Historical Markers and War Memorials in Russell County, Alabama
Phenix City is the county seat for Russell County
Adjacent to Russell County, Alabama
Barbour County(71) ► Bullock County(23) ► Lee County(74) ► Macon County(91) ► Chattahoochee County, Georgia(19) ► Muscogee County, Georgia(185) ► Stewart County, Georgia(28) ►
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The community of Crockettsville was settled at about the time Russell County was formed in 1832. Among the first settlers were Jerry Segar and Green Sewell. It was named in honor of David "Davy" Crockett who served as a scout in Andrew Jackson's . . . — — Map (db m33541) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m154410) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m111586) HM
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, . . . — — Map (db m120002) WM
Archaeology is the scientific study of the past through analysis of physical traces of daily life discovered through excavation. It enables us to extend our knowledge of human history beyond the limits of written records and to learn details about . . . — — Map (db m101816) HM
In September 1821 Rev. 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, . . . — — Map (db m26121) HM
William Bartram, American's first native born artist - naturalist, passed through Russell County during the Revolutionary era, making the first scientific notations of its flora, fauna and inhabitants. As the appointed botanist of Britain's King . . . — — Map (db m164144) HM
Creek Towns At its height, the Creek Nation consisted of about 20,000 people living in more
than seventy townships, or talwas (tvlwv), scattered throughout modern-day Alabama and Georgia. Creek townships commonly consisted of a primary . . . — — Map (db m120007) HM
Emma Crowell and James Whitaker were married near Fort Mitchell on
April 23, 1840. Colonel John Crowell, Indian Agent, gave the Log Cabin to
his niece for a wedding gift. Emma was the daughter of Captain Henry Crowell, brother of Colonel John . . . — — Map (db m241216) HM
Cultural Exchange and Cooperation Though significant cultural conflict characterized Creek-American relations in the Chattahoochee Valley, and Creeks faced numerous forms of exploitation, not all relationships between Creeks and settlers were . . . — — Map (db m120019) HM
Built during Creek War 1813 by Georgia Militia on main Indian trade route to Tombigbee River
U.S. Troops stationed here until 1837 1836 Lower Creeks corralled here for forced removal to the West — — Map (db m26069) HM
Fort Mitchell
Fort Mitchell is located on the Federal Road on the West bank overlooking the Chattahoochee River.
General John Floyd received orders from Governor David B. Mitchell to pick up supplies, cross the Chattahoochee River and . . . — — Map (db m120003) HM
Originally a major path Creek Indians and indigenous tribes who preceded
them, the Federal Road became a postal route as a result of a treaty between
the Creeks and the United States government in 1805. The widening of the
Federal Road occurred . . . — — Map (db m241205) HM
Fort Mitchell
Has Been Designated A
National Historic Landmark
This site possesses National significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America — — Map (db m241212) HM
Fort Mitchell served as a primary point of concentration for creeks being sent westward to Indian Territory before, during, and after the Second Creek War (1836-1837). By the terms of the 1832 Treaty of Washington, Creek heads of household and . . . — — Map (db m101840) HM
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 by Georgia and . . . — — Map (db m26122) HM
The most popular game among the Indians of this 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 . . . — — Map (db m26020) HM
Native plants played a significant role in the daily life of the Creek Indian civilization that inhabited the Chattahoochee Valley until relocation to Oklahoma in the 19th century. During the Woodland Period, the local inhabitants were skilled . . . — — Map (db m48166) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m81715) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m26116) HM
Pokkecheta, or the ball play, was an ancient and vital part of the social life of the Creeks and a popular game among many groups of Southeastern Indians. The game enhanced
interaction between towns and provided highly ritualized sport and . . . — — Map (db m101817) HM
Side 1
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 . . . — — Map (db m101282) HM
In 1832, a treaty with the United States allotted parcels of land to every Indian household in the Valley. A government census enumerated, according to tribal towns, every Indian head of household, along with the number of males, females, and slaves . . . — — Map (db m101415) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m101284) HM
Approximately one mile due east of this marker, back down the Old Federal Road, called by frontiersmen and Indians the Three Notched Trail or the Three Chopped Way, stood Fort Mitchell, an early 19th century American fort that in 1836 was one of the . . . — — Map (db m26100) HM
Today there are federally recognized Creek tribal groups in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. The largest, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is based in the state of Oklahoma. The nation is comprised of the descendants of the Creeks who were . . . — — Map (db m101823) HM
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, March 1814, ended the Creek Indian War. General Andrew Jackson met with Chief William Weatherford and signed the Treaty. The Creek Indians returned to their own land in the southeast Alabama territory. Travel over . . . — — Map (db m120004) HM
(Front) 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 . . . — — Map (db m144917) HM
Uchee
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 . . . — — Map (db m69422) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69420) HM
East of here, on the Chattahoochee River, was the "fort among the Apalachicolas," most northern of the Spanish settlements in eastern North America. A palisaded "strong house" built by Captain Enrique Primo de Rivera to check activities of English . . . — — Map (db m101252) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69417) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69415) HM
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, . . . — — Map (db m69433) HM
President Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. Freedom for the South's slaves, however only came with the end of the conflict, April 1865. The joyous news reached Negro slaves in this area in . . . — — Map (db m162704) HM
Coweta was the home of many influential Creek leaders, including three individuals who figured prominently in the history of the Creek people; "Emperor” Brims, Mary Musgrove, Chief William McIntosh.
The Coweta chieftain Brims, who . . . — — Map (db m101336) HM
(side 1)
Born at New Site, Alabama, he grew up working on his parents farm. In 1916 he worked in the oil fields in Texas and joined the Texas National Guard. He married Agnes Benson of Alabama in 1917. In 1918 he was commissioned an . . . — — Map (db m69114) HM
(obverse)
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 . . . — — Map (db m69082) HM
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, . . . — — Map (db m69045) HM
(obverse)
Before The Battle
All day that Easter Sunday the Confederate forces commanded by Col. Leon von Zinken awaited the Union Army they knew was on the way from Tuskegee. Lacking the men needed to hold it, they were forced to . . . — — Map (db m69058) HM
On the hill to the northwest is an earthen fortification built in 1863 as part of the defenses of the Confederate navy yard, iron works and other war-related industries in nearby Columbus, Georgia. Designated Fort No. 5 on the plan done by the CSA . . . — — Map (db m59968) HM
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 old Crawford Road to capture the Dillingham Bridge, then known as the lower . . . — — Map (db m69060) HM
During the tumultuous decades prior to the Removal of the Creeks from their ancestral homelands in the 1830s, the vicinity of the town of Coweta became an important location for interaction between the Creek Nation and the American government. . . . — — Map (db m101339) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m223862) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69068) HM
Coweta served as a critical place of interaction between Creeks and Europeans throughout
the colonial era. Situated at the intersection of regional trading routes and the claims
of expanding Spanish, English and French colonial empires, it became . . . — — Map (db m101334) HM
The rich clay deposits along the high western bluff of the Chattahoochee River led a pioneer family to begin producing brick here. In 1859, brothers Anderson and Charles Abercrombie acquired a large tract of land from the U.S. government as a result . . . — — Map (db m223858) HM
Built in 1950, Fort Jabe Brassell has served as a hub for military training and arms storage for the local community by the Alabama Army National Guard and the Armory Commission of Alabama. Between July 1954 and January 1955, the Alabama Army . . . — — Map (db m165538) HM
(side 1)
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 . . . — — Map (db m69064) HM
This church was organized in 1877 by Brothers Robert Anderson, Sr., Manuel Edmond and Robert Fluellen. The first services were conducted by Rev. D.L. Griffin under a brush arbor on the Flournoy Plantation. During Griffin's pastorate Anderson, Edmond . . . — — Map (db m242699) HM
POW✯MIA
You Are Not Forgotten
Dedicated to all
Our Nation's
POW ✯ MIA
Past - Present
Fort Benning Sergeants Major Association
19 September 2009 — — Map (db m69092) WM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69056) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69065) HM
In 1953 the Phenix City Elementary School for Negroes was constructed during the tenure of L.P. Stough, Phenix City School Superintendent. It was built to accommodate 488 students with 13 classrooms, a multi-purpose room, clinic, library, cafeteria . . . — — Map (db m173475) HM
The town of Coweta was actually two separate Native American settlements and dozens of affiliated outlying communities occupied at different times in what is now northeastern Russell County. "Coweta Tallahassee" (old Coweta), regarded by most . . . — — Map (db m101328) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69067) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m223874) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m69069) HM
Originally known as Vilula, this community 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 . . . — — Map (db m188837) HM
Russell County occupies land that once sat at the heart of the Creek Nation. Within the county's boundaries were several important Creek towns, many of which would figure prominently in the Creek and Seminole Wars era and the saga of Removal. . . . — — Map (db m111596) HM
Russell County was one of several counties created by the Alabama legislature in December, 1832 from land that had been part of the Creeks' ancestral homeland. The community of Girard (modern Phenix City) along the Chattahoochee River became the . . . — — Map (db m111609) HM
(obverse)
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 . . . — — Map (db m69406) HM
Oldest route from Atlantic to Southwest. In 1805 it became Federal Road, over which pioneers traveled from Milledgeville to St. Stephens. Oglethorpe, Lafayette, Burr and others used this trail. — — Map (db m165635) HM
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. . . . — — Map (db m69408) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m78113) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m164054) HM
During the Federal occupation of the former Confederate States of America, 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." . . . — — Map (db m53160) HM
Marker Front:
The Methodist Congregation of which the church at Seale was organized in 1842, were pioneer families with a deep faith in God and a clear vision of the future. This group was centered around a small meeting place and a . . . — — Map (db m23594) HM
Old St. Peter A.M.E. Church Cemetery is one of Russell County's oldest African-American cemeteries. Established in the early 1880s by former slaves, the church became a central institution to many families in the Seale community. Records indicate . . . — — Map (db m78116) HM
The Old Federal Road that opened the southeastern United States to
settlers once crossed at this location. In 1805, the United States Congress
granted funds to build a post road from Georgia to New Orleans to
cross the sparsely settled wilderness . . . — — Map (db m237220) HM
The Second Creek War came about as a result of the frustration of local Creeks at their treatment following the signing of the Treaty of Washington (1832). That compact called for the Creeks to be given allotments of land which they could keep or . . . — — Map (db m111603) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m164067) HM
Dean of the Law School of the University of Alabama.
Moderator of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Alabama.
Member of Congress of the United States from the Sixth District of Alabama.
Advocate of equality of opportunity, regardless of sex, . . . — — Map (db m195813) HM
