Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

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Figure 6-13. Entrenched section of Old Federal Road north of Fort Dale, facing south, November 17,2010.Historic Sites in Butler CountyPoplar Springs/Ogly-Stroud Massacre Site. Poplar Springs, situated approximately 3 milessouth of Fort Dale, was popular with travelers on the Old Federal Road. William Ogle (also spelled Oglyand Ogley), his wife and their six children settled near the spring around 1817. At this time the area wassparsely settled, but was becoming more populated as the Old Federal Road allowed the influx of moreemigrants. In the aftermath of the Creek War, several bands of Redstick Creeks remained in this regionyears after most had retreated south to Spanish Florida. On March 6, 1818, while on his way to Claiborneto purchase provisions, William Ogle was stopped by one of these bands led by Uchee Tom. The Indiansfrightened Ogle, but let him pass without harm. Fearing for the safety of his family, Ogle purchased somecorn from a nearby famer and returned quickly to his homestead at Poplar Springs, where he alerted hisneighbors of the incident. The settlers began to prepare for trouble.On March 13, the male settlers of the district met to discuss a plan for their common defense. Onthe way home from the meeting, William came across Elias Stroud and his wife Elizabeth and child onthe Old Federal Road. The family was traveling to their home at Claiborne. William informed Elias of theIndian threat and invited the Strouds to stay the night with his family. Late that evening, the settlers heardthe sounds of Indians outside their home. Ogle grabbed his gun and went to the front door, but was147
quickly shot down. Mrs. Ogle and the elder Strouds tried to flee out the front door, but were pursued bythe Creeks. Mrs. Ogle and Mr. Stroud managed to escape unharmed. Mrs. Stroud was tomahawked, butsurvived the night. Of the seven children asleep at the time of the attack, four of the Ogle children and theStroud child were killed. The injured survivors—Elizabeth Stroud, Elizabeth Ogle and Mary Ann Ogle—were taken by neighbors via the Old Federal Road to Claiborne for medical attention. Elizabeth Strouddied along the way and is buried at Middleton Cemetery in Monroe County. Mary Ann died shortly afterreaching Claiborne. Elizabeth recovered physically, under the care of Dr. Watkins, but “never gained herright mind.” Mrs. Ogle and Mr. Stroud both remarried and had families. 3The exact site of the Ogle house is not known. The early land records do not show the propertyWilliam Ogle occupied at the time of the attack in 1818. Because of the lack of documentation concerningthe location of the house, no archaeological search was conducted for the site.The Palings Stage Stop. The name of this stand derives from English traveler Adam Hodgson’sdescription of his experiences in 1820 on the Federal Road, published in his book Letters from NorthAmerica. Travelling with companions on horseback, Hodgson crossed some beautiful prairies and spent anight at “a poor cabin just erected.” The next day they set off early, passed Pine Barren Spring, negotiatedtwo “very bad swamps,” and stopped for breakfast at a solitary “log-house, pervious to weather in alldirections.” Continuing north, Hodgson and his party “arrived in the evening at a few palings, which havedignified the place with the appellation of Fort Dale, where travelers are accommodated tolerably, on aflourishing plantation. Our landlord was an intelligent man; and among his books I saw the Bible, theKoran, a hymn book, Nicholson’s Encyclopedia, Sterne, Burns, Cowper, Coelebs, Camilla, and the Actsof the Alabama Legislature, of which he was a member.” 4The structure known as The Palings dates to around 1840. Built by a Colonel Wood as a majorstage stop on this section of the Old Federal Road, The Palings was purchased in 1857 by BenjaminLloyd, a pioneering Primitive Baptist minister who published an influential shape-note hymnal still in usetoday. Lloyd purchased a plantation and ran the hotel and was pastor of the Primitive Baptist Church inFort Dale, as well as pastor of Mount Zion Church elsewhere in the county. He died three years later. Theold structure stood in increasingly dilapidated condition (Figures 6-14 and 6-15), until it burned in 1953. 5The landowners granted us permission to survey the site. A survey is anticipated to take place in thewinter months, when vegetation will allow for better visibility of any structural remains. At theconclusion of the survey, a site card will be submitted to the Alabama State Site Files and a site numberassigned.148
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Table of ContentsList of Figures ..
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Chapter 8: Montgomery County ......
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4-1. Alabama county map highlightin
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6-7. Butler County detail of John L
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10-7. Detail of John LaTourette’s
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Chapter 1Project Goals and MethodsI
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Brief Historical BackgroundThe Old
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the road, and surveyed the relevant
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shown on historic maps, while many
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and other troop units to submit rep
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Figure 1-2. Robert Leslie Smith at
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Figure 1-5. Jeff Ross, Paul Merritt
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Figure 1-7. Annie Crenshaw, Raven C
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newly appointed Commissioner of the
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various historical sources. Phyllis
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Chapter 2Early History of the Old F
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quality stones, copper and mica fro
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would become the southern portion o
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Meigs (U.S. agent to the Cherokees)
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same instant, and the chance of dis
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In his latitude calculations Briggs
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force rapid mail service through an
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Traveling the Federal Road, 1811-18
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According to Hawkins, “Thomas Mer
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Moniac’s “Statement of property
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Federal Road west of Line Creek are
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Figure 2-7. Detail from John Melish
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and 1811 have not been found. In 18
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14 Walter Lowrie and Walter S. Fran
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56 Walter Lowrie and Walter S. Fran
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Piatt at Fort Stoddert. Piatt was i
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Figure 3-4. Detail of Abraham Bradl
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Figure 3-7. Detail of William Darby
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Figure 3-9. Detail of Fletcher Hale
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He also complained Fort Stoddert di
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command of Capt Skyler. The discipl
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Brett McWilliams, a local artifact
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now in poor condition (Figures 3-14
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Historic Sites in Washington County
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19 Gregory A. Waselkov, A Conquerin
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The Old Federal Road traversed the
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Figure 4-4. Detail of James Weakley
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The condition of the Old Federal Ro
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The Old Federal Road crosses the Ba
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Figure 4-12. A possible remnant of
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Historic Sites in Baldwin CountyFor
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Figure 4-16. View of the old Mims
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and were not accessible for revisit
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Figure 4-18. Military buttons from
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Figure 4-21. Military artifacts fro
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Figure 4-23. Tunstall house on High
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Figure 4-26. U.S. military buttons
Page 108 and 109: Historic Sites in Escambia CountyTh
Page 110 and 111: Archives, National Archives and Rec
Page 112 and 113: earlier survey. Segments of the roa
Page 114 and 115: Figure 5-5. Detail of John Melish
Page 116 and 117: Figure 5-8. Detail of John LaTouret
Page 118 and 119: Figure 5-10. Fletcher Hale’s copy
Page 120 and 121: Figure 5-13. The Old Federal Road i
Page 122 and 123: Figure 5-16. Dirt section of Conecu
Page 124 and 125: Figure 5-19. The Old Federal Road i
Page 126 and 127: The portion of the Old Federal Road
Page 128 and 129: McMillan Stage Stop. Scotsman Dunca
Page 130 and 131: Figure 5-26. Map showing McMillan
Page 132 and 133: Figure 5-27. Lowrey’s Store, Post
Page 134 and 135: Dr. Watkins’s House. Dr. John Wat
Page 136 and 137: Longmire’s Inn/Fort Warren. Sever
Page 138 and 139: not be investigated archaeologicall
Page 140 and 141: Figure 5-35. Anderson Stage Stop in
Page 142 and 143: provisions depot. However, when the
Page 144 and 145: When spring 1818 brought more murde
Page 146 and 147: Figure 5-41. William Weakley’s 18
Page 148 and 149: Figure 5-44. William Barrett Travis
Page 150 and 151: Henneberry, 1895), 241-242; Robert
Page 152 and 153: Figure 6-3. James Weakley’s 1847
Page 154 and 155: Henry Tanner’s 1823 map of Alabam
Page 156 and 157: The Old Federal Road spans the nort
Page 160 and 161: Figure 6-14. The Palings stage stop
Page 162 and 163: the county. The landowners granted
Page 164 and 165: 1 John Buckner Little, History of B
Page 166 and 167: Figure 7-2. Federal Road on Thomas
Page 168 and 169: John Melish’s 1818 map of Alabama
Page 170 and 171: Figure 7-8. Fletcher Hale’s map d
Page 172 and 173: Figure 7-11. Old Federal Road and G
Page 174 and 175: Figure 7-14. Entrenched section of
Page 176 and 177: morning salute, then turning our ca
Page 178 and 179: Chapter 8Montgomery CountyTracing t
Page 180 and 181: Figure 8-4. Old Federal Road (not l
Page 182 and 183: Figure 8-7. Detail of John Melish
Page 184 and 185: Fletcher Hale’s maps depict the o
Page 186 and 187: A short distance beyond where the G
Page 188 and 189: Where the Old Federal Road crosses
Page 190 and 191: modern Alabama place names, Opelika
Page 192 and 193: stopped “near Macnac’s” to co
Page 194 and 195: prairies which you have frequently
Page 196 and 197: Figure 8-21. Topographic map with a
Page 198 and 199: Figure 8-22. Unit 2 chronologically
Page 200 and 201: Pickett says she settled on the eas
Page 202 and 203: contained 84 gravesites dating from
Page 204 and 205: 16 Clarence Edwin Carter, The Terri
Page 206 and 207: Figure 9-2. Old Federal Road on Jam
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Figure 9-5. Detail of an anonymous
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east onto County Road 2 (Figure 9-9
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Figure 9-12. The Old Federal Road t
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Figure 9-15. Dirt segment of Boromv
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of Little Prince and Opothle Yoholo
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Redsticks, marched from the Chattah
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Figure 9-19. Fletcher Hale’s map
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Warrior’s sons-in-law Captain Wal
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Chapter 10Russell CountyTracing the
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Figure 10-3. Detail of Abraham Brad
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Figure 10-7. Detail of John LaToure
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Figure 10-10. Old Federal Road on p
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Figure 10-13. Section of Old Federa
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Figure 10-16. The Old Federal Road
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Kendall Lewis, son-in-law of Big Wa
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Fort Mitchell, Creek Agency, and An
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A National Cemetery was created at
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6 Benton, The Very Worst Road, 65-6
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The Old Federal Road RouteOur archa
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We have devoted considerable effort
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Our 1723 Chickasaw map offers a gli
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of the old-growth forests and to pl
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Figure 11-6. Detail from David Tait
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As we have seen, most Americans saw
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towns and settled for a time at Pol
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home on the left, the 1902 Hinson h
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parks or educational centers. The m
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Appendix 1Extracts from Benjamin Ha
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E. Bearing east.32 + c. r. 15/ oak
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N.EBearing northeast.36. path to th
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Course and Admeasurement2 pole Chai
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S. 61 E. 17 “N. 83 E. 7 “N. 82
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E. 16 “S. 83 E. 9 “S. 87 E. 8
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N. 34 E. 14 “N. 30 E. 16 “N. 24
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N. 64 E. 9 “N. 40 E. 9 “N. 25 E
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N. 19 E. 5 “N. 44 E. 7 “[page 5
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N. 72 E. 16 “N. 71 E. 10 “N. 79
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N. 77 E. 5 “N. 69 E. 4 “N. 64 E
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N. 36 E. 7 “N. 54 E. 9 “N. 52 E
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[page 97]N. 61˚ E. 7 Chains. The S
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N. 12 E. 7 “N. 32 E. 10 “N. 36
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N. 66˚ E. 4 ChainsN. 28 E. 7 “N.
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XIIIIIII. Prairies or Glades the qu
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N. 27 E. 1 “N. 1 W. 2 “[page 14
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No 9: Joseph Wheaton to Gideon Gran
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Blue Spruce, Duane, and Tanya Thras
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Ethridge, Robbie, Creek Country: Th
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Potter, Stephen R., and Gregory A.
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Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

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