Alabama and the Borderlands: From Prehistory to Statehood

264 Pages·1985·19.9 MB·English

by  Reid Badger

Alabama and the Borderlands
Alabama
Edited by
R. REID BADGER and LAWRENCE A. CLAYTON
A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication
and the Borderlands
From Prehistory to Statehood
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Copyright © 1985 by
The University of Alabama Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Alabama and the borderlands.
Essays evolved from a symposium held at the University of
Alabama, Sept. 1981, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Alabama-History-To 1819-Congresses. 2. Indians of North
America-Alabama-History-Congresses.
I. Badger, R. Reid. II. Clayton, Lawrence A.
III. University of Alabama. College of Arts and Sciences.
F326·5·A39 1985 976.1 83-17957
ISBN 0-8173-0208-5
0-8173-1277 -3 (pbk: alk. paper)
Contents
Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction
I
Part I The Prehistoric Background 14
I Richard A. Krause
Trends and Trajectories in American Archaeology:
Some Questions about the Mississippian Period
in Southeastern Prehistory I?
2 James B. Griffin
Changing Concepts of the Prehistoric Mississippian
Cultures of the Eastern United States 40
3 Bruce D. Smith
Mississippian Patterns of Subsistence and
Settlement 64
Part II The Age of Exploration 81
4 John H. Parry
Early European Penetration of Eastern
North America 83
CONTENTS
5 Jeffrey P. Brain
The Archaeology of the Hernando de Soto
Expedition 96
6 Chester B. DePratter, Charles M. Hudson,
and Marvin T. Smith
The Hernando de Soto Expedition: From Chiaha
to Mabila ro8
7 Charles H. Fairbanks
From Exploration to Settlement:
Spanish Strategies for Colonization I28
Part III Colonization and Conflict 141
8 Wilcomb E. Washburn
The Southeast in the Age of Conflict and
Revolution 143
9 Eugene Lyon
Continuity in the Age of Conquest: The
Establishment of Spanish Sovereignty in the
Sixteenth Century 154
10 William S. Coker and Hazel P. Coker
The Siege of Mobile, 1780, in Maps 162
II Michael C. Scardaville
Approaches to the Study of the
Southeastern Borderlands 184
Notes 197
Bibliography 223
Contributors 238
Index 241
vi
Illustrations
Reconstruction of the Gypsy Joint Site 15
Distribution of Middle Mississippi Valley Group of Aboriginal
Pottery 46
Main Features of a River-Valley Floodplain 66
Seasonal Utilization of Wild and Domesticated Food Sources
by Mississippian Groups 73
Distribution of a Mississippian Population within a
River-Valley Floodplain 76
Reconstruction of the Powers Fort Site 78
Hernando de Soto Claiming the Mississippi 8
I
Official Route of the De Soto Expedition Commission,
Superimposed on Amalgamated Field of Alternate
Hypotheses 98
Some Probable Hernando de Soto Artifacts 104
Distribution of Clarksdale Bells 106
Zimmerman's Island, 1925 II2
Zimmerman's Island, Enlargement 3
I I
ILLUSTRATIONS
Chief Coosa Welcomes the Hernando de Soto
Expedition 119
Hernando de Soto's Expedition: Chiaha to Mabila 125
The Hernando de Soto Expedition Encounters
Chief Tascaluza 135
Bernardo de Galvez 141
Preparations for the Mobile Campaign, August 17, 1779-
January II, 1780 169
Expedition Sails from New Orleans to Mobile, January 12-
February 9, 1780 171
Expedition Puts In at Mobile Pass, February 9-17, 1780 173
Reinforcements from Havana and Move to First Spanish
Encampment, February 18-25, 1780 175
Preliminary Negotiations with British and Move to Second
Spanish Encampment, February 26-MaIch 5, 1780 177
Reinforcements from Pensacola and Construction of Spanish
Battery, MaIch 5-11, 1780 179
BombaIdment and SUIrender of Fort ChaIlotte and Arrival
and DepartUIe of Spanish Fleet, March 12-May 20, 1780 181
viii
Preface
This book was born of a concern with Alabama's past
and the need to explore and explain that legacy, so often hidden by
the veils of time, ignorance, or misunderstanding. In I98I The
University of Alabama celebrated its I50th anniversary, and each
College contributed to the celebration by sponsoring a special sym
posium. The College of Arts and Sciences decided to bring together
the nation's leading scholars on the prehistory and early history of
Alabama and the Southeastern United States, and for two memora
ble days in September I98I several hundred interested listeners
heard those scholars present their interpretations of Alabama's
remarkable past.
The organizers of the symposium deliberately chose to focus on
Alabama's history before statehood. Alabama as a constituent state
of the Old South is well known. Alabama as a home of Indian
cultures and civilizations of a high order, as an object of desire,
exploration, and conquest in the sixteenth century, and as a border
land disputed by rival European nationalities for almost 300 years is
less well known. We trust the following essays prove as interesting,
enlightening, and provocative to the casual reader as to the profes
sional scholar, for we intended to reach for Everyman's attention in
exploring among the artifacts and documents that reveal the reali
ties and romance of that older Alabama.
The College of Arts and Sciences symposium, "Alabama and the