History of Mobile, Alabama

Last updated
A detail of Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's 1732 map of Louisiana showing Mobile Bay, the Mobile colony (Fort Conde de la Mobile), many rivers, bays, Native American settlements & Isle Dauphine. Mobile in 1732.jpg
A detail of Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's 1732 map of Louisiana showing Mobile Bay, the Mobile colony (Fort Condé de la Mobile), many rivers, bays, Native American settlements & Isle Dauphine.

Mobile was founded as the capital of colonial French Louisiana in 1702 and remained a part of New France for over 60 years. During 1720, when France warred with Spain, Mobile was on the battlefront, so the capital moved west to Biloxi. [1] In 1763, Britain took control of the colony following their victory in the Seven Years' War. [2] During the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish captured Mobile and retained it by the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Contents

Mobile first became a part of the United States in 1813, when it was captured by American forces and added to the Mississippi Territory, then later re-zoned into the Alabama Territory in August 1817. Finally on December 14, 1819, Mobile became part of the new 22nd state, Alabama, one of the earlier states of the U.S. Forty-one years later, Alabama left the Union and joined the Confederate States of America in 1861. It returned in 1865 after the American Civil War. [1] [2] [3] Mobile had spent decades as French, then British, then Spanish, then American, spanning 160 years, up to the Civil War.

Conquistadors: 1519 to 1559

Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of Mobile Bay as early as 1500, with the bay being marked on early Spanish maps as the Bahía del Espíritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit). The area was explored in more detail in 1516 by Diego de Miruelo and in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez traveled through what was likely the Mobile Bay area, encountering Native Americans who fled and burned their towns at the approach of the expedition. This response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto, more than eleven years later. [4]

Hernando de Soto explored the area of Mobile Bay and beyond in 1540, finding the area inhabited by a Muscogee Native American people. During this expedition, his forces destroyed the fortified town of Mauvila, also spelled Maubila, from which the name Mobile was later derived. [5] The battle with Chief Tuscaloosa and his warriors took place somewhere north of the current site of Mobile. The next large expedition was that of Tristán de Luna y Arellano, in his unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent colony for Spain, nearby at Pensacola in 1559–1561. [4]

Colonial period

French Louisiana: 1702 to 1763

Although Spain's presence in the area had been sporadic, the French, under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville from his base at Fort Maurepas, established a settlement on the Mobile River in 1702. The settlement, then known as Fort Louis de la Louisiane, was first established at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff as the first capital of the French colony of Louisiana. It was founded under the direction of d'Iberville by his brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, to establish control over France's Louisiana claims with Bienville having been made governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile's Roman Catholic parish was established on 20 July 1703, by Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier, Bishop of Quebec. [6] The parish was the first established on the Gulf Coast of the United States. [6] The year 1704 saw the arrival of 23 women, known to history as "casquette girls" to the colony aboard the Pélican, along with yellow fever introduced to the ship in Havana. [7] Though most of the "casquette girls" recovered, a large number of the existing colonists and the neighboring Native Americans died from the illness. [7] This early period also saw the arrival of the first African slaves aboard a French supply ship from Saint-Domingue. [7] The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708 yet descending to 178 persons two years later due to disease. [6]

Mobile and Fort Conde in 1725. Mobile1725.jpg
Mobile and Fort Condé in 1725.

These additional outbreaks of disease and a series of floods caused Bienville to order the town relocated several miles downriver to its present location at the confluence of the Mobile River and Mobile Bay in 1711. This site had previously been settled five years prior by Charles Rochon, Gilbert Dardenne, Pierre LeBœuf and Claude Parant. [8] A new earth and palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time. [9] The colony was an economic loss, so in 1712, Antoine Crozat took over administration of the colony by royal charter for 15 years, pledging a share of profits to the King. [1] The colony boasted a population of 400 persons. In 1713 a new governor was appointed by Crozat, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit. [10] He did not last long, due to allegations of mismanagement and a lack of growth in the colony, and he was recalled to France in 1716. Bienville again took the helm as governor, serving the office for less than a year until the new governor, Jean-Michel de Lepinay, arrived from France. [10] Lepinay, however, did not last long either, due to Crozat's relinquishing control of the colony in 1717 (after just 5 of the 15 years). The administration shifted to John Law and his Company of the Indies. [10] Bienville found himself once again governor of Louisiana. In 1719, France warred with Spain, and Mobile was on the battlefront, so Bienville decided to move the capital to Old Biloxi, further west. [1] [10]

The capital of Louisiana was moved to Biloxi, (now in Mississippi) in 1720, [9] leaving Mobile relegated to the role of military and trading outpost. In 1723 the construction of a new brick fort with a stone foundation began [9] and it was renamed Fort Condé in honor of Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon and prince of Condé. [11] Mobile remained a major trade center with the Native Americans throughout the French period, leading to the almost universal use of Mobilian Jargon as the simplified trade language with the Native Americans from present-day Florida to Texas. [5]

British West Florida: 1763 to 1780

A Map of West Florida (bottom right), the U.S. (top right) and Louisiana (left), published in 1781, showing Mobile in the center of West Florida. West Florida and Louisiana in 1781.jpg
A Map of West Florida (bottom right), the U.S. (top right) and Louisiana (left), published in 1781, showing Mobile in the center of West Florida.

Mobile became a part of the "14th British colony", British West Florida, in 1763, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the French and Indian War.

The treaty ceded the Mobile area to Great Britain, and under British rule the colony flourished as West Florida. The British renamed Fort Condé as Fort Charlotte after the queen consort and re-energized the port. Major exports included timber, naval stores, indigo, hides, rice, pecans, and cattle.

Spanish West Florida: 1780 to 1812

The Spanish captured Mobile during the American Revolutionary War during the Battle of Fort Charlotte in 1780, and retained Mobile by the terms of the war-ending Treaty of Paris in 1783. Mobile was then part of the colonial province Florida Occidental for thirty years, controlled from Pensacola until 1813 when it was captured by American forces (during the War of 1812) under James Wilkinson.

Republic of West Florida

The United States and Spain held long, inconclusive negotiations on the status of West Florida. In the meantime, American settlers, including Loyalists, had established a foothold in the area and resisted Spanish control, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for three months of the Republic of West Florida. On September 23, 1810, after meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge and unfurled the Bonnie Blue Flag. The Republic of West Florida claimed boundaries that included all territory south of the 31st parallel, west of the Perdido River, and east of the Mississippi River, not including any territory that had been part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Spain retained its control of the Mobile District for a few more years, while the United States seized the former Baton Rouge District in December 1810.

Territorial period

Mississippi Territory

A map of Mobile in 1815. Mobile 1815.jpg
A map of Mobile in 1815.

Before the War of 1812, the Spaniards in Mobile allowed British merchants to sell arms and supplies to the Indians defend their lands against encroaching settlers who had begun to build on part of present-day Alabama. During the course of the war, General James Wilkinson took a force of American troops from New Orleans to capture Mobile. The Spanish capitulated in April 1813 and the Stars and Stripes of the United States was raised for the first time over the Mobile area as it was added to the existing Mississippi Territory. [12]

A British attempt commanded by Captain Henry Percy in September 1814 to take Fort Bowyer on Mobile Bay was repulsed by American forces. A subsequent British attack in February 1815 was successful, resulting in the surrender of the fort. The War of 1812 ended before an attack on the settlement of Mobile, across the bay, could be conducted.

Alabama Territory: 1817 to 1819

Within 4 years, in March 1817, the U.S. state of Mississippi was formed, splitting the Mississippi Territory in half, and leaving Mobile, for the next 2 years, as part of the new Alabama Territory. In 1819, after two years as a territory, the US state of Alabama was formed, converting the Alabama Territory into a full American state.

After statehood

Antebellum: 1820 to 1860

A map of Mobile in 1838. Map of Mobile in 1838.jpg
A map of Mobile in 1838.

The cotton boom of the early 19th century brought an explosion of commerce to what had been a sleepy frontier town. For almost the next half century, Mobile enjoyed prosperity as the second largest international seaport on the Gulf Coast, after New Orleans. Progress was based upon cotton, shipped downriver by flatboat or steamboat from plantation slave fields in Mississippi and Alabama. [13] A fire in October 1827 destroyed most of the old city from the Mobile River to Saint Emanuel Street and from Saint Francis to Government Street. [14] The city experienced another fire in 1839 that burned part of city between Conti and Government Street from Royal to Saint Emanuel Street and also both sides of Dauphin to Franklin Street. [14] Despite these setbacks, Mobile was one of the four busiest ports in the US by the 1850s. The wealth created by this trade brought the city to a cultural high point. Mobile became known throughout the country and the world.

In another note of differentiation between the somewhat cosmopolitan port and the hinterlands of predominantly Protestant Alabama, Mobile was declared a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in this same period. What would become known as McGill-Toolen Catholic High School was also established during this time. In 1830, Bishop Michael Portier founded Spring Hill College, one of the oldest Catholic schools in the country. Control of the college was assumed by the Jesuit Order in 1847.

In 1860, Clotilda , the last known ship to arrive in the Americas with a cargo of slaves, was abandoned by its captain near Mobile. A number of these slaves later formed their own community on the banks of the Mobile River after the American Civil War, which became known as Africatown. The inhabitants of this community retained their African customs and language well into the 20th century.

Civil War: 1861 to 1865

A map of Mobile Bay and surroundings during the American Civil War. Battle of Mobile Bay map.jpg
A map of Mobile Bay and surroundings during the American Civil War.

Mobile grew substantially in the period leading up to the Civil War, when the Confederates heavily fortified it. Union naval forces established a blockade under the command of Admiral David Farragut. The Confederates countered by constructing blockade-runners: fast, shallow-draft, low-slung ships that could either outrun or evade the blockaders, maintaining a trickle of trade in and out of Mobile. Also, the Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel in combat, was built and tested in Mobile.

In August 1864 Farragut's ships fought their way past Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan guarding the mouth of Mobile Bay and defeated a small force of wooden Confederate gunboats and the ironclad CSS Tennessee, in the famous Battle of Mobile Bay. It is here that Farragut is alleged to have uttered his famous "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" quote after the USS Tecumseh hit a Confederate mine and sank. The Tecumseh rests in Mobile Bay to this day. The city of Mobile later surrendered to the Union army in order to avoid destruction. Ironically, on May 25, 1865, weeks after Jefferson Davis had dissolved the Confederacy, an ammunition depot explosion, termed the great Mobile magazine explosion, killed some 300 people and destroyed a significant portion of the city.

Reconstruction:1865-1877

The aftermath of the war left Mobile with a spirit of governmental and economic caution that would limit it for a large part of the next century. [15] General Christopher Columbus Andrews of the United States Army was in charge of Mobile in late 1865 and early 1866, he issued an order that in all courts and judicial proceedings in the District of Mobile that African-Americans should have the same standing as whites. [16] General Pope was put in charge of the area next. General Pope declared all offices in Mobile vacant and filled them with his own appointees, most of whom were African-American. This included appointing large numbers of African-Americans who had served in the United States Army during the war as policemen in Mobile. He declared all offices in Mobile vacant and filled them with his own appointees, most of whom were African-American. This included appointing large numbers of African-Americans who had served in the United States Army during the war as policemen in Mobile. [17] While General Pope was in charge, Pennsylvania congressman William D. Kelley, known as a so-called "radical Republican" because he supported equal rights for African-Americans came to Mobile to give a speech. He denounced slavery as "satanic" and advocated equal rights for African-Americans, in response a lynch mob formed and a riot ensued. [18] General Pope appointed Gustavus Horton to be the mayor of Mobile during the time until elections could be held. Horton was from Massachusetts and was considered to be a "radical" by local whites because he enforced equal rights for Mobile's African-American population. [19] Brevet brigadier general Willard Warner was appointed as collector of customs in Mobile, serving in this position from July 1871 until February 1872. Colonel George E. Spencer of New York had been the leader of the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment during the war, this was a regiment of roughly 2,000 white Southern Unionists during the war who fought alongside of General William Tecumseh Sherman during his campaign in Georgia, Spencer represented Alabama in the Senate as a Republican from 1868 until 1879, he made numerous visits to Mobile during this time.

The last quarter of the 19th century in Mobile was a time of turmoil. The government was controlled by Republicans after Reconstruction was instituted by Congress in May 1867. Many of these politicians instituted policies that caused the disenfranchised Democrats to become embittered. In 1874, Democrats around the state used violence and extreme measures to keep African Americans and non-Democratic voters from participating in the November election. Election day in Mobile saw armed gangs roaming the streets and mobs of people surrounding the polling places to scare any non-Democrats away. [20]

Mobile Light and Railway Company c 1894 Mobile Light and Railway Company c 1894.png
Mobile Light and Railway Company c 1894

The decline of the city continued under the Democrats. By 1875 the city was more than $5 million in debt and could not even pay the interest on the loans. This debt had been accruing since the 1830s. A game of political maneuvering continued to be played between rival factions as the city bordered on bankruptcy. In 1879 the city charter was repealed by the state legislature, abolishing the "City of Mobile" and replacing it with three city commissioners appointed by the Alabama governor. The commissioners were charged with governing the new "Port of Mobile" and reducing the city's debt. The debt problem would not be settled until the last note was paid in 1906. [20]

Modern period

Early 20th century: 1900 to 1949

The Mobile skyline in 1909. Mobile1909.jpg
The Mobile skyline in 1909.

Overall, the early 20th century was a time of significant growth and change for Mobile, Alabama, as the city expanded economically, culturally, and socially. The population grew from about 40,000 in 1900 to over 60,000 by 1920. The city becoming a hub for shipping, manufacturing, and commerce. Key industries included lumber, textiles, shipbuilding and steel. The city received $3 million in federal grants for harbor improvements, which drastically deepened the shipping channels in the harbor. The construction of new railroads and the expansion of the port allowed for greater connectivity and facilitated the growth of the city's economy as a hub for the region. New public schools were built especially to meet the soaring demand for a high school education. High society promoted the new Mobile Symphony Orchestra and the Saenger Theatre. [21]

Map of Mobile in 1919 1919 map Mobile, Alabama Automobile Blue Book,.jpg
Map of Mobile in 1919

Racial tensions remained high. In 1902 the city government passed Mobile's first segregation ordinance, one that segregated the city streetcars. Mobile's African American population responded to this with a two-month boycott which was ultimately unsuccessful. After this, Mobile's de facto segregation was increasingly replaced with legislated segregation. [21] John L. LeFlore emerged as a leader of African Americans in the 1920s. [22]

The economy flourished in the 1920s, but suffered severely in the Great Depression after 1929. The 1920s and 1930s saw Jazz music achieve wide popularity inside and outside the Black community. Many clubs and venues gave people an opportunity to hear live music. Mardi Gras continued to be an important part of the city's culture, with elaborate parades and celebrations. However, the 1920s and 1930s were also a challenging time for Mobile and the rest of the country. The Great Depression hit the city hard, leading to high levels of unemployment and poverty. The city also experienced racial tensions, with segregation and discrimination affecting many aspects of daily life. [21]

World War II

Mobile had $522 million in contracts for World War II combat equipment, but not nearly enough residents to do the work. Workers flocked in from rural areas, especially to the shipyards and to the Brookley Army Air Field. [23] Between 1940 and 1943, over 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries. Mobile was one of eighteen U.S. cities producing Liberty ships at its Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company to support the war effort by producing ships faster than the German U-boats could sink them. Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, a subsidiary of Waterman Steamship Corporation, focused on building freighters, Fletcher-class destroyers, and minesweepers. [23] the Gulf Coast Air Depot was responsible for overhauling and repairing military aircraft. It employed over 15,000 workers at its peak. The Air Force bought the municipal airport, Bates Field, and there developed the Brookley Army Air Field, later to become the Brookley Air Force Base. Brookley quickly became the area's largest employer. In the mid-1960s the Air Force Base was closed due to a Department of Defense "base realignment" and the airport returned to the city. Today, it is an aerospace and industrial site known as the Brookley Aeroplex. [23] [24] [25]

During the war, the phenomenal influx of workers created a huge housing shortage. Citizens rented out extra rooms and also converted porches, garages and even chicken coops into rentals. Several federal housing projects were quickly built to house the new maritime and Air Force workers. Several of these are still to be found, notably the community of Birdville. "Thomas James Place" was the proper name for Birdville which was built just outside Brookley Air Force Base to provide relief for the housing shortage. The development consisted of a series of interwoven curving concrete streets named after various birds, hence the nickname Birdville. [23] [26]

Late 20th century: 1950 to 1999

By 1956, Mobile's square mileage had tripled to accommodate growth. The Brookley Air Force Base closure in the mid-1960s sent economic tremors through the area which took many years to absorb. Also in the post-war period, the pulp and paper industry became a major industry in Mobile. Scott Paper Company and International Paper combined to become one of the area's largest workforces.

Legal racial segregation was ended by congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Mobile had been more tolerant and racially accommodating than many other Southern cities, with the police force and one local college becoming integrated in the 1950s and the voluntary desegregation of buses and lunchcounters by 1963, but schools and many other institutions had remained segregated. In 1963, three African-American students filed a suit against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to Murphy High School. The federal district court ordered that they be admitted for the 1964 school year, as it had been ten years since the US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. [27] In 1964, the University of South Alabama opened as an integrated college, planned as such from its inception in 1956.

Mobile's city government was changed in 1985 from three city commissioners elected at-large to a mayor and city-council form with seven members elected from single-member districts, following a court challenge by African-American residents. In Bolden v. City of Mobile the federal district court ruled that the city commission form was discriminatory in intent, with the result of substantially diluting the African-American vote. In the years after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African Americans had not been able to elect any candidates of their choice to the city commission. [28]

Racial equality and justice continued to be an issue on the individual level in Mobile. [28] In 1981, Michael Donald was abducted and lynched by Ku Klux Klan members on Herndon Avenue. [28] The two perpetrators were both convicted of murder, with one sentenced to life in prison and the other sentenced to death and executed in 1997. A subsequent wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of Michael Donald's mother against the United Klans of America. The seven million dollar decision against the Klans—returned, notably, by an all-white jury—effectively put the Ku Klux Klan out of business in Alabama. [28] A fatal police shooting of an African-American man in 1992 sparked violence and unrest in Mobile, leading to the formation of a Human Relations Commission by the city in 1994. [28]

Hurricane Frederic, which struck the area on September 12, 1979, caused severe damage in Mobile. Many residents were without power, water, telephone and basic necessities for weeks, but only one death was recorded. Relief funding following Frederic provided an economic boom in addition to growth in the 1980s, vastly improving Mobile's overall economic picture.

Beginning in the late 1980s, the city council and mayor Mike Dow began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive, urban city. [29] Numerous new facilities and projects were built around the city; the government encouraged the restoration of hundreds of historic downtown buildings and homes. [29] Violent crime was reduced by 50%, and the city and county leaders worked to attract new business ventures to the area. [30] The effort continues into the present with new city government leadership. [30]

Shipbuilding began to make a major comeback in Mobile with the founding in 1999 of Austal USA, a joint venture of Australian shipbuilder, Austal, and Bender Shipbuilding. [31]

21st century: 2000 to present

The Mobile skyline in 2007. Mobile Skyline.jpg
The Mobile skyline in 2007.

Mobile received moderate damage from Hurricane Ivan on 16 September 2004. [32] Mobile received damage again from Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005. A storm surge of 11.45 feet (3.49 m) damaged eastern sections of Mobile and caused extensive flooding downtown. [33] Mobilians elected their first African American mayor, Sam Jones, in September, 2005. [34] Another landmark was added to Mobile's skyline in 2007 with the completion of the RSA Battle House Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the state. In January, 2008, the city hired EDSA, an urban design firm, to create a new comprehensive master plan for the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. The planning area is bordered on the east by the Mobile River, to the south by Interstate 10 and Duval Street, to the west by Houston Street and to the north by Three Mile Creek and the neighborhoods north of Martin Luther King Avenue. [35]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile, Alabama</span> City in Alabama, United States

Mobile is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama, after Huntsville, Birmingham, and Montgomery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile Bay</span> Inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States

Mobile Bay is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the bay, making it an estuary. Several smaller rivers also empty into the bay: Dog River, Deer River, and Fowl River on the western side of the bay, and Fish River on the eastern side. Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in the United States with a discharge of 62,000 cubic feet (1,800 m3) of water per second. Annually, and often several times during the summer months, the fish and crustaceans will swarm the shallow coastline and shore of the bay. This event, appropriately named a jubilee, draws a large crowd because of the abundance of fresh, easily caught seafood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French colonization of the Americas</span> Part of Frances colonial empire

France began colonizing the Americas in the 16th century and continued into the following centuries as it established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France established colonies in much of eastern North America, on several Caribbean islands, and in South America. Most colonies were developed to export products such as fish, rice, sugar, and furs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Fort, Alabama</span> City in Alabama, United States

Spanish Fort is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. The 2020 census lists the population of the city as 10,049. It is a suburb of Mobile and is part of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville</span> French soldier (1661–1706)

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French colonist parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville</span> French colonial governor of Louisiana

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, also known as Sieur de Bienville, was a French colonial administrator in New France. Born in Montreal, he was an early governor of French Louisiana, appointed four separate times during 1701–1743. He was the younger brother of explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana (New France)</span> Administrative district of New France (1682–1803)

Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682 to 1769 and 1801 (nominally) to 1803, the area was named in honor of King Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. It originally covered an expansive territory that included most of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River and stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains.

The history of Pensacola, Florida, begins long before the Spanish claimed founding of the modern city in 1698. The area around present-day Pensacola was inhabited by Native American peoples thousands of years before the historical era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Mobile Site</span> Archaeological site in Alabama, United States

The Old Mobile Site was the location of the French settlement La Mobile and the associated Fort Louis de La Louisiane, in the French colony of New France in North America, from 1702 until 1712. The site is located in Le Moyne, Alabama, on the Mobile River in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. The settlement served as the capital of French Louisiana from 1702 until 1711, when the capital was relocated to the site of present-day Mobile, Alabama. The settlement was founded and originally governed by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Upon the death of d'Iberville, the settlement was governed by his younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The site can be considered a French counterpart to the English colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The settlement site and fort were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1976. The Old Mobile Site was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark on January 3, 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Charlotte, Mobile</span> Archaeological site in Alabama, United States

Fort Charlotte, Mobile is a partially-reconstructed 18th-century fort in Mobile, Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookley Air Force Base</span>

Brookley Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Mobile, Alabama. After it closed in 1969, it became what is now known as the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Tombecbe</span> United States historic place

Fort Tombecbe, also spelled Tombecbee and Tombeché, was a stockade fort located on the Tombigbee River near the border of French Louisiana, in what is now Sumter County, Alabama. It was constructed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1736–1737 as trading post about 270 miles (430 km) upriver from Mobile, on an 80-foot (24 m) limestone bluff. Fort Tombecbe was built in Choctaw lands and would play a major role in colonial France's efforts to stop British intrusions into the area. Bienville claimed that the new fort was to protect the Choctaw from the Chickasaw. In May of 1736, Bienville, along with a force of 600 soldiers combined with a force of 600 Choctaw warriors, set out from Fort Tombecbe and attacked the Chickasaw near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi at the Battle of Ackia. Tombecbe was a major French outpost and trade depot among the Choctaw, the largest Native American group in the colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Maurepas</span> 1699 French settlement in southeastern USA

Fort Maurepas, later known as Old Biloxi, was developed in colonial French Louisiana in April 1699 along the Gulf of Mexico . Fort Maurepas was designated temporarily as the capital of Louisiana in 1699. The capital was moved from Biloxi to Mobile in 1710, then to New Orleans in 1723 on the Mississippi River. Government buildings in the latter city were still under construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bienville Square</span> City park in Mobile, Alabama

Bienville Square is a historic city park in the center of downtown Mobile, Alabama. Bienville Square was named for Mobile's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. It takes up the entire block bordered by the streets of Dauphin, Saint Joseph, Saint Francis, and North Conception.

Joseph Nicholas Langan (1912–2004) was an American lawyer, soldier and Democratic politician who served in both houses of the Alabama legislature and became known for his progressive policies in Mobile, Alabama following his military service in World War II. After becoming one of only two legislators to oppose the Boswell Amendment to restrict African-American suffrage, Langan failed to win re-election to the Alabama Senate. Undeterred, Langan won election and re-election to the Mobile City Commission, his native city's three-member governing body. Thus he also served several one-year terms as Mayor of Mobile, an office rotated among the three commissioners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile, Alabama</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile, Alabama.

The Pensacola were a Native American people who lived in the western part of what is now the Florida Panhandle and eastern Alabama for centuries before first contact with Europeans until early in the 18th century. They spoke a Muskogean language. They are the source of the name of Pensacola Bay and the city of Pensacola. They lived in the area until the mid-18th century, but were thereafter assimilated into other groups.

The Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission is a multiple property submission of Roman Catholic properties in Mobile, Alabama, that were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places. The submission covers cemetery, church, convent and other religious properties that are historically or architecturally significant.

Antoine Le Moyne de Châteauguay was a French soldier and colonial administrator who assisted in the foundation of the French colony of Louisiana in 1699–1702. He served in various posts in Mobile, Louisiana and Martinique. He was governor of Cayenne from 1738 to 1743, then governor of Île Royale from 1745.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French Louisianians</span> Ethnic group

The French Louisianians, also known as Louisiana French, are Latin French people native to the states that were established out of French Louisiana. They are commonly referred to as French Creoles. Today, the most famous Louisiana French groups are the Alabama Creoles, Louisiana Creoles, and the Missouri French.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Encyclopedia of Alabama", 1998, Somerset Publishers, Inc., St. Clair Shores, MI, pages 55-57.
  2. 1 2 The Seven Years' War (aka French and Indian War) began in 1756 and ended in 1763, with Mobile ceded to Britain, while land west of the Mississippi plus New Orleans had been ceded to Spain; see: Treaty of Paris (1763).
  3. U.S. History, Retrieved May 5, 2007
  4. 1 2 Thomason (2001) , pp. 7–14
  5. 1 2 "The Old Mobile Project Newsletter" (PDF). University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  6. 1 2 3 Higginbotham (1977) , pp. 106–107
  7. 1 2 3 Thomason (2001) , pp. 20–21
  8. Thomason (2001) , pp. 17–27
  9. 1 2 3 "Other Locations: Historic Fort Conde" (history), Museum of Mobile, Mobile, Alabama, 2006, webpage:MoM-Other
  10. 1 2 3 4 Thomason (2001) , pp. 30–32
  11. "Historic Fort Conde". Museum of Mobile. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  12. "Stars and Stripes Raised in Mobile". Archives.state.al.us. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  13. "Mobile, Alabama". US-History.com. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  14. 1 2 Thomason (2001) , p. 67
  15. Thomason (2001) , p. 153
  16. Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama by Walter Lynwood Fleming pg. 411
  17. Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama by Walter Lynwood Fleming pg. 481-482
  18. "William Darrah 'Pig Iron' Kelley".
  19. Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama by Walter Lynwood Fleming pg. 482
  20. 1 2 Thomason (2001) , pp. 127–137
  21. 1 2 3 Thomason (2001) , pp. 154–169
  22. Kenneth A. Robinson, Port City Crusader: John LeFlore and the Non-Partisan Voters League in Mobile, Alabama (2013).
  23. 1 2 3 4 Thomason (2001) , pp. 213–217
  24. Rogers, Alabama pp 510-523.
  25. Allen Cronenberg, Forth to the Mighty Conflict: Alabama and World War II (University of Alabama Press, 2003) pp 19-59.
  26. Allen Cronenberg, Forth to the Mighty Conflict: Alabama and World War II (2003) pp 60-93.
  27. Thomason (2001) , pp. 7260–261
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 Thomason (2001) , pp. 271–275
  29. 1 2 "Mobile W Title of All American City". City of Mobile. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  30. 1 2 ""2005 State of the City" "". City of Mobile. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  31. "Austal USA, Mobile AL Construction Record". The Colton Company. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  32. "Powerful Hurricane Ivan Slams the IS Central Gulf Coast as an Upper Category-3 Storm". National Weather Service Forecast Office Mobile/Pensacola. Archived from the original on 2004-09-23. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
  33. "Extremely Powerful Hurricane Katrina leaves a Historic Mark on the Gulf Coast". National Weather Service Forecast Office Mobile/Pensacola. Archived from the original on 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
  34. "Dean Congratulates Sam Jones, First Black Mayor of Mobile, Alabama on Victory". "Democrats.org. 2005-09-16. Archived from the original on 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
  35. "New Master Plan Coming for Mobile". City of Mobile. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28.

Further reading

  • Bergeron Jr, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile (LSU Press, 2000).
  • Bivens, Shawn A. Mobile, Alabama's People of Color: A Tricentennial History, 1702–2002 (2004).
  • Burnett, Lonnie A. The Pen Makes a Good Sword: John Forsyth of the Mobile Register (U of Alabama Press, 2006); newspaper editor
  • Cronenberg, Allen. Forth to the Mighty Conflict: Alabama and World War II (University of Alabama Press, 2003.
  • Doss, Harriet E. Amos. Cotton City: Urban Development in Antebellum Mobile (U of Alabama Press, 2001).
  • Doyle, Don H. New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860–1910 (1990)
  • Fitzgerald, Michael R. Urban Emancipation: Popular Politics in Reconstruction Mobile, 1860–1890. (2002). 301 pp.  ISBN   0-8071-2837-6.
    • Fitzgerald, Michael W. "Railroad Subsidies and Black Aspirations: The Politics of Economic Development in Reconstruction Mobile, 1865-1879." Civil War History 39.3 (1993): 240–256.
  • Gould, Elizabeth Barrett. From Fort to Port: An Architectural History of Mobile, Alabama, 1711-1918 (1988)
  • Green, Hilary. Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865–1890 (Fordham UP, 2016); case studies of Richmond, Virginia, and Mobile. online review
  • Higginbotham, Jay (1977). Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Museum of the City of Mobile. ISBN   0-914334-03-4.
  • Kirkland, Scotty E. Pink Sheets and Black Ballots: Politics and Civil Rights in Mobile, Alabama, 1945–1985. (MA thesis, University of South Alabama, 2009). online; bibliography pp 205–17
  • McLaurin, Melton Alonza, and Michael Thomason. Mobile, the Life and Times of a Great Southern City: An Illustrated History (Windsor Publications, 1981).
  • Padgett, Charles S. ""Without Hysteria or Unnecessary Disturbance": Desegregation at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, 1948–1954." History of Education Quarterly 41.2 (2001): 167–188.
  • Pride, Richard A. The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954–97 (2002).
  • Roberts, L. Craig. Mardi Gras in Mobile (The History Press, 2015).
  • Robinson, Kenneth A. Port City Crusader: John LeFlore and the Non-Partisan Voters League in Mobile, Alabama (2013).
  • Rogers. William Warren et al. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (2018)
  • Sledge, John S. The Mobile River (U of South Carolina Press, 2015).
  • Thomason, Michael, ed. (2001). Mobile: the New History of Alabama's First City. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN   0-8173-1065-7.

Older histories