1816 and 1817 saw U.S. surveyors taking the field to lay off the 23 million acres of land in present-day Alabama and Georgia lost by the Creeks after the defeat of the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend in 1814. This began a new phase in the conflict between the United States and the rebellious Indians and fugitive slaves of the Gulf frontier. To protect the surveyors and the settlers who would follow them, the U.S. Army established remote posts in Georgia: Fort Gaines on the Chattahoochee and Camp Crawford (later renamed Fort Scott) on the Flint near present-day Bainbridge. General E.P. Gaines (namesake of D.I.'s Fort Gaines as well as General Gaines Street) who was stationed at Fort Montgomery near present-day Tensaw in northern Baldwin County decided to experiment with a Gulf route to supply these remote posts that were not served by any major roads. Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point became a major port of call on this Gulf route with flotillas and convoys bound for Apalachicola Bay stopping there for mail, for passengers or for refuge from bad weather. A lieutenant and about 20 enlisted men occupied the fort and it was considered a dependency of Fort Charlotte (earlier named Fort Conde) in Mobile.

After American troops attacked Fowltown across the Flint River from Camp Crawford in November of 1817, the Lower Creek chiefs appealed for ammunition to the British Governor of the Bahamas, Cameron. In their request for arms, the chiefs wrote ,"... they[Americans] have also settlers and troops which come from Mobile, and go up the Appalachicola river ; thus seeing no end to those invaders, necessity compelled us to have recourse to arms, and our brethren are now fighting for the land they inherited from their fathers, for their families and forces."

In the late fall of 1817, one of these U.S. Army supply flotillas taking the Gulf route to Apalachicola Bay passed Mobile Point on a voyage that would result in the death of many of its passengers and would launch the first of many so-called Seminole Wars which would at intermittent intervals consume the resources of the U.S. for the next forty years. This Indian attack occurred on the Apalachicola River near the present-day Chattahoochee, Florida, on November 30, 1817. Known as Scott's Massacre, the Indians killed about 34 soldiers, 6 women and 4 children. http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2008/11/remembering-scotts-massacre-of-1817.html
This horrible event caused President Monroe to order General Jackson to raise militia and to attack the Indians in what would end up being called THE FIRST SEMINOLE WAR. Below you will find a chronology of the events leading up to SCOTT'S MASSACRE. This list of events will show that this tragic incident that led to war was produced by the necessity of using the Gulf route to supply the new American outposts established on the newly opened land acquired by the U.S. by the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im89zeoPTkE

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO SCOTT'S MASSACRE http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/scottmassacre.html

Early 1816: General E.P. Gaines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_P._Gaines ordered Lt. Col. Duncan Clinch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Lamont_Clinch to march his battalion of the 4th Infantry from Charleston to Fort Mitchell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mitchell_Historic_Site on the Chattahoochee River just south of present-day Phenix City.

Mid-March 1816: Lt. Col. Clinch and the 4th Infantry arrived at Fort Mitchell to protect the surveyors who were laying out the north line of the Fort Jackson Treaty cession.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Jackson

March 15, 1816: Secretary of War Crawford wrote General Jackson in Nashville and instructed him to write the Spanish Governor at Pensacola about what the Governor intended to do about the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Negro_Fort

March 21, 1816: General Gaines arrived at Fort Mitchell and found Clinch's soldiers building flatboats. At this time Fort Mitchell could only be supplied via the Federal Road from Georgia http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2999 or from the roads coming from Fort Jackson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jackson_(Alabama) located at the confluence of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa near present-day Wetumpka. These roads were so bad that wagons often had to be abandoned and horses used as pack animals.

March 31, 1816: The soldiers of the 4th Infantry along with Clinch and Gaines departed Fort Mitchell on flatboats headed downriver to the point on the Chattahoochee where the north line of the Fort Jackson cession met with the river.

April 2, 1816: The troops of the 4th Infantry selected a spot on the east bank of the Chattahoochee where they began to construct a stockade which would be called Fort Gaines.

April 23, 1816: General Jackson sent the letter about the Negro Fort to the Spanish Governor of Pensacola by way of an aide.

May 24, 1816: General Jackson's aide reached Pensacola and delivered his letter to the Spanish Governor.

Early June, 1816: Lt. Col. Clinch and the 4th Infantry made camp on the west bank of the Flint River near its confluence with the Chattahoochee. This camp was named Camp Crawford after the Secretary of War and was located near present-day Bainbridge, Georgia.

June 15, 1816: General Jackson received a letter from the Spanish Governor of Pensacola which stated that the governor could do nothing about the Negro Fort until he received orders from the Captain-General of Cuba. Jackson immediately wrote the Secretary of War and recommended that the 4th and 7th Infantry along with a small naval force be used to destroy the Negro Fort.

July 27, 1816: A U.S. Navy gunboat which had accompanied a flotilla of supply boats along the Gulf route from New Orleans fired a hot shot into the powder magazine of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola and destroyed it.

July 30, 1816: The supply boats from the armed flotilla could not ascend the Apalachicola to Camp Crawford so their cargo was transferred to small boats in order to ascend to the U.S. Army post on the Flint.

September, 1816: Lt. Col. Clinch had his troops build a permanent installation at Camp Crawford. This stockade would become known as Fort Scott.

December 1816: Due to an absence of major conflict with the Indians, Fort Scott was abandoned and the 4th Infantry troops were transferred to Fort Montgomery by an unknown route but it is presumed to have been via Fort Mitchell to Fort Jackson.

February, 1817: Georgia Governor Mitchell wrote protest letters to the Secretary of War and to General Gaines stating that the evacuation of Fort Scott had left South Georgia defenseless. 

February 2, 1817: The commander at Fort Gaines(Ga.) wrote to the commander at Fort Hawkins (present-day Macon) that the Red Sticks had stolen all the army property left at Fort Scott and had burned three of the buildings.

April or May, 1817: A company of artillery from Charleston, acting as infantry, reoccupied Fort Scott.

June, 1817: The Prophet Francis https://www.nps.gov/people/josiah-francis.htm returned from England to Ocklockonee Bay aboard Alexander Arbuthnot's ship.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbuthnot_and_Ambrister_incident

July, 1817: Troops from Fort Scott were reinforced with 73 men from the 7th Infantry bringing this post's strength to 112 men. The post began to buy corn, coffee and sugar from the Forbes & Co. store at Prospect Bluff (former location of the Negro Fort) on the lower Apalachicola. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gadsden

September 6, 1817: Major David Twiggs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Twiggs
of the 7th Infantry had a talk from General Gaines translated and read to the Indians at Mickasuky near present-day Tallahassee. Gaines had demanded that the Indians surrender the individuals who were guilty of murdering Americans.

September 18, 1817: The Chief of Mikasucky responded to General Gaines demand and declined to surrender the guilty Indians.

October 30, 1817: The Secretary of War ordered the 1st Brigade consisting of the 4th and 7th Regiments to leave Forts Montgomery and Montpelier in Baldwin County and march to Fort Scott. The order also authorized Gaines to remove the Indians from the land ceded to the U.S. by the Treaty of Fort Jackson. 

November 19, 1817: Colonel Matthew Arbuckle  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Arbuckle,_Jr.
commanded the 4th and 7th Regiments when they arrived at Fort Scott after they had marched across South Alabama from Forts Montgomery and Montpelier in Baldwin County. These soldiers had to build a new route by constructing 90 miles of new road during their journey. With these reinforcements, the total strength at Fort Scott was 876 men. The difficulty of supplying these men caused General Gaines to order 3 provision vessels with 160 men to leave Camp Montgomery and Mobile at about the same time that the troops began their march toward Fort Scott. These vessels would more than likely have stopped at Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point before embarking for Apalachicola Bay. It is believed that these vessels arrived in Apalachicola Bay at about the same time that the troops arrived at Fort Scott from their march from Baldwin County.

November 20, 1817: General Gaines ordered Major Twiggs and his troops to march on Fowltown near present-day Bainbridge and capture their chief and return him to Fort Scott. The troops were fired upon when they reached Fowltown and returned fire. There were no U.S. casualties but four Indian men and one woman were killed.

November 23, 1817: U.S. troops commanded by Colonel Arbuckle returned to Fowltown and found it abandoned. While loading corn from the Indians' cribs the troops were fired upon and they returned fire. One U.S. soldier was killed. He was the first casualty of the Seminole Wars. The soldiers burned all the buildings in the town and returned to Fort Scott. The chief of Fowltown called for all Indians in the present-day Tri-State Region (AL-FL-GA) to gather on the Apalachicola to attack the supply boats destined for Fort Scott.

November 30, 1817: In order to move the supply boats upriver, a line had to be attached to a tree on the shore and the boat "warped" upriver by rolling the line onto a spool located on the bow of the boat. As the boat was close to shore near the present-day boat landing at Chattahoochee, Florida, the Indians fired a volley into the crowd of soldiers, women and children on board the boat. Most were killed at that moment but the Indians waded out to the boat and continued the carnage. 6 of the 40 soldiers survived with 4 of the survivors wounded. 6 or the 7 women were killed along with all 4 of the children. This incident set into motion the series of events known in the present-day as THE FIRST SEMINOLE WAR. In late December of 1817 another shipment of rations arrived in Apalachicola Bay via the Gulf route but the boats were unable to ascend the river due to the hostility of the Indians.


July 27, 2016 marked the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Navy's destruction of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River on Saturday, July 27, 1816.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Negro_Fort
 This event would begin a series of violent confrontations which would finally result in the FIRST SEMINOLE WAR in 1818 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars
and the U.S. acquisition of Florida in 1819(few realize that regardless of the U.S. conquest of Mobile in 1813, neither Great Britain nor Spain recognized ANY U.S. sovereignty over Dauphin Island until after 1819's Adams-Onis Treaty.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty American claims for reparations for slaves taken by the British from Dauphin Island in 1815 were completely IGNORED because Great Britain considered Dauphin Island to be Spanish and never recognized the April, 1813 U.S. conquest of Mobile Bay.).

Events involving Dauphin Island and the mouth of Mobile Bay would be central to the story of all this conflict from 1816 until 1818.

The Negro Fort on the Apalachicola was a bit of left-over-business that remained from Great Britain's North American Expeditionary Force's attempt to conquer New Orleans which involved the 1814-1815 occupation of Dauphin Island. Over 200 Negro slaves left Dauphin Island with the British and most eventually ended up being granted land to cultivate in Trinidad, although others ended up making lives for themselves in the Bahamas, Bermuda and Newfoundland, with some accompanying British servicemen home to England.

The British occupation of the Gulf Coast also resulted in a large group of Spanish-owned fugitive slaves living on the Apalachicola. These Negroes refused to evacuate and the British left them with promises of support in their struggle along with a fort stocked with cannons, tons of gunpowder as well as thousands of rifles.

By 1816, the State of Georgia along with the United States were already sending surveyors to lay off the 23 million acres taken from the Creeks by the 1814's Treaty of Fort Jackson.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Jackson  
Fort Montgomery near Tensaw in Baldwin County was located in the southwest corner of this new land which went as far north as the south ridge Tennessee Valley and east to include all of wiregrass Georgia to the source of the St. Mary's River. From Fort Montgomery, E.P. Gaines (namesake for D.I.'s Fort Gaines) commanded the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry and their responsibility in 1816 was to make sure things were going to be safe for the surveyors who were about to enter this territory. The Negro Fort was believed to be a stronghold for the war parties responsible for the continuing state of chaos that existed along our present-day Alabama-Florida line.

 Preceding the destruction of the Negro Fort, this letter from General Gaines at Fort Montgomery (near the present-day Baldwin County community of Tensaw) to Colonel Clinch at Fort Gaines, Georgia authorized Colonel Clinch to establish what was known as Camp Crawford (later Fort Scott) on the Flint River in present-day Decatur County, Georgia. I have emphasized the portion which deals with protecting the surveyors.

No. 19. General Gaines to colonel Clinch.
 Head Quarters, Fort Montgomery, M T.(Mississippi Territory)
 23d May, 1816.
Sir, — Your letters up to the 9th instant, have been received. The British agent Hambly, and the Little Prince, and others, are acting a part, which I have been at a loss for some time past to understand. Are they not endeavoring to amuse and divert us from our main object? Their tricks, if they be so, have assumed a serious aspect, and may lead to their destruction; but we have little to apprehend from them. They must be watched with an eye of vigilance. The post near the junction of the rivers, to which I called your attention, in the last month, must be established speedily, even if we have to fight our way to it through the ranks of the whole nation.

THE SURVEYORS HAVE COMMENCED LAYING OFF THE LAND TO BE SOLD AND SETTLED; AND THEY MUST BE PROTECTED. The force of the whole nation cannot arrest your movement down the river on board the boats, if secured up the sides with two inch plank, and covered over with clapboards; nor could all the nation prevent your landing and constructing a stockade work, sufficient to secure you, unless they should previously know the spot at which you intended to land, and had actually assembled at that place previous to. or within four hours of, your landing; but your force is not sufficient to warrant your march to the different villages, as suggested, by land. The whole of your force, (except about forty men, or one company, for the defence of fort Gaines,) should be kept near your boats and supplies, until the new post shall be established. You may then strike at any hostile party near you, with all your disposable force; but, even then, you should not go more than one or two days, march from your fort.

If your supplies of provision and ammunition have reached you, let your detachment move as directed in my letter of the 28th of last month.You can venture to move with twenty five days rations, but you should order a supply to the agency, or fort Gaines, where a boat should be built, and held in readiness to send down, in case any accident should prevent or delay the arrival of a supply which I have ordered from New Orleans.

 I enclose you an extract of a letter containing an arrangement for the supply, by water, and have to direct that you will provide a boat, and despatch it with an officer and fifty men to meet the vessels from New Orleans, as soon as you are advised of their being on the river One of your large boats will answer the purpose, provided you have no barge or keel boat. Should the boats meet with opposition, at what is called the Negro Fort, arrangements will immediately be made for its destruction, and for that purpose you will be supplied with two eighteen pounders and one howitzer, with fixt ammunition, and implements complete, to be sent in a vessel to accompany the provision. 1 have likewise ordered fifty thousand musket cartridges, some rifles, swords, etc. Should you be compelled to go against the Negro Fort, you will land at a convenient point above it, and force a communication with the commanding officer of the vessels below, and arrange with him your plan of attack. Upon this subject, you shall hear from me again, as soon as I am notified of the time at which the vessels will sail from New Orleans.
With great respect and esteem, Your obedient servant,
(Signed) EDMUND P. GAINES, ) Major general commanding.

Lieut, col. 1). L. Clinch, or officer commanding on the Chattahooche.

A true copy. — Rob. R. Ruffin, Aid-de-camp.


In the spring of 1816, General Gaines decided it was not feasible to try to supply his new fort located near present-day Bainbridge, Georgia by road and ordered thirty thousand rations from New Orleans shipped along the coast by boat and then up the Apalachicola.

Fort Montgomery ~ May 22, 1816
Sir, — By a letter I have received from lieutenant colonel Clinch, commanding a battalion of the 4th regiment infantry, on the Chatahoochie, I learn that in the early part of the present month, a party of Indians surprized and took from the immediate vicinity of his camp, two privates sent out to guard a drove of beef cattle, purchased for the subsistence of the troops. The cattle, amounting to thirty head, were also taken; the Indians were pursued forty five miles, on a path leading to St. Marks, but being mounted and having travelled all night, escaped with their prisoners and booty.

This outrage, preceded by the murder- of two of our citizens, Johnson and McCaskey, by Indians below the lines, and followed by certain indications of general hostility, such as the war dance, and drinking war physic, leaves no doubt that we shall be compelled to destroy the hostile towns.

The detached situation of the post, which 1 have ordered lieutenant colonel Clinch to establish near the Apalachicola, will expose us to great inconvenience and hazard, in obtaining supplies by land, particularly in the event of war, as the road will be bad, and the distance from the settlements of Georgia near one hundred and fifty miles.

Having advised with the commander in chief of the division upon this subject, I have determined upon an experiment by water, and for this purpose have to request your co-operation; should you feel authorized to detach a small gun vessel or two as a convoy to the boats charged with our supplies up the Apalachicola, I am persuaded that in doing so, you will contribute much to the benefit of the service, and accommodation of my immediate command in this quarter: the transports will be under the direction of the officer of the gun vessel, and the whole should be provided against an attack by small arms from shore. To guard against accidents, I will direct lieutenant colonel Clinch, to have in readiness, a boat sufficient to carry fifty men, to meet the vessels on the river and assist them up.

Should you find it to be convenient to send a convoy, I will thank you to inform me of the date of its departure, and the time which, in your judgment, it will take to arrive at the mouth of the river (Apalachicola.)

Enclosed you will receive the best account I can give you, from the information I have received, of the Negro fort upon the Apalachicola. Should we meet with opposition from that fort, it shall be destroyed: and for this purpose the commanding officer above, will be ordered to prepare all his disposable force, to meet the boats at, or just below, the fort, and he will confer with the commanding officer of the gun vessels, upon the plan of attack.

I am, with great consideration and esteem,
Your obedient servant,
 (Signed) EDMUND P. GAINES, Major general by brevet.

Com. Daniel T. Patterson, U. S. Navy, commanding New Orleans station.

Sailing Master Loomis of Gunboat #149 arrived at Pass Christian and put together a convoy consisting of Gunboat #154, the schooner Semilante and the schooner General Pike. They sailed for Apalachicola Bay and arrived on July 10, 1816. On August 16 in a letter to  Commodore Patterson mailed from Bay St. Louis, Loomis described the July 27th destruction of the Negro Fort. 

J. Loomis to Commodore Patterson. Bay St. Louis, 13th August, 1816,5 U. S. Gun Vessel, No. 149

 Sir, — In conformity with your orders of the 24th June, 1 have the honor to report, that with this vessel and No. 154, sailing master James Bassett, I took under convoy the schooners General Pike and Semilante, laden with provisions and military stores, and proceeded for Apalachicola river; oft' the mouth of which we arrived on the 10th July. At this place 1 received despatches from lieutenant colonel Clinch, commanding the 4th regiment United States infantry, on the Chattahoochie river, borne by an Indian, requesting me to remain off the mouth of the river, until he could arrive with a party of men to assist in get ting up the transports; desiring me also, to detain all vessels and boats that might attempt to descend the river.

On the 15th, I discovered a boat pulling out of the river, and being anxious to ascertain whether we should be permitted peaceably to pass the fort above us, I despatched a boat with an officer to gain the necessary information; on nearing her, she fired a volley of musketry into my boat, and immediately pulled in for the river, I immediately opened a fire on them from the gun vessels, but with no effect.

On the 17th, at 5 A. M. I manned and armed a boat with a swivel and musketry and four men, and gave her in charge of midshipman Luflborough, for the purpose of procuring fresh water, having run short of that article. At 11 A. M. sailing master Bassett, who had been on a similar expedition, came along side with the body of John Burgess, 0. S. who had been sent in the boat With midshipman Luffborough; his body was found near the mouth of the river, shot through the heart. At 4 P. M. discovered a man at the mouth of the river on a sand bar; sent a boat and brought him on board; he proved to be John Lopaz, O. S. the only survivor of the boat's crew sent with midshipman Luffborough. He reports, that on entering the river, they discovered a negro on the beach near a plantation; that Mr. Luffborough ordered the boat to be pulled directly for him; that on touching the shore he spoke to the negro, and directly received a volley of musketry from two divisions of negroes and Indians, who lay concealed in the bushes on the margin of the river; Mr. Luffborough, Robert Maitland, and John Burgess, were killed on the spot; Lopaz made his escape by swimming, and states that he saw the other seaman, Edward Daniels, made prisoner. Lopaz supposed there must have been forty negroes and Indians concerned in the capture of the boat.

On the 20th July, I received by a canoe with five Indians, despatches from colonel Clinch, advising that he had arrived with a party of troops and Indians at a position about a mile above the negro fort requesting that I would ascend the river and join him with the gun vessels He further informed me, that he had taken a negro bearing the scalp of one of my unfortunate crew, to one of the unfriendly Indian chiefs. On the 22d, there was a heavy cannonading in the direction of the fort. On the 23d, I received a verbal message from colonel Clinch; by a white man and two Indians, who stated that colonel Clinch wished me to ascend the river to a certrain bluff, and await there until I saw him Considering that by so doing, in a, narrow and crooked river, from both sides of which my decks could be command ed, and exposed to the fire of musketry, without enabling me to act in my own defence; and also, that something like treachery might be on foot, from the nature of the message; I declined acting, retained the white man and one of the Indians as hostages, and despatched the other, with my reason for so doing, to colonel Clinch, that his views and communications to me in future must be made in writing, and by an officer of the army.

Lieutenant Wilson and thirteen men joined me on the 24th to assist in getting up with the trans ports; he likewise informed me that colonel Clinch had sent the canoe the day before.

 On the 25th I arrived with the Convoy at Duelling Bluff, about four miles below the fort, where I was met by colonel Clinch: he informed me that in attempting to pass within gun shot of the fortifications, he had been fired upon by the negroes, and that he had also been fired upon for the last four or five days, whenever any of his troops appeared in view; we immediately reconnoittred the fort, and determined on a site to erect a small battery of two eighteen pounders to assist the gun vessels to force the navigation of the river, as it was evident from their hostility we should be obliged to do.

On the 26th the colonel began to clear away the bushwood for the erection of the battery; he however stated to me that he was not acquainted with artillery, but that lie thought the distance was too great to do execution. On this subject we unfortunate!) differed totally in opinion, as we were within point blank range; he however ordered his men to desist from further operations; I then told him that the gun vessels would attempt the passage of the fort in the morning, without his aid. At 4 A M on the morning of the 27th, we began warping the gun vessels to a proper position, at 5 getting within gun shot, the fort opened upon us, which we returned, and after ascertaining our real distance with cold shot, we commenced with hot, (having cleared away our coppers for that purpose,) the first one of which entering their magazine, blew up and completely destroyed the fort. The negroes fought under the English Jack, accompanied with the red or bloody flag.

 This was a regularly constructed fortification, built under the immediate eye and direction of colonel Nicholls of the British army ; there were mounted on the walls, and in a complete state of equipment for service, four lung 24 pounders, cannon; four long 6 ditto; one 4 pounder field piece, and a 5 and one half inch brass howitz, with three hundred negroes, men, women, and children, and about 20 Indian warriors of the renegade Choctaws; of these 270 were killed, and the greater part of the rest mortally wounded; but three es caped unhurt; among the prisoners were the two chiefs of the negroes and Indians On examining the prisoners they stated that Edward Daniels,O S who was made prisoner in the boat on the 17th July, was tarred and burnt alive. In consequence of this savage act, both the chiefs were executed on the spot by the friendly Indians.

From the best information we could ascertain there were, '

2,500 stand of musketry, with accoutrements complete.
500 carbines
500 steel scabbard swords
4 cases containing 200 pair pistols.
300 qr. casks rifle powder.
762 barrels of cannon powder, besides a large quantity of military stores and clothing, that I was not able to collect any account of, owing to an engagement made by colonel Clinch with the Indians, in which he promised them all the property captured, except the cannon and shot.

The property captured on the 27th July, ac cording to the best information we could obtain, and at the lowest calculation, could not have been less than $200,000 in value, the remnant of the property, that the Indians did not take, was transported to fort Crawford, and to this place, an inventory of which I have the honor to transmit for your further information.

 On sounding the river, I found it impassable for vessels drawing more than four and a half feet water, consequently, colonel Clinch took the provision from the General Pike into flats, and lightened the Semilante, so as to enable her to ascend the river as high as fort Crawford. On the 3rd August, after setting fire to the remaining parts of the fort and village, I left the river and arrived at this anchorage on the 12th current.

I cannot close this letter without expressing to you. my entire approbation of the conduct of sailing master James Bassett, commanding gun vessel No. 154, for his cool, deliberate, and masterful conduct, and the support I received from him in ill cases of difficulty and danger.
In fact, Sir, every man and officer did his duty.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) J. Loomis,

Commodore Daniel T. Patterson, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, New Orleans station.

Lota Cheek 1923 photo by George Maillard Kesslere in the Earl Carroll Vanities, featured on the Jan 26 1924 cover of “The Police Gazette.” In 1921 the daughter of Leon Cheek, a farmer from Dawson Georgia. won $1000 in a Boston beauty contest. In 1922, Lota won a New York beauty contest out of 6000 entries and was named America's prettiest girl. Mrs. E C Seimmons named Lota co-respondent in her 1922 divorce case saying her husband had married Lota without getting a divorce.

THE SEMINOLE'S DEFIANCE
by George Washington Patten

Blaze, with your serried columns !
I will not bend the knee !
The shackles ne'er again shall bind
The arm which now is free.
I've mailed it with the thunder,
When the tempest muttered low ;
And where it falls, ye well may dread
The lightning of its blow!

I've scared ye in the city,
I've scalped ye on the plain;
Go, count your chosen where they fell
Beneath my leaden rain!
I scorn your proffered treaty !
The pale-face I defy !
Revenge is stamped upon my spear,
And "blood" my battle-cry !

Some strike for hope of booty;
Some to defend their all;
I battle for the joy I have To see the white man fall ;
I love, among the wounded,
To hear his dying moan,
And catch, while chanting at his side,
The music of his groan.

Ye've trailed me through the forest!
Ye've tracked me o'er the stream !
And, struggling through the Everglade,
Your bristling bayonets gleam ;
But I stand as should the warrior,
With his rifle and his spear ;
The scalp of vengeance still is red,
And warns ye, come not here !

Think ye to find my homestead? —
I gave it to the fire.
My tawny household do you seek? —
I am a childless sire.
But, should you crave life's nourishment,
Enough I have and good;
I live on hate, — 'tis all my bread ;
Yet light is not my food.

I loathe ye in my bosom !
I scorn ye with mine eye !
And I'll taunt ye with my latest breath,
And fight ye till I die!
I ne'er will ask for quarter,
And I ne'er will be your slave ;
But I'll swim the sea of slaughter
Till I sink beneath its wave !

De La Harpe: July 24, 1704 ~ 23 Parisian girls arrive on the Pelican.

The chief object of Crozat was trade, not with Louisiana, but rather with Mexico and the Spanish possessions. He therefore pro- posed the establishment of a warehouse for his merchandise on Dauphin Island and a line of trading brigantines to touch at all Spanish ports between Pensacola, Vera Cruz and the Campeche coast. His project seemed warranted by the approaching Peace of Utrecht, and success appeared more than plausible. But his plans miscarried. The same peace which guaranteed his ships liberated also the merchant marine of England and this powerful trading nation secured not only the closing of these same ports to French vessels, but also the monopoly of the slave trade. Crozat’s charter, before he could put it into execution, was in fact waste paper. Nevertheless, he was willing to risk the more or less illicit trade with the rich provinces of Hew Mexico and at the same time rely on the revenues accruing from Louisiana mines. At the end of three years, however, he met nothing but bitter disappointment. The Mississippi Valley yielded neither gold nor silver and when he attempted commercial relations with the Spaniards they persistently closed their ports to French ships and kept a strict guard over their Texas frontier.



 THE UNITED STATES; ITS POWER AND PROGRESS. BY GUILLAUME TELL POUSSIN, LATE MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES.

 Dauphin Island, which, at an early period of the colonization of Louisiana, was the principal post, and, as it were, the capital of the colony, is now what it was then, a sterile sand bank, upon which grow a few pines, creeping vines, and stunted palm trees around the ponds. It is about seven miles in length (twelve thousand metres), and about one mile in width (fifteen hundred metres), containing a superficies of about nine hundred acres (eighteen hundred hectares). The harbor was at the east end, formed by a small sand islet, known as Spanish Islet. It was situated between this islet and Massacre Island. The depth of the water was from four to five fathoms, and afforded excellent anchorage. It could be entered from the westward, by keeping near the island. On approaching it, it was necessary to pass a bar, where, at the time of M. d'Iberville's visit, the water was from twenty to twenty-one feet in depth. But in 1706, it had fallen to fifteen or sixteen feet. This anchorage could also be reached by steering for Mobile Bay, and crossing the bar, where the depth of the water was but twelve feet ; a depth which has not since varied. In front of this port, vessels of a heavier draught could anchor in an open roadstead. The port of Dauphin was defended by a fort, under whose protection the government houses and those of the colonists had been erected. These frame buildings were ranged along the shore, built on the sand, and surrounded by small palisade pickets. Nothing could give a more unfavorable impression of this colony and its future prospects than the appearance of these wretched cabins, which were no better than the temporary huts put up by fisher men. Nevertheless, this island at one time contained over two hundred houses enclosed in an entrenched camp, surrounded by palisades where the garrison was quartered. The town was burnt down in the same year as old Biloxi. When I visited this island in 1817, it was a perfect desert. It had become what nature intended it to be, the rendezvous of sea birds, and the resort of crocodiles, so abundant on that coast. A single individual had built his hut among the ruins of the old fort. He was an old pilot, brave and intelligent, whose heart was the seat of those noble sentiments of French honor, which one is always happy to speak of wherever they are exhibited. In the year 1814, during the last war with England, Damour, the Mobile pilot, had been sought after by the commanding officer of the English squadron then on the coast. His reputation was well known from New Orleans to Pensacola. He alone was able to pilot the ships of this squadron through the wretched islands and difficult channels that abound along the coast of Louisiana. The party in pursuit of him searched the whole of Dauphin Island. They found his hut, turned his humble furniture upside down, and, after having despaired of securing their object, set fire to his property. In the mean time, Damour, his hatred of the English unmitigated, remained concealed in the foul water of one of the ponds on the island, in the midst of rushes and crocodiles, his head alone above its surface. In this position, he witnessed the destruction of his dwelling, debarred the means of vengeance.But the brave Frenchman was afterwards revenged, for, at the attack of Fort Boyer, on the very point of Mobile Bay, the Eng lish met with a shameful defeat before the feeble bastions of a sand redoubt, defended by a handful of brave Americans under their intrepid commander, Major Boyer.

 Today while waiting for the computer to reboot, I was reading the FORT MORGAN SELF-GUIDED TOUR and discovered an interesting character, Commander Tunis Craven, commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tecumseh at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. I was intrigued by his name because last week on our trek to Talbot County, Maryland to find the grave of the C.S.S. Tennessee commanding officer, Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Buchanan's grave was located near Tunis Mill Road so I wanted to see if there was some sort of ironic connection. There wasn't other than both men were officers in the U.S. Navy at the same time. What I DID DISCOVER was the following poem dedicated to Craven's bravery while the U.S.S. Tecumseh sank in Mobile Bay. Tunis Craven's remains may still be inside the wreckage of the U.S.S. Tecumseh that presently rests at the bottom of Mobile Bay off Mobile Point.

Craven by Henry Newbolt
(Mobile Bay, 1864)
Over the turret, shut in his iron-clad tower,
Craven was conning his ship through smoke and flame;
Gun to gun he had battered the fort for an hour,
Now was the time for a charge to end the game.

There lay the narrowing channel, smooth and grim,
A hundred deaths beneath it, and never a sign;
There lay the enemy's ships, and sink or swim
The flag was flying, and he was head of the line.

The fleet behind was jamming; the monitor hung
Beating the stream; the roar for a moment hushed,
Craven spoke to the pilot; slow she swung;
Again he spoke, and right for the foe she rushed.

Into the narrowing channel, between the shore
And the sunk torpedoes lying in treacherous rank;
She turned but a yard too short; a muffled roar,
A mountainous wave, and she rolled, righted, and sank.

Over the manhole, up in the iron-clad tower,
Pilot and Captain met as they turned to fly:
The hundredth part of a moment seemed an hour,
For one could pass to be saved, and one must die.

They stood like men in a dream: Craven spoke,
Spoke as he lived and fought, with a Captain's pride,
"After you, Pilot." The pilot woke,
Down the ladder he went, and Craven died.

All men praise the deed and the manner, but we---
We set it apart from the pride that stoops to the proud,
The strength that is supple to serve the strong and free,
The grace of the empty hands and promises loud:

Sidney thirsting, a humbler need to slake,
Nelson waiting his turn for the surgeon's hand,
Lucas crushed with chains for a comrade's sake,
Outram coveting right before command:

These were paladins, these were Craven's peers,
These with him shall be crowned in story and song,
Crowned with the glitter of steel and the glimmer of tears,
Princes of courtesy, merciful, proud, and strong.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunis_Craven

Dauphin Island Place Names Associated with AGE #2: Apalache Avenue, Bienville Boulevard, Biloxi Avenue, Cadillac Avenue, Calumet Park, Chateaugue Point, Chaumont Avenue, Conde Avenue, Conti Street, Epinet Street, Fort Conde Place, Fort Louis Court, Fort Rosalie Place, Fort Tombecbe Place, Graveline Bay, Hubert Street, Huitres Place, Iberville Drive, Infanta Place, Iroquois Place, Lamothe Place, La Vente Street, Lavigne Place, Lemoyne Drive, Louisianne Avenue, Nanafalya Place, Narbonne Place, Natchez Street, Notre Dame Place, Orleans Drive, Pelican Street, Penicaut Street, Pensacola Street, Perdido Street, Ponchartrain Court, Quebec Court, Saint Andrew Court, Seneca Court, St. Denis Court, Serigny Court, Taos Court, Tombigbee Street, Tonty Street.

EARLY LOUISIANA HISTORY http://www.acadiansingray.com/Acadians%20of%20LA-Intro-4.htm

IBERVILLE'S VOYAGES BY PENICAULT http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1646&context=luc_theses


BUILDING OF FORT ROSALIE AND THE INDIAN SLAVE TRADE https://www.mdah.ms.gov/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/JMH_Spring2012.pdf

SHORTER ARTICLE ON D.I. COINS AND CERAMICS  https://sha.org/wp-content/uploads/files/sha/files_2014/22438.pdf

FRENCH IN NATCHEZ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1946.48.3.02a00010/pdf  
PAGE 338 

The

same

poverty

of

information

prevails with

regard

to

another

early

establishment

at

Natchez,

that

of

MM.

Pellerin

and

Bellecourt.

Its

men

are

said

to

have

arrived

at

Dauphin Island

on

the

19th

of

April,

1719.

No

description

is

given

of

the settlement,

except

for

the

statement

that

it

was

located

on

the

banks

of

“a

little river” near

the

village

of

the

Indians.66

From the point

of

view

of

the present

study,

this lack

of

data

is

indeed

unfortunate.

For

nothing

is

known

about

such

important

problems

as

to

how

these

early

agricultural

settlers got along

with

the

natives

and

to

what extent they

encroached

upon

their

habitat.
 Natchitoches      http://www.legendsofamerica.com/la-caneriversettlement.html

THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CHISKA TALOFA, A TOWN OF YUCHI ORIGIN ON THE WEST BANK OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER: 1757-1818

1757: Chiska Talofa is the only town in the area of present-day southeast Alabama located on the 1757 Bonar Map (DeVorsey 1971). Swanton (1922) equated this with Yuchi-speaking Hogologee indicated on earlier maps.

1761: Swanton (1922) lists a 1761 census figure of 30 for this town's population.

1764: John Stuart, British Indian agent for the Southern District, held a conference at St. Marks on September 13, 1764 which included the leaders of Chiska Talofa located on the Chattahoochee above the fork.

1768: Pittman describes a crossing place for the Pensacola-St. Augustine trail on the Chattahoochee at a village of Ichiscatalonfa located on the west bank of the river, forty miles above the fork. (The 31st degree parallel (Alabama-Florida Line) crosses the river 26.2 miles above the fork of the Chattahoochee and the Flint.)

1778: The Purcell map of the Pensacola-St. Augustine trail includes the notation "Chisca Old Fields" just north of Ekanachatte or Red Ground. The site of Red Ground was located by Boyd (1958) south of Irwin's Mill Creek, adjacent to Neal's Landing.

1799: Stephen Minor, Spanish commissioner during Ellicott's survey of the U.S. Southern Boundary, named the village at the end of the compass line on the west bank of the Chattahoochee as "Chiscotofa" or "Clisteofa". The conflict which led to the survey being abandoned began in the camp at the surveyor's astronomical observatory. This conflict was the beginning of the unrelenting hostility of the Seminoles to the U.S. (Minor to Gayoso, August 5, 1799, Archivo General de Indias, Papeles de Cuba, Seville, Legajo 2355)

1799: Between July 25, 1799 and August 19, 1799, Ellicott made 44 observations of seven stars to determine a mean latitude of 31 degrees, 1 minute, 9.4 seconds for his observatory on the west bank of the Chattahoochee. Ellicott laid off a line 7110.5 feet south and ended his 381 mile survey of the 31st parallel which established the present-day boundary shared by Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. (Ellicott, 1803)

1799: In October, William Augustus Bowles, self-proclaimed Director General of the Nation of Muskogee, returned to Wekiva located opposite Chiska Talofa, six miles north of the present-day Alabama- Florida line on the east bank of the Chattahoochee. He called a general council of the Lower Creeks and Seminoles to distribute powder and rum which had been salvaged from the wreck of the British sloop FOX, off the east end of St. George Island. Here Bowles reestablished his influence after his seven years of imprisonment by the Spaniards. (Wright, 1967)

1804: At Chiska Talofa on May 25, 1804, James Innerarity and William Hambly represented John Forbes & Co. in negotiations for a land grant. The company sought this payment from the Indians to counterbalance Bowles' destruction of the company's store on the Wakulla and tribe's accumulated debt. This deed of cession was signed by 24 chiefs and ultimately deeded the company 1,200,000 acres east of the Apalachicola. Under the terms of this cession, John Forbes & Co. immediately opened a store at Prospect Bluff in 1804. This store led to the establishment of the Negro Fort and later Fort Gadsden on Prospect Bluff.

1810: At Chiska Talofa on April 10, 1810, Edmond Doyle, principal agent of John Forbes & Co. on the Apalachicola, and William Hambly, interpreter and representative of the company, secured the cession of three more tracts of land that joined the original 1804 grant. This land included St. Vincent Island. These Indians also ceded to John Forbes personally an island in the Apalachicola River.

1814: On August 9, 1814, the chief of Chiska Talofa was one of the Creek chiefs who signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson which ceded over 20,000,000 acres of present-day Alabama and Georgia to the United States.

1816: At Chiska Talofa on April 17, 1816, William Hambly attempted to unite the Upper Towns (friendly to the Americans) and the Lower Towns (friendly to the British) in an attack upon the Negro Fort on Prospect Bluff. This meeting was a disaster, however, the Negro Fort was successfully destroyed by the U.S. Navy on July 27, 1816. 270 of the fort's occupants were killed by a single explosion of the fort's powder magazine. Captured British arms and supplies were valued at not less than $200,000.

1818: Captain Hugh Young, a soldier with General Jackson's U.S. Army, included Chiska Talofa on a town list for the First Seminole War.

Words cannot express how pleased I was to read this post by Dale Cox. For over 25 years, I have been documenting the history of an Indian village called Chiskatalofa. One of my reasons for doing this work is that the history of my home county, HOUSTON COUNTY, ALABAMA has been ignored, dismissed and misrepresented. There's a historic marker between Shorterville and Ft. Gaines that reads:
"Franklin - First Beachhead into East Alabama
 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Henry County Historical Society, 1978.
The frontier village of Franklin was established here by Colonel Robert Irwin in 1814 on the site of the Indian town of Cheeska Talofa. It was the first colonial village in east Alabama. Fort Gaines, Georgia, was constructed in 1816 to protect the early settlers in this former Creek Indian Nation, West. Twenty-one blocks were laid off for this promising river port of Abbeville. This prospective early city never recovered from the destructive flood of 1888." NOW OLD ROBERTOREG HAS TWO QUESTIONS!!!! NUMBER 1: How the HELL can you have a "colonial village" established on land in 1814 THAT HAD BEEN IN MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY SINCE 1798 and, before that, IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA SINCE AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION! NUMBER 2: How the HELL does somebody place "Cheeka Talofa" WAY UP NORTH IN HENRY COUNTY across from Fort Gaines when we have historic records of the EXACT LOCATION of this IMPORTANT INDIAN TOWN GOING ALL THE WAY BACK TO 1757!!!! (like I said my home county's history is MISREPRESENTED!) http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2016/11/newly-discovered-map-shows-key-creek.html

MOBILE BICENTENNIAL https://books.google.com/books?id=L1s_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA497&lpg=PA497&dq=tristan+de+luna+%22mobile+point%22&source=bl&ots=UXbDizPmiy&sig=gT30UTFZWHlm8YawQSlmk0TCSss&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqwd-C7J7QAhXL5oMKHeSBB_EQ6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q&f=false

 Now that the LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE project has broken ground, it's time for the DAUPHIN ISLAND HISTORY BLOG to advocate that the new museum include two exhibits:
1st: The construction of a geographical model that prominently features the Sand Island Lighthouse, Pelican Island, Cedar Point, Mobile Point and Dauphin Island. We feel that this geographic exhibit is of major importance because not only does it emphasize Dauphin Island's strategic importance but it also promotes the preservation of one of our most important landmarks: THE SAND ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE (this exhibit could also include graphic photographs of old lighthouses that have collapsed due to neglect)

2nd: The painting of scenes along the crown molding of the building which illustrate the incredible history of Dauphin Island. In the interest of inspiring artists to design this mural, we have broken down D.I. history into 12 periods which highlight the events that have taken place on and around Dauphin Island: AMERICA'S MOST HISTORIC ISLAND. (future updates on the D.I. History Blog will be dedicated to describing the major events which occurred during the TWELVE AGES OF DAUPHIN ISLAND HISTORY) http://dauphinislandhistory.blogspot.com

Age Number 1 (Chapter 1): Prehistoric Dauphin Island (this includes the island's transformation into being the most prominent landmark on European maps of the Northern Gulf Near the Mouth of the Mississippi River during almost 200 years of failed attempts at colonization. Exhibits pertaining to prehistoric D.I. should include the use of marine shells as tools and ceremonial vessels by American Indians, the significance of the shell mounds and important D.I. artifacts such as the crawfish effigy displayed at the University of South Alabama Archaeology Museum  http://www.southalabama.edu/org/archaeology/museum/index.html     )

HIGHLIGHTS:
 I. Pineda voyage of 1519 (2019 will mark the 500th anniversary of Pineda's arrival in Mobile Bay  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_%C3%81lvarez_de_Pineda

II.  Narvaez Expedition 1528 (Cabeza de Vaca, a survivor of this expedition, financed his journey to Mexico City by trading seashells with the Indians of the interior of the Gulf Coast.https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/coast/nature/images/shell-tools.html ) "In this wilderness I became a trader, and went to and fro on the coast and a little inland. I went inland with seashells and cockles, and a certain shell used to cut beans, which the natives value. I came out with hides, and red ochre for the face and hair, flint for arrow points, and tassels of deerhide. I came to be well known among the tribes, and found out the lay of the land." ~ Cabeza de Vaca

 III. DeSoto Expedition 1535 (legend has it that Maldonado brought DeSoto's wife, Isabella, to Dauphin Island to wait for the arrival of her husband. The original place name for the location of the D.I. airport is ISABELLA POINT)

IV. Guido de las Bazares Expedition of 1558 ( On September 3, 1558, Bazares left San Juan de Lua (Vera Cruz) with sixty seamen and soldiers in a large bark, a galley, and a shallop. They mapped the northern Gulf Coast and Bazares description of what he called "Filipina Bay" may have been Mobile Bay and his maps would be used the next year by the colonization expedition of Tristan de Luna)

V. Tristan De Luna Colonization Attempt in the summer of 1559 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trist%C3%A1n_de_Luna_y_Arellano

Dauphin Island Street Names associated with AGE #1: Deluna Street, DeSoto Avenue, DeSoto Drive, Maldonado Place, Mauvilla Place, Narvaez Street, Ponce de Leon Court, Tristan Court, Pineda Street.


Age Number 2 (Chapter 2): Cradle of the French Colony, 1699-1729 ~ This 30 year period begins with the arrival of Iberville in January of 1699 and ends with the disastrous Natchez Revolt of 1729. After this conflict, control of the colony was permanently returned to the King of France.
HIGHLIGHTS OF AGE #2:

I. LaSalle's Discovery of the Mississippi and His Attempt to Establish A Colony on the Gulf: 1670-1687

II. Iberville's Expedition To Secure the Mississippi River for France: 1699 (Iberville landed on Dauphin Island but did not discover the channel leading into Pelican Bay, thus depriving the early colonists of this important anchorage)

III. The Establishment of Massacre Island in 1702 as the Port of Call for the new French capitol of Louisiana at 27 Mile Bluff on the Mobile River. The King has a warehouse built on Massacre Island to store goods destined for the interior.

IV.

Age Number 3 (Chapter 3): French-Indian Trade Port of Call, 1729-1763

Age Number 4 (Chapter 4): British Dauphin Island, 1763-1780

Age Number 5 (Chapter 5): Spanish Outpost and Pilot House, 1780-1813

Age Number 6 (Chapter 6): A Leading Port of The Cotton Kingdom, 1813-1865

Age Number 7 (Chapter 7): An Occupying Army's Base of Operations and Fishing Village, 1865-1898

Age Number 8 (Chapter 8): Island's Fortifications Strengthened, 1898-1918

Age Number 9 (Chapter 9): The Roaring Twenties, Great Depression & WWII, 1918-1945

Age Number 10 (Chapter 10): The Development of Dauphin Island Real Estate, 1945-1979

Age Number 11 (Chapter 11): Disaster Recovery and Natural Gas Drilling, 1979-2005

Age Number 12 (Chapter 12): Post-Katrina, BP and The Future, 2005- (until)

CEDAR POINT. 



This reservation contains 29G.5 acres; is &t the entrance -pf, Mobile 
Bay, and embraces the small island between tr>o Xoilli ^oiiit of J}U- 
phin Island and Cedar Point, and so much of Cedar Point as lies in 
fractional sections 25 and 26 of Township 8, South of Eange 2 West. 

It was reserved for military purposes by Executive Order, dated 
February 9, 1842, and jurisdiction was ceded to the United States by 
an act of the State Legislature, approved December 1, 1837, providing 
as follows : 

" That the jurisdiction of this State, within and over all Forts and 
Arsenals that may be established and erected by the United States 
within the limits of this State, shall be, and the same is hereby, ceded to 
the United States, so far as the walls or permanent enclosures of the 
same shall extend and no further." 

FORT (MINES. 

This reservation contains about 983.9 acres, and is situated on the 
eastern end of Dauphin Island, in Mobile County. 

It was acquired by condemnation under final decree of the Court of 
Chancery for the First District of the Southern Chancery Division of 
the State of Alabama, made January 20, 1853. 

Jurisdiction over the reservation was acquired under Act of the 
State Legislature, approved January 28, 1848, and deed of the Gov- 
ernor, dated November 25, 1853, ceding "exclusive jurisdiction" under 
section 3 of said act for the purposes stated in section 1 of the act the 
jurisdiction to be "in all respects such as is contemplated by the 
terms and conditions of the act." 

The act, so far as it relates to jurisdiction, is a? follows: 

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the United States be, and they 
are hereby authorized and empowered to purchase, acquire, hold, own, 
occupy, and possess such land or lands, within the limits of this State, 
as they shall adjudge it expedient, and shall seek to occupy and hold 
as sites on which to erect and maintain Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, 

999196 



4 MILITARY RESERVATIONS, ETC. 

dockyards, and other needful buildings, or any of them, as contem- 
plated and provided in the United States ; said purchase to be effected 
either by contract with the owner or owners of said land, or lands, or 
in the manner hereinafter provided." 

(Sec. 2 provides for acquiring title by condemnation.) 
"SEC. 3. Be it further enacted. That whenever the United States 
shall contract for, purchase or acquire any land or lands, within the 
limits of this State, for the purposes aforesaid, in either of the modes 
above mentioned and provided, and shall desire to acquire constitu- 
tional jurisdiction over said land or lands for said purposes, it shall 
and may be lawful for the Governor of this State, upon application 
made to him in writing, on behalf of the United States, for that 
purpose, accompanied by the proper evidence of such purchase, con- 
tract, or acquisition of record, describing the land or lands sought to be 
ceded by convenient metes and bounds, and the said Governor shall 
be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, thereupon, in the 
name and on behalf of this State, to cede to the United States exclu- 
sive jurisdiction over the land or lauds so purchased or acquired, and 
sought to be ceded, the United States to hold, use, occupy, own, pos- 
sess. June] exer'cise sa-itf jurisdiction over the same for the purposes afore- 
said,' and none other whatsoever : Provided always, That the consent 
aforesaid is hereby- given-, and cession aforesaid is to be granted and 
miide "as* Aforesaid, upon the express condition, that this State shall 
retain a concurrent jurisdiction with the United States in and over the 
land or lands to be ceded and every portion thereof, so far that all civil 
and such criminal process as may issue under the authority of this 
State, against any person or persons charged with crimes committed 
without the boundaries of said land or lands so ceded, may be executed 
therein in the same way and manner as though this cession and consent 
had not been made or granted: Saving, however, to the United 
States, security to their property within the said limits and extent, and 
exemption of the same, and of said land or lands, from any tax under 
the authority of this State, whilst the same shall continue to be owned, 
held, used, and occupied, by the United States for the purposes above 
expressed and intended, and not otherwise." 

See also Cedar Point as to jurisdiction. 

FORT GAINES.

This reservation is situated on the eastern end of Dauphin Island, and as reduced by the sale hereinafter referred to, contains an area of about 267 acres, with metes and bounds as announced in G. O. 155, W. D., November 27, 1911.

Title, -Acquired under condemnation proceedings by final decree dated January 20, 1853, of the court of chancery for the first district of the southern chancery division of the State of Alabama. Under authority of act of Congress approved March 4. 1911 (36 Stat., 1350), the Secretary of War, by deed dated September 18, 1911, conveyed a portion (about 709 acres) of the tract acquired under said condemnation proceedings to the Dauphin Island Wharf & Harbor Co., leaving the area as above specified.

Jurisdiction, - Acquired under general act of cession, by deed of the governor dated November 25, 1853, as contemplated by section 3 of said act.

FORT MORGAN.

This reservation is situated on Mobile Point, Baldwin County, on the eastern side of the entrance to Mobile Bay, 33 miles from Mobile, and contains about 493.92 acres.

Title, -1. Original reservation a part of the public domain ceded by Spain under treaty of1819. Reserved by Executive order of February 13, 1844, for military purposes.

2. Under decree of the district court of the United States for the southern district of Alabama, rendered June 13. 1905 (copy of decree and of the certificate of payment of the award recorded in record book No. 9 N S. pp. 562-567, probate records of Baldwin County), and deed from the Navy Cove Harbor & Railroad Co., dated June 13, 1905 (recorded in record book No. 10 N S, p. 275), the United States acquired two tracts of land, aggregating 171.5 acres, adjoining the reservation on the east. (See G. O. No. 16, W. D., Jan 22, 1906.)

Revocable licenses. - September 16, 1908, to Mobile Towing & Wrecking Co., for telegraph line and station.

November 27, 1912, to D. R. Peteet, to construct, maintain, and operate a telephone line.

Jurisdiction, - Ceded over the original reservation by act of State legislature, approved February 18. 1891 (Acts of Alabama, 1891, p. 1293), which provides as follows:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc.. That pursuant to Article One, Section Eight, Paragraph Seventeen of the Constitution of the United States, consent to purchase is hereby given, and exclusive jurisdiction ceded, to the United States, over and with respectto all Lands now, or which may hereafter be embraced in the military Posts and Reservations of Mount Vernon Barracks in Mobile County, and Fort Morgan, in Baldwin County, so long as the United States shall occupy the same for public purposes, reserving, however, to the State, a concurrent jurisdiction for the execution within said lands of all process, civil or criminal, lawfully issued by the Courts of the State and not incompatible with this cession.

Ceded over the two tracts referred to under 2 supra, by governor's deed of May 21, 1906, under authority of general act of cession.

Rest In Peace, KAY STARR. She passed away on Thursday, November 3, 2016, at her home in Beverly Hills. Don't know how many times Ms. Starr visited Dauphin Island but she brought national attention to D.I. when she bought a lot in February of 1957. A couple of months later she married George A. Mellen who S. BLAKE McNEELY, called "the first man to give the island the first good shot in the arm that it needed to start on its way." Beginning in September of 1956, Mellen, according to McNeely,"purchased Little Dauphin Island for the sum of $300,000, took an option on Point Isabel (present-day location of the Jeremiah A. Denton Airport)  for $100,000 and bought sufficient Gulf front property adjoining the Sand Dunes Casino to build a motel (old Holiday Inn) and also agreed to construct a small shopping center in the Central Commercial area."

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/arts/music/kay-starr-hillbilly-singer-with-crossover-appeal-dies-at-94.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Ms. Starr wasn't married to Mr. Mellen very long and he later sold his D.I. holdings to his New Mexico associates. Ms. Starr did have a hit with STARS FELL ON ALABAMA in 1948.




from the January, 1957 issue of SWINGING AROUND GOLF: "Pushing construction of 18-hole course on Dauphin Island, near Mobile, Ala... George Mellen, Albuquerque, N.M.[ed.note: Kay Starr's fourth husband], Richard Misener, Carle McEvoy and George Rifley of St. Petersburg, Fla., are among those in deal to build and operate the club...Course construction being financed by sale of lots on the island thru a campaign conducted by Mobile Chamber of Commerce."

 Thomas Hulse MILITARY SLAVE SYSTEM ON ALABAMA GULF COAST https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236809113_Slave_Rentals_and_the_Early_Development_of_the_Military_Slave_System_at_Mobile_Point_1812-1834


Title to D.I. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=hadbase&id=I20480&op=GET



A Ray of Light

Virginia Greer, Press Register Staff Reporter, June 17,1962, writing of Dauphin Island says: "It belongs to us, our own mysterious island. It is draped with history and shrouded with mystery".

This island is not unlike Brittany on the coast of France where tides was hits shore line, and where, moving inward, encouraged by the Gulf Stream , mimosa, camellias and rhododendron bloom in profusion.

In the early seventeen hundreds there came from Brest in Brittany two natives, Joseph Moro and his wife, Jane Dauphine. They settled in the Province of Lee on the coast of Biloxi. To them was born a son, Joseph, who never married and a daughter who married Mr. L'Amy. The young Joseph also became a Pilot of the King and in his voyaging liked very much Dauphin Island. He wished to purchase the island from the Spanish Government then in control and made the following plea:


New Orleans, July 31st, 1781

Henry Granerist, Governor of Mobile:

General or Governor General Joseph Moro who is an inhabitant of this city , in the most respectful manner presents himself to your Excellency and says that being desirous of making settlement on the island commonly called Dauphin Island which is situated west of the entrance to Mobile Bay, and in order to be able to do so and that his right to the same may alway s appear, he appeals to the goodness of your Excellency and most humbly prays that your Excellency may be pleased to grant him the said island, on which he may settle himself as above stated without hindrance, molestat ion or interruption in the possession of the same. This kindness he hope s to obtain from the known goodness of your Excellency. Dated, New Orlea ns, July 31st, in the year 1781.

New Orleans, August lst A.D. 1781. The Governor, ad interim of Mobile, D on Henry Granarist, will put the petitioner in possession of Dauphin Island, provided the same is vacant and no injury thereby is done to anyone , a survey which shall be made and plot and Certificate of the same signed by him and by the neighbors, if there are any shall be transmitted to me in order that the petitioner may be furnished with the necessary title in due form.


Evidence written and signed by: Chas. Paresst

Louis Courrie

Colanno Demouy

Dubraca

The foregoing evidence was taken with my knowledge and the persons who si gned the above Certificate are old inhabitants of the city.


Dated Mobile, Sept. 21st, in the year 1781,




Signed HENRIQUE GRANARIST


1, Don Henrique Granarist, Civil and Military Governor of the Port and District of Mobile and Lieutenant of the Royal Armies, etc.; and etc., in my pursuance of the powers which his Majesty has been pleased to place in my hands and in consequence of the foregoing memorial and Certificate annexed thereto, do by these presents grant Joseph Moro, the above named petitioner and inhabitant of this Jurisdiction, and in pursuance of the prayer of this petition, title to Dauphin Island to enjoy the same during his natural life, and after death the same to descend to his lawful heirs to have and to hold the same for the purpose of cultivating same, breeding cattle, cutting wood, for a place of habitation, and all other purposes which he may deem proper and necessary And under the authority of this grant he is permitted to take immediate possession of the said Island and shall be known and recognized as the only lawful owner of the same without let or hindrance of molestation from any person. And in order that the same my at all times appear, This Grant shall be deposited among the Archives of the Government and a certified copy of the same in due for m of law shall be furnished the petitioner.

Given at Mobile, the 5th day of December, 1783; Signed with my Signature and sealed with my Seal of Arms.

Seal of Arms HENRIQUE GRANARIST

Translated record No. 2. pages 83, 84, 85.

Joseph Moro does not seem to have lived to enjoy Dauphin Island for many years after receiving the Grant. The following copy of his will which seems to have been written on his death bed, bears the date August 25 , 1791, eight years after receiving the grant.


WILL OF JOSEPH MORO (OR MOREAU)

In the name of Almighty God, who lives without beginning and reigns without end. Know ye all men who shall in this last will and testament that I , Joseph Moreau, Pilot to the King, dwelling in Dauphin Island, a native of the Coast of Baloxy, Province of Lee, legitimate son of the deceased Joseph Moreau, Senior, and the late Jane Dauphin, his parents both natives of Brest in the Province of Brittany, being in his bed sick, but being of sound mind, memory and understanding, believing firmly in the mystery of the fable of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that of the incarnation of the Son of God, made man in the bosom of the most pure and holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and in all the mysteries and articles which Our Mother believes, teaches and confesses, the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Catholic Church united and governed by the Holy Spirit, under which belief I have lived and protest to live to my last hour fearing death which is natural to all persons and which hour is uncertain and dreading that it may overtake me, I wish to make my last will and testament, and for the best guidance of which I invoke as my Counselor the Sovereign Queen to intercede in my behalf, as well as her dear Son that he may forgive the burden of my sins and conduct my soul to the mansion of Safety, with which prayer and Divine innovation and order it in the following manner. .                                                                                                                                    lst - I recommend my soul to God Who has created it and purchased it again for the price of the precious blood of His dear Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and death, and I implore Him by His tender mercy to pardon it and receive it among the number of His Saints, and my body I desire to be interred with all possible decency and in conformity to the will of my Executors. For such is my will: Item: I wish and desire that there be ten masses said for the repose of my soul and that two bits be given for the use of the poor Such is my will .

Item: I declare that I own owe twenty-five dollars and two bits, of which Martha a free woman has full knowledge, who will make it known to my Executor, to have them paid to those whom I owe them, such is my will .

Item: I desire that all my furniture, chairs, beds, tables, linen, dishes, and plates, and in general all that is comprised in my home to Martha, a free Negro woman, as well as the whole kitchen, table set, the yard , my watches (gold) and my young Negro named Charles, with twelve (12) milch cows of her own choice out of my stock, that she may enjoy them peacefully and in full prosperity as being a property belonging without anyone having a right to oppose her, being an acknowledgement of the good service she has rendered to me during the course of several years, for this reason I beg my Executor to put her in possession of the above mentioned as soon as possible immediately after my death - For such is my will.

Item: I bequeath to my nephew John Batiste LAmy my boat with all rigging and tackle: Such is my will.

Item: I desire and order that the remainder of my property be given to my niece, Euphrasie LAmy, married to Mr Lacoste, to enjoy them during life. The same property to come to her children at her death, and said La Coste to have no right to sell or make use of said property, leaving to my niece to direct and govern at her own pleasure- the said property without her husband's opposition having anything to do with it - For such is my will.

Item: I nominate and appoint as my Executors - Mr John Josse and Pete Jansen, whom I authorize to put in force the present according to its spirit and meaning without alteration - For such is my will, Item: I revoke and annul all other wills , codicils, powers or other writings which may have been made here to fore not wishing them to have any validity approving and acknowledging the present only which I execute actually as my last will and testament, where of I have made my ordinary mark not knowing how to write in the presence of the undersigned
witnesses in Mobile, the 25th day of August, 1791.
Mark of Joseph X Moro
Witness: Raphael Higalgo Santiago De La Sausage
Francisco Mirando Francisco Nonpreul
Francisco Fontarella

Law Office St. Stephens, Ala., April 20,1853

I do hereby certify that the annexed and foregoing is a correct copy from the book of Records of Claims laid before me and acted on by Commissioners Barton and Barrett.

The niece of Joseph Moro, Euphrasie married to Augustine La Coste seems to have been unable to control her interest in Dauphin Island, as between her husband who, contrary to the Will of Joseph Moro, sold a half interest in the Island to Joshua Kennedy and Uncle Sam, who condemned considerable more than a few hundred acres which may in time be recoverable if the living heirs, who are many and scattered, care to investigate.

It would seem from recorded deeds and wills that Augustine La Coste, Sr and his safe Euphrasie came to southern Baldwin County and settled in the vicinity of Bon Secour on the south bank of the river in the late Seventeen Hundred or early Eighteen Hundred. They had two sons, Benjamin, who had no heirs and Augustine, who married Elizabeth Hartley. It may be well to copy here the Will of Euphraise La Coste:

In the name of God Amen.

1, Euphraise La Coste of Mobile County and Mississippi Territory being of perfect and sound mind and memory Blessed be Almighty God for the same . But considering the uncertainty of this mortal life. Have, therefore , made and do by these present make publish this my last will
and................................................................
(We have lost this last part which had the will of Euphrasie La Coste . I have never seen it, but it apparently exists. JW Hadley)
STAPLETON FAMILY
Source of information: WD. Stapleton, Bay Minette
Came to Baldwin County from North Carolina. Settled near Stapleton in 18 50
Source of information: Mrs. Molly Gabel Stapleton, (Wife of Joshua Staple ton)

The famfly of D. C. Stapleton passed her home on their way to their new h ome at the mouth of Fly Creek when she was six years of age. She will be 84 July 26, 1959. 1959 minus 78 yrs. equals 1881. Change Date: 16 JAN 2000 at 19:02:49



Father: Jaques LAMI
Mother: Marie Helene MOREAU

CONDEMNATION OF FORT GAINES RESERVATION 1853 https://archive.org/stream/militaryreservat00unitrich/militaryreservat00unitrich_djvu.txt

ALABAMA. 

CEDAR POINT. 



This reservation contains 29G.5 acres; is &t the entrance -pf, Mobile 
Bay, and embraces the small island between tr>o Xoilli ^oiiit of J}U- 
phin Island and Cedar Point, and so much of Cedar Point as lies in 
fractional sections 25 and 26 of Township 8, South of Eange 2 West. 

It was reserved for military purposes by Executive Order, dated 
February 9, 1842, and jurisdiction was ceded to the United States by 
an act of the State Legislature, approved December 1, 1837, providing 
as follows : 

" That the jurisdiction of this State, within and over all Forts and 
Arsenals that may be established and erected by the United States 
within the limits of this State, shall be, and the same is hereby, ceded to 
the United States, so far as the walls or permanent enclosures of the 
same shall extend and no further." 

FORT (MINES. 

This reservation contains about 983.9 acres, and is situated on the 
eastern end of Dauphin Island, in Mobile County. 

It was acquired by condemnation under final decree of the Court of 
Chancery for the First District of the Southern Chancery Division of 
the State of Alabama, made January 20, 1853. 

Jurisdiction over the reservation was acquired under Act of the 
State Legislature, approved January 28, 1848, and deed of the Gov- 
ernor, dated November 25, 1853, ceding "exclusive jurisdiction" under 
section 3 of said act for the purposes stated in section 1 of the act the 
jurisdiction to be "in all respects such as is contemplated by the 
terms and conditions of the act." 

The act, so far as it relates to jurisdiction, is a? follows: 

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the United States be, and they 
are hereby authorized and empowered to purchase, acquire, hold, own, 
occupy, and possess such land or lands, within the limits of this State, 
as they shall adjudge it expedient, and shall seek to occupy and hold 
as sites on which to erect and maintain Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, 

999196 



4 MILITARY RESERVATIONS, ETC. 

dockyards, and other needful buildings, or any of them, as contem- 
plated and provided in the United States ; said purchase to be effected 
either by contract with the owner or owners of said land, or lands, or 
in the manner hereinafter provided." 

(Sec. 2 provides for acquiring title by condemnation.) 
"SEC. 3. Be it further enacted. That whenever the United States 
shall contract for, purchase or acquire any land or lands, within the 
limits of this State, for the purposes aforesaid, in either of the modes 
above mentioned and provided, and shall desire to acquire constitu- 
tional jurisdiction over said land or lands for said purposes, it shall 
and may be lawful for the Governor of this State, upon application 
made to him in writing, on behalf of the United States, for that 
purpose, accompanied by the proper evidence of such purchase, con- 
tract, or acquisition of record, describing the land or lands sought to be 
ceded by convenient metes and bounds, and the said Governor shall 
be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, thereupon, in the 
name and on behalf of this State, to cede to the United States exclu- 
sive jurisdiction over the land or lauds so purchased or acquired, and 
sought to be ceded, the United States to hold, use, occupy, own, pos- 
sess. June] exer'cise sa-itf jurisdiction over the same for the purposes afore- 
said,' and none other whatsoever : Provided always, That the consent 
aforesaid is hereby- given-, and cession aforesaid is to be granted and 
miide "as* Aforesaid, upon the express condition, that this State shall 
retain a concurrent jurisdiction with the United States in and over the 
land or lands to be ceded and every portion thereof, so far that all civil 
and such criminal process as may issue under the authority of this 
State, against any person or persons charged with crimes committed 
without the boundaries of said land or lands so ceded, may be executed 
therein in the same way and manner as though this cession and consent 
had not been made or granted: Saving, however, to the United 
States, security to their property within the said limits and extent, and 
exemption of the same, and of said land or lands, from any tax under 
the authority of this State, whilst the same shall continue to be owned, 
held, used, and occupied, by the United States for the purposes above 
expressed and intended, and not otherwise."