TWO HUNDRED YE~l\RS AT MUSCLE SI-IOALS Being An _A..uthentic History of Colbert County 1700-1900 With Special Emphasis On The Stirring Events Of The Early Times By NINA LEFTWICH TuscU).1:BIA, ALABAMA Copyright by Nina Lefhvich, 1935 Press of l\fC'LTIGRAPHIC ADVERTISI~G CO. Felix B. Leftwich. Prop. Birmingham, Ala. 1935 To My Father and ]1,,f other and To All Those Who Have Helped To i11ake Colbert Count31 FOREWORD Throughout the fallowing pages the term "Colbert County" will be used to refer to the area comprised with­ in the present bounds of the county. The most of this area was originally a part of Franklin County, created by the Territorial I.... egislature on February 4, 1818. It was not until 1867 that the legislature cut off the north­ ern portion of F·ranklin and established Colbert County, extending from the Tennessee River on the north to the township line of townships five and six on the south, and from the Mississippi State line on the west to the Main Street in Leighton on the east. In 1895 the county was enlarged by the portion of Lavvrence County between the eastern boundary line of Colbert and the stream known as Town Creek . .. Throughout the volume the author has quoted original sources extensively, not only that the facts might be given but also that the spirit of the times might .be re­ created. The quaint expressions used in the old news­ papers, documents, and letters portray the conditions, the style and the customs in the speech of that day. The names of many individuals have been used simply to tell the march of events in the history of the county, not that those individuals in every case were n1ore im­ portant than others, but because the source material which was provided happened to contain those names. An earnest effort has been made to obtain a full and complete story ; no important incident or person has been omitted intentionally. The subject matter of the book is limited to the source material available. AN APPRECIATION The author wishes to express her appreciation to Mr. Frank King, founder and only president of the Tennessee \Talley Historical Association, for his interest and un­ tiring help in the providing of source material during the preparation of this volume; to the members of the De­ partment of Archives and History who have assisted in the searching of the files of the Department for material; to the authors of the volumes contained in the bibliogra­ phy; to all those citizens whose contributions of facts and materials have greatly aided in the writing of this his­ tory, especially to Miss Annie Belle Stine, Miss Laura Thornton, and Mrs. Emma Scruggs for the loan of old letters, papers and documents. Appreciation is gratefully expressed to Mrs. Americus Mitchell for reading critically a large part of the manu­ script; to Mr. Frank King for reading Chapter IV; to Mrs. J. T. Kirk for reading Chapter V; and to Miss Vivian Leftwich for her assistance. The author is deeply grateful to all those citizens \Vhose cooperation has made possible the publication of this volume. INDEX Page Old Muscles Shoals ________________ 9 CHAPTER I The Home of The Indians ______.________ 11 The Home of George Colbert 27 CHAPTER II Early Beginning of Colbert County__________ 36 Big . Spring, Tuscumbia ________________ 44 CHAPTER III Economic, Political and Social Life Before 1861________ "/5 Map of Colbert County 1835______ ---------------- 76 Transportation "/"/ River Transportation Announce 82 Railroad Transportation 94 Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Rail-Road Way-Bill 95 Industrial· Life 100 Newspapers ---·---------------115 Education 118 LaGrange College 130 Masonic Hall, Tuscumbia 135 Political Life 136 Churches 140 Social Life___________ 151 CHAPTER IV In The Throes of War 1861-1865 ________ _ ________16 "I Colonel Wm. A. Johnson ______________ --------- _l79 Group of Gunboats on the Tennessee _____ ,_______ 185 CHAPTER V After 1865 _____. _________________ _ ______ 213 Deshler Institute, Tuscumbia________ _ _______22"/ Frank R. King, Founder & Only Pres. of the Tenn. Valley ___ 230 Steamers on the Tennessee _______________________________________________________ 234 Dave Halsey's Circus_________________________________ _ _______________ 243 Hon. Edward Burton Almon _________________246 Hon. Archie Hill Charmichael ______________________________________________ 247 Memorials ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------ 25 0 Confederate Monument, Tuscumbia __________________________________ 251 INDEX-Continued Page The Rise of Sheffield ____________________________________________________________________ 253 She£ field Hotel, Sheffield -------------------------------------- ____________________ .25 9 Business Street in Tuscumbia _______________ ----------------------------- ·__ 266 A Dream Con1ing True ------------------------------------------------------- _______ 2 67 She£ field~ Gateway to Muscle Shoals ________________________________________ 2G8 General Joseph Wheeler __________________________________________________________________ 2 69 Tennessee Valley Map. _________________________________________________________________ 2 72 Minerals & Products of Muscle Shoals District ______________________ 272 President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Muscle Shoals. ________________ 273 Heart of Muscle Shoals ----------------------------------------------- _________________ 2 76 Appendix ________ __ __ --------------------------------- ___________ 2 77 Bib Ii ograp hy ____ __ _____ --------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 2 S0 -Courtesy of T. J. Campbell, The Upper J'enne..ssee. OLD MUSCLE SHOALS There is a popular story that the Indians named these rapids "Muscle Shoals'' because it required "heap big muscle" to get their canoes around the place., r CHAPTER I THE HOME OF, THE INDIANS There are in Colbert County today interesting remains of a civilization which flowered along the valley of the Tennessee River before the coming of the white man and which passed away with his advent: The civilization of the Indians. However all evidence points to a very small Indian population concentrated along the creeks near the points where these empty into the River. The Chickasaws and the Cherokees, two of the Five Civilized Nations that constituted the Indians of the Southwest, vigorously laid claim to what is today Colbert County, Alabama. According to the traditional history of the Cherokees they were the first inhabitants of the Ten­ nessee Valley from which for some reason they retired about 16tO, retaining a claim upon it, however, as ·their hunting ground. When, soon afterwards, the Shawnees from the Cumberland River moved southward and took possession of the country about the Tennessee the Chero­ kees went on the warpath against the·. intruders. For forty years they fought and finally about 1721, with the aid of the Chickasaws, the Cherokees succeeded in driv­ ing the Shawnees beyond the Ohio. For many years the valley in the present Alabama was without occupants. The Mitchell map of 1755 names not one town along the Cherokee or Hogohegee as the Tennessee River was then called. Since the time of map making this river has been known by eight different names. About 1765 the Chickasaws, who had begun to build villages along Big Bear Creek, moved into the country and made a settlement in the great bend of the Tennessee 12 TWO HuNDRED YEARS AT MUSCLE SHOALS south of the Huntsville of today. The Cherokees -re­ sented the intrusion and promptly went to war with their former allies;. but this brave people of whom it has been said that war was their very life could not stand before the imperious Chickasaws who had never known defeat. _In a decisive battle of 1769 the newcomers won a victory, ':but at such a dear price that they decided to abandon their settlement but not their claim to the country. The Cherokees never relinquished their claim. So eloquently did each nation plead the validity of its rights to this area in the numerous meetings with the United States com­ missioners that the government . recognized the tribal claim of each to the land on both sides of the Tennessee east of Bear Creek. _ Both the French and the English contended for the In­ dian trade along the western waters; the Frencjl. planted a post at Muscle Shoals before 1715. Because of the in­ creasing importance of trade with the whites the Chero­ kees planted villages near the Muscle Shoals area in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. There was Dou­ blehead' s village on the Tennessee just east of where George Colbert later established his ferry, the site of which is marked today by Doublehead's Spring. There was a small village at the foot of the Shoals; and a large 1 The extent of this village was realized when in 1924, just before the backwaters from Wilson Lake flooded the site, Dr. Fowks of the Smithsonian Institute made some investigations. He explored many burial mounds containing valuable flints-especially plows-beads, and other articles; also a kitchen midden, 250 feet long by 200 feet wide by 50 feet high-a heap of periwinkle shells and other refuse; a large field where arrowheads and other tools were made; and some cotton lands extending far up the creek where were found Indian mills and pieces of pottery. 2 The name Oka Kapassa, a Choctaw-Chickasaw word meaning "Coldwater," would indicate that the Chickasaws had a village on the site before the Cherokees planted one there about 1770. A further proof that Oka Kapassa was first a Chickasaw town is that given by the Hutchins