama. CHRISTENBERRY, CURN, Pvt., Landersville, Alabama. CHRISTIAN, SAM, Pvt., R.F.D. 1, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. CLARK, JACK, Pvt., Gadsden, Alabama. CLEVELAND, ARNOLD B., Mess Sgt., Walnut Grove, Alabama. COFFMAN, THOMAS W. E., Pvt., R.F.D. 1, Ensley, Alabama. COLEMAN, DAVID B., Pvt., Greensboro, Alabama. COLEY, OSCAR F., Pvt., Fort Payne, Alabama. COLLIER, ROBERT L., Pvt., Selma, Alabama. CONN, ZEKE, Pvt., Birmingham, Alabama. COOK, AUGUSTUS B., Pvt., Whitesburg, Georgia. ”

“ The traffic in whiskey was enormous, and most of the sales were to the soldiers, to the lowest class of whites, and to the negroes. The streets of the towns and cities such as Montgomery, Mobile, Selma, Huntsville, Athens, and Tuscaloosa, were crowded with drunken and violent soldiers. Lewd women had followed the army and had established disreputable houses near every military post, which were the centre and cause of many lawless outbreaks. ”

“ The order continued to spread after the reorganization in 1867. There were scattered Dens over north Alabama and as far south as Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Montgomery. It came first to the towns and then spread into the country. It was less and less an obscure organization, and more and more a band of regulators, using mystery, disguise, and secrecy to terrify the blacks into good behavior. It was in many ways a military organization, the shadowy ghost of the Confederate armies. [1909] The whites were all well-trained military men; they looked to their military chieftains to lead them. ”

“ At the close of the war he had been a member of the Tuscaloosa Church (white) about ten years, and was the only colored Baptist preacher in Tuscaloosa. This brother has had a rather remarkable career. In the year 1855 he bought his freedom, and in 1856 started to Liberia, Africa, going as far as Savannah, Ga. His aspiration for liberty, his unaided toiling for the mastery of letters and books, his tact and perseverance in organizing the colored Baptists of his section into churches and associations, and his success in accumulating property with many other things, mark him as no ordinary man. ”

“ Reopening of the African slave trade should be forbidden by the Confederate government expressly for reasons of public policy.
Smith (c.) of Tuscaloosa said that the question of morality did not arise; the slave trade was not wrong. The heathen African was greatly benefited by the change to Christian Alabama. But no more negroes were needed; they were already increasing too fast and there was no territory for extension. Crowded together, the white and black might degenerate like the Spaniards and natives in Mexico. ”

“ The State sends eight representatives to Congress. Its principal towns are Montgomery, the seat of government, and Mobile, the chief port. There is a State university at Tuscaloosa, a university connected with the Methodist Episcopal body, several State normal colleges, besides professional schools, &c., in the principal towns. Alabama became a State in 1819. It was one of the slave States. Pop. (1920) , 2,348,174.
Alabama, a river of the United States, in the State of Alabama, formed by the junction of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa. ”

“ Be one’s advantages never so much or so meager, self and self-worth are at last the determinative factor.
Girt with equipments like these borne from the Waddell school, young Collier reached Alabama just as it was emerging into statehood. His first residence was at Huntsville, where as a youthful pleader he opened his little office, but soon removed to Tuscaloosa as the partner of Hon. Simon L. Perry. ”

“ With the passage of years and the continued influx of planters ready to buy their lands at good prices, such fanners as did not thrive tended to vacate the richer soils. The Natchez-Vicksburg district became largely consolidated into great plantations, [18] and the tract extending thence to Tuscaloosa, as likewise the district about Montgomery, Alabama, became occupied mostly by smaller plantations on a scale of a dozen or two slaves each, [19] while the non-slaveholders drifted to the southward pine-barrens or the western or northwestern frontiers. ”

“ The Local Agent of the Department of Justice at Birmingham had many times received information that there [Pg 156] were a number of deserters and delinquents in the swamps of Pickens County, Alabama. The local office there being unable to cope with the situation, on Monday, December 10, a D. J. man, Robert B——, went to Gordo to secure information as to the location of these men. The information was secured. Mr. B—— then proceeded to Tuscaloosa where he called the Special Agent over long distance phone asking that eight A. P. L. men be sent to join him in Tuscaloosa. ”

“ In central Alabama, Montgomery, Greene, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Calhoun, Talladega, Randolph, Chambers, Coosa, and Tallapoosa. [1913] There were bands in most of the other counties, and in the counties of the Black Belt. The order seldom extended to the lower edge of the Black Belt. In the Black [Pg 668] Belt it met the Knights of the White Camelia, the White Brotherhood, and later the White League, and in a way absorbed them all. [1914]
The actual number of the men in regular organized Dens cannot be ascertained. It was estimated that there were 800 in Madison County, and 10,000 in the state. ”

“ The Director of the National Park Service is pleased to inform you that the following properties have been entered in the National Register of Historic Places beginning May 26, 1985 and ending June 1, 1984. For further information call (202) 343-9552.
STATE, County, Vicinity, Property, Address, (Date Listed)
ALABAMA, Tuscaloosa County, Tuscaloosa, Caplewood Drive Historic District, Roughly bounded by Caplewood Dr., and University Blvd. ”

“ ALABAMA, Jefferson County, Birmingham, Avalon, 3005—3015 Highland Ave. and 3000—3020 13th Ave. South (03/07/85)
ALABAMA, Macon County, Tuskegee, North Main Street Historic District, 600, 615, 616 N. Main, 101, 110 E. Water, 700 Water, 701 Maple and 811 N. Maple Sts. (03/07/85)
ALABAMA, Mobile County, Mobile, Hunter House, 504 St. Francis St. (03/07/85)
ALABAMA, Tuscaloosa County, Northport vicinity, Hassell, John, House, Rt. 1 Watermelon Rd. ”

“ BAGBY, Arthur Pendleton, governor of Alabama, was born in Virginia in 1794. He was educated for the law, and in 1818 settled in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was a representative in the state legislature and speaker of the house, 1820-24 ”

“ Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the militia of this state shall compose four Divisions; the first of which shall consist of the counties of Jackson, Madison, Limestone and Lauderdale; the second Division shall be composed of the counties of Cotaco, Blount St. Clair, Lawrence, Franklin, Marion, Tuscaloosa, Shelby and Jefferson; the third Division shall be composed of the counties of Greene, Marengo, Perry, Cahawba, Autauga, Montgomery, Dallas and Wilcox ”

“ At Wetumpka he built a church edifice worth about $700. While pastor at Clayton he led to the erection of a building worth $1,000, and just now is rejoicing with the good people of Union Springs on his entrance into the new brick structure which was dedicated on the second Sunday in October, 1892. He was principal of the city school while in Clayton, and now holds several positions of honor and trust. Mr. Bradford is one of the strongest and is among the most successful young men in Alabama. His affable manner commends him to all. He is now at Tuscaloosa. ”

“ Large numbers were sold. S. H. Goetzel of Mobile published Madame Chaudron’s spelling-book, of which 40,000 copies were sold in 1864 and 1865. W. G. Clark and Co. printed a revision of Colburn’s Mental Arithmetic in 1864. A Mental Arithmetic by G. Y. Browne of Tuscaloosa is dated Atlanta, 1865, but was probably published in North Carolina. In 1864 W. G. Clark and Co. announced “A Book of Geographical Questions.” Before the close of the war Confederate text-books were quite common in the state. The series were usually named “Confederate,” “Dixie,” “Texas,” “Virginia,” etc. ”

“ The office of a judge shall be vacant if he dies, resigns, retires, or is removed. Vacancies in any judicial office shall be filled by appointment by the governor; however, vacancies occurring in any judicial office in Jefferson county shall be filled as now provided by amendments 83 and 110 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 and vacancies occurring in Shelby, Madison, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Washington, Henry, Etowah, Walker, Tallapoosa, Pickens, Greene, Tuscaloosa, St. ”

“ Curry, “Civil History of the Confederate States,” p. 151.
[207] The Conscript Bureau had posts at the following places: Decatur, Courtland, Somerville, Guntersville, Tuscumbia, Fayetteville, Pikeville, Camden, Montgomery, Selma, Lebanon, Pollard, Troy, Mobile, West Point (Ga.) , Marion, Greensborough, Blountsville, Livingston, Gadsden, Cedar Bluff, Jacksonville, Ashville, Carrollton, Tuscaloosa, Eutaw, Eufaula, Jasper, Newton, Clarksville, Talladega, Elyton. O. R., Ser. ”

“ There were many large gifts from many men and women, all of whom cannot be mentioned here of course, but most of the money that was given to Tuskegee came in small amounts from a large number of people,—from churches, Sunday 75schools, missionary societies, and other organizations; from preachers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, farmers—from every class of people came gifts, sometimes large and sometimes small. All the graduates of Tuskegee were loyal and gave something, however small the amount might be. The Alabama Legislature gave more and more as the school grew. ”

“ Everybody was glad to change the scene and the subject of thought, for death has no attractive form. Tuskaloosa was a fine old Southern town, with palatial homes, wide streets, shaded by three rows of water oaks, well kept yards, extensive flower gardens, and a large complement of pretty women. The gates were open and the city was ours for the asking. They had never seen a Southern army, and more than that, they had never imagined the like of Forrest’s cavalry as, brimful of fight, it moved along their lovely streets. ”

“ These counties lie in the valley of the Alabama River, and constitute the most fertile section of the State.
During the early settlement of the State, white men coming into these fertile counties not only would settle as much land as a family of four or five in number could cultivate, but as much as they were able to buy Negroes to cultivate. Quite a few families with only five or six in number would have land enough to work from 100 to 1,000 Negroes. One can see from this how a few white families would, as they often did, own a whole county. Now the Negro is not migratory in his nature ”