Fort Toulouse: the French outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa

261 Pages·1989·1.23 MB·English

by  Daniel H. Thomas

Fort Toulouse : The French Outpost At the
title: Alabamas On the Coosa Library of
Alabama Classics
author: Thomas, Daniel H.
publisher: University of Alabama Press
isbn10 | asin: 0817304215
print isbn13: 9780817304218
ebook isbn13: 9780585207858
language: English
Fort Toulouse Site (Ala.) , French--
Alabama--History--18th century, Alabama--
subject
History--To 1819, Wetumpka Region (Ala.)-
-Antiquities, Alabama--Antiquities.
publication date: 1989
lcc: F334.F76T46 1989eb
ddc: 976.1/52
Fort Toulouse Site (Ala.) , French--
Alabama--History--18th century, Alabama--
subject:
History--To 1819, Wetumpka Region (Ala.)-
-Antiquities, Alabama--Antiquities.
Page i
Fort Toulouse
Page ii
The Library of Alabama Classics,
reprint editions of works important
to the history, literature, and culture of
Alabama, is dedicated to the memory of
Rucker Agee
whose pioneering work in the fields
of Alabama history and historical geography
continues to be the standard of
scholarly achievement.
Page iii
Fort Toulouse
The French Outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa
Daniel H. Thomas
with an Introduction by
Gregory A. Waselkov
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa and London
Page iv
Introduction Copyright © 1989 by The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487 All rights reserved Manufactured in the
United States of America
"Fort Toulouse: The French Outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa,"
by Daniel H. Thomas, is published courtesy of Alabama State
Department of Archives and History. It appeared originally in the Fall
1960 issue of The Alabama Historical Quarterly, published by the
Alabama State Department of Archives and History.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomas, Daniel H.
Fort Toulouse : the French outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa/
by Daniel H. Thomas; with an introduction by Gregory Waselkov.
p. cm.(The Library of Alabama classics)
"Appeared originally in the Fall 1960 issue of the Alabama
historical quarterly"T.p. verso.
Bibliography: p.
ISBN 0-8173-0421-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Fort Toulouse Site (Ala.) 2. FrenchAlabamaHistory18th
century. 3. AlabamaHistoryTo 1819. 4. Wetumpka Region (Ala.)
Antiquities. 5. AlabamaAntiquities. I. Title. II. Series.
F334.F76T46 1989
976.1'52dc19 88-17529
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98
Page v
CONTENTS
Introduction: Recent Archaeological and Historical vii
Research
by Gregory A. Waselkov
Fort Toulouse: The French Outpost at the Alabamas on the 1
Coosa
I. The Potentialities of a Fort at the Head of the Alabama 2
River
II. Conditions and Events Leading to the Establishment 6
of the Post
III. The Construction of Fort Toulouse in 1717 10
IV. Its Military Role and History 14
V. Life on the Post 26
VI. Trade at the Alabama Post 32
VII. Fort Toulouse as a Missionary Center 38
VIII. The Fort as a Diplomatic Center 42
IX. The Show DownThe French and Indian War, 52
17541763
X. The Fort in the Treaty Negotiations 61
XI. The French Evacuation in 1763 and the British 64
Decision Not to Garrison the Fort
XII. Sequel 67
Notes 70
Page vi
Artifacts excavated from Fort Toulouse II (17511763) and contemporaneous
Indian village sites. Back: brass kettle, French lead glazed redware bowl,
pewter or latten spoon; Middle: English white clay pipe, French wine bottle,
Bohemian engraved glass tumbler (probably French); Front: French Faience
plate, iron fork with two-piece bone handle. (Courtesy of the Alabama
Historical
Commission and the Alabama Department of Archives and History;
Photograph by Paula Weiss).
Page vii
INTRODUCTION: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Gregory A. Waselkov
To the French, Fort Toulouse was simply, but emphatically, "the key
to the country." The English, who found their plans for economic and
political control of the Southeast so often thwarted there, called it the
"mischievous French garrison Alebamah[Alebámah]." And the Creek
Indians, with their genius for self-determination amid the conflicting
demands of powerful colonial neighbors, knew it as ''Franca Choka
Chula, or the old French trading house."
1 How a small, isolated, poorly supplied outpost played such a
significant and varied role in the history of the colonial Southeast has
been masterfully explored in this brief volume by Daniel H. Thomas.
The author spent his childhood in the town of Wetumpka, Alabama,
just a few miles from the site of the fort, which was a favorite fishing
spot for local boys. In 1912 his father officiated at the unveiling of a
stone historical marker placed at the site. When he later attended the
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Thomas pursued his early
interest and selected Fort Toulouse as a topic for a master's thesis,
which he completed in 1929. Thomas P. Abernethy, a student of
Frederick Jackson Turner and the author of The Formative Period in
Alabama, 18151828, directed Thomas's thesis.
This was an era of remarkable productivity for students of the French
colony of Louisiana. In 1918 the Louisiana Historical Quarterly
began a detailed calendar, in English, of the Superior Council of
Louisiana judicial records dating from 1715 to 1763, which was