ALABAMA HISTORICAL MARKERS
Location: 1501 12th Avenue, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1997 Erected by The Allen Temple A.M.E. Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1997.
SIDE 1: ALLEN TEMPLE A.M.E. CHURCH In 1879, under the pastorate of Reverend George Wesley Allen, the Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church had its humble beginning in Phenix City, Alabama as Grant Mission. The Russell County Housing Authority's renewal project of 1940 caused the relocation of the congregation. Under the administration of Reverend E.W. Cook, in 1941, the new church was built and renamed Allen Temple A.M.E. Church. The Church has continued to serve the needs of its congregation and community under the leadership of its present pastor, Reverend Samuel Thomas.
SIDE 2: GRANT CHAPEL A.M.E. CHURCH Church services at Grant Mission, forerunner of Allen Temple A.M.E., were orginally held in a small framed house along the Central of Georgia Railroad on South Railroad Street. Both Grant and St. Peter Missions were organized by G. W. Allen in 1879. St. Peter's Church, built in 1881, was destroyed by a storm resulting in its merger with Grant Chapel in 1908. The merged membership elected to retain the Grant Chapel A.M.E. designation. In 1919 Grant Chapel A.M.E. was remodeled under the pastorate of Reverend M.J. Jackson. "PRAISE BE TO GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW."
Location: Near the 13th Street Bridge on the Phenix City Riverwalk, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
To the native people of the Chattahoochee River Valley, the Creek or Muskogulgi Indians, the shoals of the river were a source of recreation and food. In the spring, the women and children of Coweta Town came here to fish, using dip nets, spears, bows and arrows and cleverly designed fish traps to harvest shad, bass, catfish and sunfish. Creek boys lassoed the tails of huge sturgeon and wrestled them ashore. Natives from Cusseta Town had a fishery on the Georgia side of the river opposite this spot. The Creeks and their neighbors, the Yuchi, were forcibly removed to the West in the 1830s.
Location: Located on U.S. Highway 165 inside the Fort Mitchell Park adjacent to the Fort Mitchell National Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1984 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, the Alexandria UMC and the AWF Conference 1984.
In September 1821, Reverend William Capers was sent to Fort Mitchell, by the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to negotiate with the chiefs of the Creek Indian Nations for a mission which would teach their children reading, writing and other white-man skills. In 1822 Asbury Manual Labor School was established with Reverend Isaac Smith, Superintendent; 33 resident students; 3 teachers; houses; school; and farm. The school closed in 1830 following the removal to the West of a portion of the Creek Tribe. The Asbury Mission site was designated a United Methodist Landmark in 1984.
Location: On the courthouse lawn, 4th Street at 5th Avenue, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1990 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission, 1990.
SIDE 1: BATTLE OF GIRARD The decisive action in the last battle of the War Between the States occurred here at the center of the Confederate defensive line. At 8 p.m. on April 16, 1865 Union forces led by Major General James H. Wilson charged in the darkness from the hills to the west. They broke through the defense and pushed on to the wooden covered bridge across the river. The Confederates, believing they been cut off by the Federals, made a wild dash for the bridge also. There was utter chaos as both armies in pitch darkness, jammed the narrow structure with men, horses and wagons. In the dark, friend and foe were indistinguishable.
SIDE 2: BEFORE THE BATTLE All day that Easter Sunday the Confederate forces commanded by Colonel Leon von Zinken awaited the Union army they know was on the way from Tuskegee. Lacking the men needed to hold it, they were forced to leave the line they had prepared on the hills to the west and man an inner line from the mouth of Holland Creek northward through this position. Left undefended, the Dillingham street bridge was packed with oil-soaked cotton waste and burned about 2 o'clock when Federal van-guard attacked it. Failing in their effort, the raiders withdrew behind the hills until they attacked after dark.
Location: 3931 US 280 Bypass in Phenix City, just north of the US 80 West junction Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1988 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission, 1988.
On the hill to the northwest is an earthen fortification built in 1863 as part of the defenses on the Confederate navy yard, iron works and other war-related industries in nearby Columbus, Georgia. Designated Fort #5 on the plan done by the CSA engineers, the well-preserved fort has three cannon emplacements. It is pentagonal, of 90 foot side. Escarpments are 30 feet. Trenches flank the central unit. During the attack by Federal troops under Major General James H. Wilson on April 16, 1865, the fort and other outer defenses were no manned due to lack of Confederate manpower.
Location: Phenix City, Alabama- Dillingham Street Bridge Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission And the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
Early in the afternoon of April 16, 1865 the first major act in the Battle of Girard-Columbus took place. Union General Emory Upton sent the First Ohio cavalry charging down oldCrawford Road to capture the Dillingham Bridge, then known as the lower or wagon bridge. Confederates on the Georgia side had prepared for the Union tactic by removing the bridge's flooring and placing turpentine-soaked cotton along the length of its superstructure. Confederate Colonel C. C. McGehee crawled out on the wooden framework and set it ablaze. When they saw the bridge burst into flame, the First Ohio broke off its all-out charge.
Location: 1191 Brickyard Road, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
One of the founding or "mother" towns of the Lower Creeks, Coweta Tallahassee (Coweta Tribal or Old Town), located on the Chattahoochee River to the east, was a red or war town. Spain, England, and to a lesser extent, France, competed for its allegiance. The English trader and adventurer Henry Woodward reached the town in 1685, but the Spanish had preceded him by many years. The Spanish burned the town near the end of the 17th century, after which the Cowetans moved to the Ocmulgee River to the east. At the end of the disastrous Yamassee War in 1715, the townspeople returned to the Chattahoochee to found New Coweta a few miles upriver.
Location: 446 Brickyard Road at State Docks Road, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
Coweta Town, located east of this marker on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, is sometimes called New or Upper Coweta to distinguish it from its predecessor, Coweta Tallahassee, down river. Among other well-known Creeks, Coweta was the birthplace of William McIntosh, the controversial half-blood who was executed by his own people for having signed the fraudulent 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. Mary Musgrove, who was such a help to James Edward Oglethorpe and the Savannah colony in Georgia, claimed Coweta ancestry. Oglethorpe visited Coweta in 1739 and negotiated an important treaty here and across the river in Cusseta Town.
Location: Located on U.S. Highway 80 on the grounds of the Crawford United Methodist Church, Crawford, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1986 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission 1986.
SIDE 1: CROCKETTSVILLE - CRAWFORD, ALABAMA The community of Crockettsville was settled at about the time Russell County was formed in 1832. Among the first settlers were Jerry Sagar and Green Sewell. It was named in honor of David "Davy" Crockett who served as a scout in Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Militia at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. The name of the city was changed to Crawford in 1843 by Act of the Alabama Legislature. This was done to honor the family of William Harris Crawford (1772-1834), a distinguished Georgia teacher, lawyer, duelist and statesman. The city served as the seat of government for Russell County from 1833 to 1868.
SIDE 2: CROCKETTSVILLE - CRAWFORD, ALABAMA S. H. Baldwin laid out Crockettsville in 1840, complete with lots and streets. The city limits extended about one-half mile in every direction from the courthouse which stood facing east on the present site of Crawford United Methodist Church. The jail was across the street to the east. "Golgotha Hill," located one-half mile north of the city and east of the cemetery, was the site of executions by hanging. Crawford Masonic Lodge no. 863, F & M (originally Tuckabatchee No. 96), across the road to the south, was built in 1848 and served intermittently for Lodge meetings, school classes and church services.
Location: Inside Ft. Mitchell County Park, Highway 165, Fort Mitchell, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1986 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Fort Mitchell Historical Society 1986.
This military graveyard was established soon after Fort Mitchell was built by General John Floyd of the Georgia Militia. Located just south of the stockade, the cemetery was used between 1813 and 1840 during the fort's occupation be Georgia and United States soldiers. The first burial was that of John Ward, an interpreter on the staff of General Floyd. Ward died of pneumonia in November 1813. A line of approximately 25 soldiers graves is located adjacent to the site of the forts dispensary. A burial ground for area residents is situated on higher ground just to the south. The Yuchi leader, Timpoochee Barnard, is said to be interred nearby.
Location: 931 10th Avenue, Phenix City, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: February 24, 2002 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Franchise Missionary Baptist Church, 2001.
SIDE 1: Franchise Baptist Church This church was organized in 1852 under a brush arbor on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Members also met in Girard Baptist Church when the noise from riverboats interfered with worship services. Land was later donated for a "colored" church and school which was called their "franchise." After the adjacent Central Girard Elementary School burned in 1956, the church purchased the vacant property. Pastors from 1852-2001 are: Stone, A.E. Meyers, A.W. Snowden, R.T. James, S.A. Harvey, and M. Wiggins, and Raymond Cochran, Sr.
SIDE 2: Central Girard Colored School Established in 1897, Central Girard School was the first facility constructed for "colored" children in Phenix City. It was a four-room wooden building located on Church Avenue between Dillingham and Gale Street. Pricipals included G.W. Allen, 1897-1905; A. A. Peters, 1905-1923; J.M. Brown, 1923-1944; L.N. Randolph, 1944-1957; and Clarence Bibb, 1957. The first superintendent was L. P. Stough who served from 1923-1955. The school was remodeled in 1943 and burned in 1956.
Location: On the 431 Bypass, south of Seale, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1980 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1980.
SIDE 1: One of the earliest white settlements in the Old Creek Indian Nation. James Elizabeth Glenn, who named the town, and his brother Thompson Glenn, arrived here in 1835 only to have to evacuate during the Indian uprisings of 1836, at which time all buildings were destroyed and the remaining settlers killed. Thompson Glenn is credited with effecting the removal, to Columbus Georgia, of the entrapped white citizens of nearby Roanoke, Georgia, during the same uprising. Glennville was resettled upon the removal of the Indians. It rapidly attracted settlers and their social and cultural standards caused Glennville to be known as "The Athens of the South."
Located thirteen miles south of Seale on U.S. Highway 431, Glennville, Alabama.
SIDE 2: GLENNVILLE At its apex this town had collegiate institutes, finishing schools, a military academy, classic churches and stately homes. In 1854 John Bowles Glenn left here to establish a school at Auburn and became its first president of the board of trustees. This school in successive changes became Auburn University. Glennville was the home of the only known lynch mob that bought a newspaper advertisement, acknowledged the deed and published their names. The victim, a convicted murderer, was a member of a prominent Barbour county white family. The incidents brought national attention to the town. The failure to accept a railroad, seen as "an intrusion on their way of living," proved to be the herald of the town's demise.
Located thirteen miles south of Seale on U.S. Highway 431, Glennville, Alabama.
Location: 201 S. Seale Road, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: 2013 Erected by Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission
This church began in 1880 on the McDougal Plantation as a mission to the African-American community. The congregation later met under a brush arbor in nearby Sugartown Cemetery, now Community Cemetery. In 1902 the church was formally organized on this site. Founding members: Frances Williams, Sol Ivey, Commodore Bentley, and Rev. Ethan Jackson. Pastors 1880-2013: Ethan Jackson, Boney Wright, C. Troutman, Dan Davis, Allen Miles, Bolden Fuller, T.H.C. Masser, Daniel Griffin, Sr., Winston Edmonds, Daniel Griffin, Jr., James C. Cook, Cecil Terry, and Noble D. Williams.
Location: Located on Russell County 18 (Oswichee Road @ McBride Street), just off U.S. Highway 431 in Seale, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1980 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1980.
SIDE 1: South of this site was the homeplace of Holland McTyeire Smith, born April 20, 1882. He completed the preparatory school at Seale, College at Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the University of Alabama Law School. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1915; Brigadier General, 1939; Major General, 1941; Lieutenant General 1944; and General, 1946. During his tenure he was the highest ranked general in the Marine Corps. He participated in numerous campaigns and was acknowledged as the "Father of Amphibious Warfare." Smith was best known fro his brilliant command of major battle in the Pacific during World War II, including Iwo Jima.
SIDE 2: Among General Smith's decorations were: Meritorious Service Citation from the Commander-In-Chief; French Croix de Guerre with Palm; Four Distinguished Service Medals; Purple Heart; Expeditionary Medal with Three Bronze Stars; Mexican Service Medal; Victory Medal-Aisne-Saint Mihiel-Muese-Argonne Clasp; Dominican Republic Medal; Dominican Order of the First Merit; The British Order of Commander of the Bath; Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon with Five Stars. He was the son of John V. and Cornelia McTyeire Smith. His father, a Confederate veteran, held many County offices, rising to the presidency of the Alabama Railroad Commission. General Smith died January 12, 1967, and is interred at Fort Rosencrans, California.
Location: Located at the corner of Dillingham and Broad Streets, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: April 22, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1979.
Side 1 Born September 8, 1807, near Cheraw, South Carolina. Of African and American Indian ancestry. Slave of John Godwin, bridge builder. Supervised first Dillingham Street Bridge, 1832-1833. Freed by act of Alabama Legislature, 1846. Member Alabama House of Representatives, 1869-1872. Successful contractor-builder in Chattahoochee Valley. Died in LaGrange, Georgia, May 27, 1887.
Side 2 Horace King, a slave of John Godwin, was construction foreman for the first Dillingham Street Bridge in 1832, when he and Godwin introduced the "Town Lattice" bridge design into the Chattahoochee Valley . King built most of the early wooden bridges spanning the river, including those at West Point, Eufaula, and Fort Gaines-Franklin. After Godwin's death in 1859, he raised a monument inscribed: "In lasting remembrance of the love and gratitude felt for this lost friend and former master."
Dedication date: 4-22-1979
Location: Located in front of the Hurtsboro United Methodist Church, 624 Church Street, Hurtsboro, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1994 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Hurstboro United Methodist Church, 1994.
Originally built in 1865, the First Methodist Church in Hurtsboro, then called Hurtsville was located in Olivet, about 4 miles south. The building burned and a wooden church was built on this site in 1876. It was replaced in 1906 by the present brick building during the pastorate of Reverend W.S. Street. In 1947 a Sunday School Annex was added. The church is a significant landmark, as its beauty and stained glass windows are well known throughout the Alabama-West Florida Conference.
Location: Inside Ft. Mitchell County Park on U.S. Highway 165, Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1996 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Association, 1996.
The most popular game among the Indians of the region was 'stick ball.' This field has been constructed so that the game may be enjoyed again in the Chattahoochee Valley where it was played for hundreds of years. Sometimes known as "little brother to war," the game was played with an intensity second only to war. Hand crafted sticks with small loops on the end were used to catch and throw a small deer skin ball often filled with squirrel fur to make it "lively." One of the games played here in the valley was viewed by General Lafayette when he visited Fort Mitchell in 1825.
Location: Inside Ft. Mitchell County Park on Alabama Highway 165, eight miles south of Phenix City, Alabama, at Fort Mitchell. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1890 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1980.
SIDE 1: Near here was the home of Confederate Brigadier General James Cantey who arrived in 1849 to operate a plantation owned by his father. Prior to coming to Russell County he had practiced law at his birthplace, Camden, South Carolina, and had represented his district in the State Legislature thee for two terms. Cantey fought in the Mexican War and received near mortal wounds. He was left among the dead but was rescued by his body servant whose plans were to bear him home for burial. The slave's detection of a faint sign of life caused heroic action that revived his master. For this deed the servant was offered his freedom, which was refused.
SIDE 2: JAMES CANTEY General Cantey was married in 1858 at Fort Mitchell to Mary Elizabeth Benton, niece of Colonel John Crowell, Alabama's first Congressman. At the beginning of the War Between the States he organized "Canteys Rifles" in what was then the 15th Alabama Regiment. He served throughout the War and surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. The first chapter of the United Daughters of the confederacy in Russell County, organized at Seale, was named in his honor. General Cantey was born December 30, 1818, and died June 30, 1874. He is interred in a family cemetery at Fort Mitchell.
Location: 605 Church Street, Hurtsboro, Alabama
Marker Dedication or Erection Date: February 17, 2008 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Donna & Bryant McKee 2007.
SIDE 1: JOEL HURT HOUSE The home was built in 1857 by the founder of Hurtsboro, Joel Hurt, Sr. (1813-1861) and his wife, Lucy Long Hurt (1822-1915). Their saw mill, constructed near Hurtsboro Creek, provided lumber for the home and surrounding community. With the addition of the Mobile & Girard Railroad, the town of Hurtsboro was established and flourished. One of the Hurt's eleven children, Joel Hurt, Jr. (1850-1926) resided here as a child and later played a major role in the architectural development of Atlanta, Georgia. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
SIDE 2: JOEL HURT HOUSE The one story Greek Revival asymmetrical structure presents an expansive front porch with nine columns and a connecting north porch with three columns. The home received significant updating and Edwardian decoration in 1906 including the ornate varnished entrance portal with double doors. An elegant central hallway features pressed tin covered ceiling and walls accented with paired ionic wood columns on paneled bases connected by carved wood valences. The home was fully renovated in 2002 while preserving its unique charm and architecture. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Donna & Brant McKee 2007
Location: Located just off U.S. Highway 431, behind St. Matthews Episcopal Church at 36 Longview Street, Seale, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1979.
SIDE 1: Near here is the site of the plantation of John Bacon McDonald who was born February 8, 1859. He entered the United States Military Academy on June 14, 1876, after finishing the tutelage of Colonel John M. Brannon of Seale and Captain Jerry J. Slade of Columbus. On June 11, 1881, he was graduated from West Point. He served in the Geronimo Campaign in 1885 and as an Indian Scout; the Philippines; and later Europe during World War I. In 1923 he was promoted to Brigadier General.
SIDE 2: JOHN BACON McDONALD General McDonald received the following decorations: Distinguished Service Cross; Distinguished Service Medal, by the United States; Croix de Guerre (with palm) by France; Croix de Guerre by Belgium; and War Cross by Italy. He was the son of Joseph Bibb and Henrietta Alston McDonald. His father, active in the Confederate cause, was a prominent member of the Seale Bar, of which a state historian wrote, "Illumined the pages of the legal profession in Alabama." General McDonald died in Washington, D.C., on March 15, 1926. He was buried from St. John's Episcopal Church and interred at Arlington.
Location: On Highway 165 inside Fort Mitchell Park adjacent to the Fort Mitchell National Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1984 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission 1984
SIDE 1: JOHN CROWELL Near here is the site where John Crowell lived, died, and is interred. Colonel Crowell was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, on September 18, 1780;moved to Alabama in 1815, having been appointed as Agent of the United States to the Muscogee Indians. In 1817, he was elected as Alabama's first and only Territorial Delegate to the 15th Congress, where he served from January 29, 1818, until March 3, 1819. Upon Alabamas admission as a State, he was elected it first Congressman.
SIDE 2: JOHN CROWELL Served in the 16th Congress from December 14, 181p, until March 3, 1821; then appointed Agent for the Creek Indian Confederacy, which encompassed West Georgia and East Alabama, until the Indians were moved West in 1836. Thereafter, he was nationally known for his race horses, one of which "John Bascomb" was walked from here to Long Island, New York, where on May 5, 1836, on Union Course; he won the prestigious South Against the North Race. Colonel Crowell died June 25, 1846, and is interred on his plantation.
Location: 362 County Road 18 (Oswichee Road), 7 miles east of Seale, Alabama or 3.5 miles west of AL Hwy. 165 Marker Dedication or Erection Date: December 12, 1999 Erected by The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1999.
SIDE 1: MACEDONIA MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH Macedonia Baptist Church was organized in 1870 by Pastor Robert Fegins with the assistance of twelve members from Providence Baptist Church. The first person baptized in the church was Mr. Charles Smith who later became Sunday school superintendent. He became assistant pastor of the church in which capacity he served until his death in 1922. Following the remodeling of the church in 1990 it was resolved that the name be changed to Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.
SIDE 2: MACEDONIA SCHOOL Macedonia School was established early in the twentieth century. The one-room frame building was heated by a pot-bellied stove and had no water or electricity. Mrs. Matilda McCoy was the school's first known teacher. On November 16, 1917, Mr. B. G. Jenning, chairman of Russell County Board of Education, authorized a three-month per year contract for a teacher at $25 per month. The contract was approved January 1, 1918. Mr. William H. Person, the second teacher, was responsible for securing electricity for the school in the late 1940s.
Location: 16 Jackson Street, (Hwy. 26), Seale, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1988 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and The Ferrell Family, 1988.
Built in Glennville, Alabama by slave artisans in the early 1840's for James Billingslea and Rebecca Stone Mitchell. Moved by ox-cart and reassembled by free citizens at the present site in 1867 or 1869. Purchased in 1895 by Hugh Bennett and Jessie Elvira Screws Ferrell. Purchased and restored in 1978 by Vernon H. and Minnie D. Powell.
Location: Located on U.S. Highway 165, north of Fort Mitchell, Alabama at the intersection of Hwy. 165 and County Road 39 (Nuckols Road) Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1998 Erected by the Mount Olive Baptist Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1998.
This church was organized in 1877 by Brothers Robert Anderson, Sr., Manuel Edmond and Robert Fluellen. The first services were conducted by Reverend D.L. Griffin under a brush arbor on the Flournoy Plantation. During Griffin's pastorate Anderson, Edmond and Fluellen were named deacons and the church moved to Mt. Olive School. A new wood frame building was dedicated on May 2, 1897 under the leadership of Reverend L. F. O'Bryan. Members worshipped here until the Flournoy Plantation was sold to the Bickerstaff's who donated five acres of land on the condition that the church relocate to its present site. This was accomplished in 1947 by the Reverend Henry Harris. In 1964 and 1993 the church building was renovated.
Location: Near the intersection of Railroad and Church Streets, Hurtsboro, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2002 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Descendants of Nimrod Washington Long 2002.
Nimrod Washington Long moved to Alabama from Georgia in the 1830s. A planter, mill owner and state legislator, he had real estate and railroad interests in Russell County. This house was the plantation home of Nimrod Washington Long in Spring Hill, Barbour County. In 1875, his son, Nimrod William Ezekiel Long(1834-1923), had the house dismantled, the pieces numbered, transported by ox cart and reassembled on this site. Nimrod William Ezekiel Long was a civil engineer, Confederate veteran, planter and merchant who lived here until his death. The house is an example of Greek Revival architecture.
Location: 12 Longview Street, off of US 431, Seale, Alabama in front of the courthouse Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1984 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Courthouse Association 1984.
SIDE 1: OLD RUSSELL COUNTY COURTHOUSE During the Federal occupation of the former Confederate States of American, the Alabama Legislature created Lee County primarily from the northern half of Russell County in 1866 and ordered the selection of the county seat "more centrally located." Government in Russell County was practically non-existent at the time; few records were kept and taxes levied only for favored political purposes. An election was called; Seale won. Simeon O'Neal and Cicero McBride selected this commanding site. John Lewis was architect.
SIDE 2: RUSSELL COUNTY COURTHOUSE Political opportunists kept confusion reigning; another election was held in 1868; Seale won; excavation began; records were removed from the former county seat at Crawford to a nearby store until rooms were sufficiently complete. Permanent funding was not enacted until 1871, the total cost being $9,600. Simeon O'Neal was the contractor. The wing rooms, the inside chairs, and the exterior rebricking was accomplished in 1908. In 1935 the branch at Phenix City was elected the county seat with Seale remaining a branch until it was closed in 1943.
Location: 23 Ware Road, Phenix City, Alabama (West of US 431 between mile markers 107 & 108) Marker Dedication or Erection Date: November 2, 2003 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission And the Russell County African American Historical Preservation Society, Inc. 2003.
About 1919, the Russell County Board of Education acquired this property from Job United of America and established a community school, with classes for grades one through six, for colored children. The last teacher to teach in the one room school was Mrs. Caroline Stone. In 1954, when a second room was added to the school, Mrs. Katie McCoy Mitchell became the first teacher-principal. Among the teachers who served this school were: Mrs. Birlee J. McIntyre, Mrs. Marvin Dudley, Mrs. Pearlee Stephens, Mrs. Sarah Fegan and Mrs. Maggie Neal Williams. The school closed on May 29, 1964, with the students being reassignedto Mount Olive School.
Location: Phenix City, Alabama-West Court House Lawn (4th Street @ 5th Avenue) Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission And the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
On April 16, 1865 the batteries of Confederate Major James Fleming Waddell of Seale, Alabama were positioned on the crest of this hill. Union forces under the command of Brevet Major General James H. Wilson were expected to launch a daylight attack from the west down old Broadnax Street, now 14th Street. Instead, the First Ohio first attacked down the Crawford Road in an attempt to capture the lower or wagon bridge, now the Dillingham Street Bridge. Although the Confederate position on Red Hill was heavily defended, it ultimately fell to the enemy during a night attack that developed from the north out Summerville Road.
Side 1 REMOVAL OF THE CREEKS
The Creek Indians and their neighbors, the Yuchi, once lived in these woods in harmony with nature and in accordance with their beliefs and customs. During the 1700s and early 1800s, they were progressively dispossessed of their lands by Euro-Americans who resorted to various strategies to accomplish their ends, especially the use of treaties which were in reality land cessions in disguise. Groups of speculators then used various tricks to further defraud the Indians of their lands, while politicians justified the results under the veil of state rights.
Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center Alabama Highway 165 Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Illges Foundation 2016
Side Two
REMOVAL OF THE CREEKS
When Congress passed the Indian Removal Bill in 1830, it sent a message to the commercial interests in the country that one of the most cherished doctrines of the American Revolution—that “all men are created equal”— was no longer applicable to the native people of the U.S. The way was cleared for western expansion of the nation. Thereafter Indian removal, including the Creeks and thousands of other Southern Indians, was only a matter of time. By 1840 the long process largely had been completed, allowing cotton and slavery to become increasingly fixed on the Creeks’ ancestral homeland.
Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center Alabama Highway 165 Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Illges Foundation 2016
Location: 5347 County Road 22, Seale, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1988 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission 1988.
SIDE 1: SAND FORT Nearby by was the Sand Fort, built by the Georgia militia in 1814 and used by U.S. Troops in 1836. Strategically located on the Federal Road, it served as a defense against the uprisings of the Creek Indians and protected Royston's Inn, a stop on the road. By 1841 a post office was established with Robert Allen as postmaster. The community and nearby area prospered and in 1850 included home of the Gallups, Chadwick, and Bush families. The post office closed in 1866 and the community declined due to the social and economic changes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
SIDE 2: SITE OF ROYSTONS INN As early as 1830 one Mr. Royston operated a tavern on the Federal Road near here. Besieged during the 1836 hostilities, Royston defended his inn alone. He was so closely watched that he could not get water from a nearby spring. He had none to drink or to make bread from the meal of which he had plenty. Royston did, however, have a keg of whiskey. The legend was repeated long afterward that he used the whiskey both to drink and to mix the corn bread on which he subsisted for almost two weeks until the siege was over.
Location: Chapel Street behind the old Russell County Courthouse, Seale, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1993 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Seale United Methodist Church, 1993.
SIDE 1: SEALE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH The Methodist Congregation, of which the church as Seale was organized in 1842, were pioneer families with a deep faith in God and a clear vision of the future. This group centered around a small meeting place and a schoolhouse located on the north side of the Federal Road about 12 miles west of the Chattahoochee River. This church was called Glenn Chapel, a memorial to the old preacher, James E. Glenn. The preaching place, a sort of community center, was established near the home of Sterling Bass. The schoolhouse faced the east and Glenn Chapel west, at what was known as the Sterling Bass Cemetery.
SIDE 2: SEALE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH The Church was dismantled and the congregation moved to Silver Run in 1866, which date is the official one for the establishment of the Seale Church. The Church, originally built at Silver Run, was not on the present site, but was within the enclosure of the present cemetery. The present Methodist Church was built about 1876. In 1949, three Sunday School rooms were added and a later expansion included classrooms, restrooms, kitchen and fellowship hall. The sanctuary was remodeled in 1962. On December 6, 1992, the Church's 150th Anniversary was celebrated and in June 1993, it received the Heritage Award at Annual Conference.
Location: 16 South Herring Road (just off US Hwy. 80 West of Crawford, Alabama), Opelika, AL Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1990 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Shiloh Baptist Church, 1990.
The Shiloh Baptist Church was constituted on March 27, 1852. Shortly thereafter, a house of worship was erected on what is now the present church site. The earliest marked grave in the church cemetery bears the date of 1854. A new building was constructed in 1876 and is currently being used for Sunday school rooms and a fellowship hall. At that time, the church was situated on the east side of the road. In 1947 the building was renovated and the entry was changed to face the west side of Russell County 21, which had been re-routed. Classrooms were added in 1947 and the brick sanctuary was completed and dedicated on March 22, 1970.
Location: On the Riverwalk near the Dillingham Street Bridge in Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
In November 1836, six Creek and Yuchi Indians were hanged near this spot for their role in a last desperate uprising against the frontier whites of Georgia and Alabama. Following decades of provocation from whites anxious to gain control of their lands, a small band of Indians attacked and burned the little hamlet of Roanoke in Stewart County, Georgia, killing many of its inhabitants. They also killed several whites in a raid on a stagecoach a few miles south of here, near the bridge over Yuchi Creek. Eyewitnesses said the Indians died bravely.
Location: Located on U.S. Highway 165 at Terminal Road in Holy Trinity, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1986 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Russell County Historical Commission 1986.
East of here, on the Chattahoochee River, was the "fort among the Apalachicolas," most northern of the Spanish settlement in eastern North America. A palisaded "strong house" built by Captain Enrique Primo de Rivera to check activities of English traders, it was destroyed when the garrison was called to St. Augustine because of a threatened attack by the French. Undisturbed except by natural forces, the ruins remained visible but unrecognized for 250 years. Research by Mark E. Fretwell and a search of the ground by Brother Finbar Ray led to their identification and designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
Location: Located in front of the school at 1506 Eleventh Avenue, Phenix City, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1998 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County African American Historical Preservation Society, Inc., 1998.
In 1953 the Phenix City Elementary School for Negroes was constructed during the tenure of L. P. Stough, Phenix City School Superintedent. It was built to accommodate 488 students with 13 classrooms, a multi-purpose room, clinic, library, cafeteria and storage rooms. Miss Susie E. Allen served as principal of the school from 1934 until her death on August 3, 1961. On December 7, 1961 the Phenix City Board of Education voted to change the name to Susie E. Allen Elementary School. A dedication service was held at the school on November 11, 1962 to honor Miss Allen for her outstanding service to the community, nearby cities and the State of Alabama.
Side 1
THE CREEK NATION
The Creek Nation was a loose confederacy of independent towns that ranks among the most sophisticated and powerful native political organizations in North American history. Largely speakers of the Muskogee dialect, the Creeks coalesced from remnants of prehistoric societies and thrived for centuries. At its height, the Nation consisted of about 22,000 people living in over seventy towns scattered throughout Alabama and Georgia. The Creek Nation was roughly organized into Upper and Lower districts. Many of the most important Lower Creek towns lay along the Chattahoochee.
Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center Alabama Highway 165 Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Illges Foundation 2016
Side 2 The Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center The Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center honors the legacy of the Creek Indians and all Native Americans of the lower Chattahoochee Valley. It was created by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission in collaboration with the Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Association and several local, state, and federal partners. The site is located at Fort Mitchell because it was a major assembly area for Creeks prior to their removal to the west. The center features a large sculpture symbolic of the Sacred Fire that sat at the heart of every Creek town and several other interpretive elements.
Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center Alabama Highway 165 Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Illges Foundation 2016
Location: 14th Street pedestrian bridge, Phenix City, AL Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
At around 9 p.m. on Easter Sunday, 1865, the Battle of Girard-Columbus neared its end in a terrible melee at the old 14th Street Bridge, at the time a completely enclosed wooden span. Within the unlit confines of the bridge, soldiers from both armies fought and grappled in total darkness, uncertain whether they fought friend or foe. Confederate artillery men on the Georgia side of the river, with cannon loaded with grapeshot and trained to shoot straight through the bridge, were afraid to fire lest they kill their own comrades. Once Union forces attained the Georgia side of the river, the fight was essentially over.
Location: Phenix City Riverwalk, midway between the Dillingham Street and 13th Street bridges, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
The Creek Indians believed this section of the river was inhabited by a giant Tie-Snake, a mythical monster that snared the unwary and dragged them down into the watery underworld. The Tie-Snake was but one of many strange creatures and natural forces featured in the myths and folk tales of the native people of this region. Among these were the Winds, the Thunder Helper, the Orphan, the Trickster Rabbit, and the Tarbaby. LaGrange lawyer W.O. Tuggle recorded many of these tales in the late 1800s. Joel Chandler Harris read Tuggle's collection, which formed part of the material out of which Harris fashioned his Uncle Remus stories.
Located at 4197 US Highway 80 West, Crawford, AL Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, Russell County Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Russell County Commission 2015
SIDE 1: TUCKABATCHEE MASONIC LODGE This historic building was erected in 1848 to serve as the Tuckabatchee Masonic Lodge No. 96. At the time, this community of Crawford, Alabama (formerly known as Crockettsville from 1832-1843, named after Davy Crockett) was the county seat of Russell County, including part of present-day Lee County to the north. The building served many purposes throughout the years including a place to hold Masonic lodge meetings as well as school and church. The first Masonic meeting in the building was in 1848 and the last official meeting of the Masons in this building was held in 1995. Members of the Crawford Masonic Lodge No. 863 decided to erect a new more modern structure on the same property. The decision was then made to allow a local landowner to purchase and move the old lodge building about 100 feet to the east where it still sits today. Covered in vines and showing signs of decay, the building remained vacant for nearly 19 years until 2012 when a newly elected Russell County Commissioner proposed creating a committee of the community in an effort to lead a restoration effort.
SIDE 2: TUCKABATCHEE MASONIC LODGE After being included in the Alabama Historic Commission’s “Places in Peril” publication in 2012, the owner of the building agreed to allow the building and property to serve as a county recreation facility. The restoration project began in late 2013. Spearheaded by the Russell County Commission, a committee of local citizens and the members of the Crawford Masonic Lodge No. 863, many volunteers and local contractors also helped in the restoration project. Donations were made by the community to aid in the restoration efforts and brick pavers were purchased and placed on the front walkway to show the community’s dedication and support for the project. In 2015, prior to opening the doors to the public, the downstairs was restored for use as a community center and the upstairs was restored and designated as a museum to pay tribute to the original intended use as a sacred Masonic Lodge. This historic building was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on September 6, 1978.
Location: 1193 Brickyard Road, Phenix City, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
For several years after he was made Principal Agent to the Indians South of the Ohio in 1796, Benjamin Hawkins, friend of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, located his agency to the Lower Creeks at Coweta Tallahassee. Here Hawkins began to implement an ambitious "civilization" plan designed to make farmers, stockmen and weavers out of the Creek and Yuchi people. Hawkins had "a garden well cultivated and planted, with a great variety of vegetables, fruits and vines, and an orchard of peach trees." He also raised aromatic herbs. Hawkins moved his headquarters from the Chattahoochee to the Flint River in 1799. He died there in 1816.
Location: Located fourteen miles west of Seale on Russell County Road 22 just north of County Road 2, Uchee, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1980 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1980.
SIDE 1: One of the oldest white settlements in the Chattahoochee Valley before and after the removal of the Indians; land deeds between whites date back to 1832, the year of Russell County's founding. The name of the town comes from the Indian name of a creek which originates nearby. In its early years it was a cultural, political and religious center. Three academies were established in the area: Good Hope, Spring Grove and Andrews Chapel. Russell Countys first member of the Alabama House of Representative, Nimrod Washington Long, was among the pioneers here.
SIDE 2: GOOD HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH, UCHEE The oldest continually active church in Russell County is located on this lot. Good Hope Church was constituted July 29, 1837. The present building, as was that of the Methodist church, was constructed in 1857. They are the oldest continually used church structures in Russell County. The builder was L.S. Johnson. The original sixteen members had the names of Jelks, Covington, Miles, Davis, Turner, Wallace, Ivey, Thomas and a slave of E.C. Thomas. Their number increased rapidly and for years the Church was the wellspring for Baptist activity in the County.
Location: County Road 22 in western Russell County Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1998 Erected by Uchee Chapel Methodist Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1998.
This circa 1859 building is a very good and intact example of the temple front house of worship in the purest form of the Greek Revival style. It was constructed by L. S. Johnson at the same time as the nearby Good Hope Baptist Church. The Uchee Chapel membership dates from 1836. An early log church building was erected in 1838. The first pastor was David E. McIntyre, by his second conference year, could report 124 white and 53 black members. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Location: Phenix City, Alabama- Summerville Road at 26th Street. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2004 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission And the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.
Confederate Captain Nat Clanton's battery sat astride Summerville Road on April 16, 1865 when Union forces launched a three-fisted night attack from northwest of this position. Elements of the Third and Fourth Iowa and the Tenth Missouri all passed beneath Clanton's guns in the darkness, which was lit only by the flashes of canons and small arms. The Federals quickly overran Confederates entrenchments and pressed on down Summerville Road to take Waddell's battery on Red Hill and the 14th Street Bridge across the Chattahoochee. An hour after the attack was launched, the battle of Girard-Columbus was over.
Location: Located in front of Villula Cemetery, about 2 miles South of Seale, Alabama. On U.S. HWY 431 South. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: April 28, 2002
Originally known as Vilula, was a thriving and cultural community which was formed about 1848 as a stage coach stop. For many years the only post office in the central part of the county was located here. William A. Lester served as the first postmaster. The Villula Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized about 1850 and served the community until 1900, when it was relocated to Pittsview. The church and a two-room schoolhouse were once situated at the front entrance of Villula Cemetery. Of special note is "The Bird's Nest," constructed by Colonel Lyman Martin about 1858. This historic house was operated for many years by Mrs. Helen Jeorg and was known far and wide as Villula Tea Gardens.
Location: Located on Alabama Highway 26 (16 Jackson Street), Seale, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: August 17, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Russell County Historical Commission, 1979.
SIDE 1: WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MITCHELL On this lot and in the house thereon, was born William Augustus Mitchell, November 30, 1877. Mitchell entered the United States Military Academy on June 20, 1898, after finishing the schools at Seale and Alabama Polytechnic Institute. He graduated number one in his class in 1902. During World War I he was promoted to Brigadier General. After the War General Mitchell become a member of the faculty at West Point.
SIDE 2: WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MITCHELL General Mitchell received the following decorations: Distinguished Service Medal, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Croix de Guerre with Gold Star, Croix de Guerre with Palm. He was the son of James Bellingslea and Rebecca Stone Mitchell. His father entered as a Lieutenant in the 24th Alabama Regiment at age 18 in the War Between the States, and later served as State Senator from this district for seven years and was a member of the Alabama Supreme court. General Mitchell died March 6, 1941, and is buried at West Point, New York.