The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-18
Fertilization Built in
 TIA.
BienviIIe Laid Foundation of sfruct- pre New In Ruins, onee An out- post of Army of ClvilisA
 tfon.
nY MIL .. snEEnAN.

BK WILL T. .sExEEHAN.
 Fort Jackson, Alabama, known to the French at Fort Toulose, A1abama's ear Hest sentinel of civilization out from the gulf coast has been left dead, and all but forgotten.
 With Fort J Jackson thrown outas its furthermost sentinel, the army Of civilization forgot it's faithful soldier. marched by and around 1t leaving 1t to death and decay.
 So today Fort Jackson lies dead be- yond hope of resurrection, where the Tallapoosa joins the Coosa, scant eight miles from the teeming city of Montgomery. Its loneliness Is the loneliness of the tomb. The ancient graveyard half a mile away Is no Ion- Her or more solemn than the old earth work bastions. hidden in a clump of trees. which has helped time in It's all most successful task of burying the Sort from the eyes of men. In the centre of q splendid plateau Between the two eternal rivers, the old fort. where men lived, loved and fought, is now only a collection of hillocks, mounds and ditches. As far as the eye can reach no human beings live. The old fort Is dead under the clump of trees beyond all hope of resurrection. And yet the flags of three nations have doated over it. In and out of its gates, French, English and American soldiers have passed, going in to take possession, and coming out to aban- don it. It was the pawn of two Euro pean governments--the strength and reliance of the French, and the menace and the danger of the English. In the chanceIIeries of two great nations the existence of this Alabama fort was thing of grave concern and consid- eration.
 History and romance giid this de- serted old fortifcation. The loves of man and maid it has seen, murder was done In it's aarthern walls, and treach- cry has done it's wfetched work under it's walls. As lonely and as far remov- ed as 1t is today from life and man. kind. it has seen mankind at It's best and worst, humanity at its strongest and it's weakest.
 Bnilt By Blenvipe.
 The fort was built In F7i4 by Bien- sville, and in solemn religious services dedicated to the honor and glory of King Louis, the magnificent, of France. It remained a French fort until 1763, when with the cession of what Is now AEabama by the French to the English. the fort was taken in charge by the British government
 With the withdrawal of the French from this section the old fort lost Its 
 diers guarded 1t only for a short while. The red coated soldiers moved out and left 1t for all time.
 Colonel Willeth a secret agent of the American government visited the Up- per Creeks around Wetumpka in 1790, and while stepping at the house Of Alexander McGNlivray in Little Tal- lassee he mounted a horse and rode to take a look at the old fort. In that day, May 1, 1790 as he writes in an account of his journeys, the old fort was abandoned. in ruins and about to lose it's identity,
 Jackson, when he marched through Alabama In the Indian war of 1874 re- stored tha old fort and remounted the eight ancient cannon left there by the .FrenchsY The garrison left there by Jackson remained only a short while. They remained long enough, however, for several American soldiers and off, cers to die and be buried in the old wooded cemetery, half a mile away.
 These bodies were removed by ths American government from the lonely cemetery and buried at Mobile. The contract for this work was let to Tom Williams of Wetumpka, who opened the old graves and took from them the bones they had contained for nearly a century. Mr. Williams and his work men found only a few bones, some teeth and few buttons in each grave. These were carefully put away in boxes which were given an hoRorable burial by the American government. The grave Of Major strather, a Vir- ginian, buried in the old cemeteFy was with a stone, with his name and rank upon it. The stone was brought to Montgomery and Is an Ob- ject of interest to all who care for the historical.
 OnIy One Known Grave.
 The single known tenant of this old graveyard now is Isaac Ross, pio- neer and wealthy citizen of Alabama who was the grandfather of ex-Mayor John G. CFommelin and the late HenrS His grave to this day bears a marble slab with his name cut in 1t and the. date of hIs death. Janu- ary 2l. 1921. Tn the hedge that sur 1t in the old graveyard, are the holes that mark the old graves from which the bones or the American soldiers were taken.
 In this removal of it's olden dead, the last chapter of Fort Jackson was written--unless Alabama should be- come aroused to the wealth of her his torie interest to restore and protect the old fort.
 The remains of the old fort are upon land which belongs to Judge Gaddis of A mile further away from the river in a pine wood Is the site of what was to have been a pros perous Alabama town--the town of Fort Jackson. But Fort Jackson fail ed tO realize the dreams of it's found CTS. and, today it, is as much a place of fields and woods as it was when the town was platted and the lots were offered for sale to Alabama pioneers. There are a couple of wells, some chinaberry trees, always an evidence that civilization had been where they were found, a few bricks, and Judge Gaddis. with the owners of the Crom- melin place, which joins, pay taxes on lots in the town of Fort Jackson" These only are the evidences of the old town which was founded in hope. but which, like old Augusta, not far away. died to make Montgomery great.
 What of the fort in November. 1906, l92 years after It's foundatoin?
 The Fort Today.
 It's remains are definite and tangi- ble. But 1t was not built of stones, and while its central depression ts easily located, together with its round magazine, all its outlines are not so clear Tn his excellent history of 'co- loniaI Mobile" Peter J. Hamilton gives a history of the fort. to which he de-