“As far back as history reaches we have stories of the Indians who roamed the woodlands of
what is now Alabama and of their meetings just north of the Daphne of today. It was there
that the Tensaws, the Alabamas, and later the Choctaws, the Creeks and the Seminoles,
were to meet and plan, in their respective ages, the relationships of their tribes. It was there
that the French in the days of Fort de la Mobile reconnoitered and planned for their overland
trips to Fort Toulouse and other mountain fortresses from Quebec to the Gulf. …. It was
there that the Spanish Cavaliers bivouackes, as they journeyed to Spanish Fort, only a few
miles to the north. It was there that Andrew Jackson held his last council prior to marching
upon Pensacola. It was there that a little city with homes of comfort, well laid out streets
and lawns, where pioneer settlers dwelt, was built beside the sea a hundred years ago. It
was there that Farragut’s men landed the troops to join and re-enforce those who marched
overland to capture Spanish Fort and Blakeley just to the north. It was there that yellow
fever, more than a hundred years ago, laid waste those happy homes. And it was there than
an old city lies obliterated by the passing of the century.”
