The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-05
PIONEER DAYS
BY MARY GORDON DuFFE.

in Alabama; they came in the closing months of the seventeenth century and held possession for 65 years. And while their chief city was at Mobile, they es- tablished military and trading posts at Fort Toulouse, near the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. known in later years as Fort Jackson; at the mouth of the Cahaba river. at Jones Bluff, on the Tombeckbee. now called the Tombig- bee, river; at the site of old Saint Stephens, at the Muscle Shoals, on the Tennessee river then known as the Cher okee river, and at French Lick, now Nashville, on the Cumberland river, in Tennessee. The erection of these stations so widely apart and covering a vast ex- tent of territory were necessarily attended with perls privations, conflicts and mas sacre. With the bold and enterprising character of their race, it is probable that every section under the control of their flag was explored by their fearless traders and missionaries, and often watered by their blood. Frequent wars occurred between them and the Indian tribes. full of heroism upon the part of both. The population of their chief city, Mobile, varied in numbers from 300 to 30U0, principally engaged in mercantile avoca- tions, and maintaining constant caravans of Indian ponies laden with packs of
 
 and polite manners enabled them to easily win the esteem of their savage custom CTS, and their young men soon became as expert woodmen, hunters and trappers as the natives themselves. Many of them had been gentlemen in France some of noble origin, and nearly all had pursued military careers. Quite number of them married Indian beauties of the Alabamas and Choctaws. which formed links of amity and influence very beneficial to them in a commercial sense, and especial 1y valuable in their skirmishes, wars and captivities.
 Accompanying these trading expedi- tions, and frequently in small bands of their own sacred calling were the fearless Jesuit and barefooted Cammelite priests, threading the wilderness, bearing aloft the cross and disseminating It's doctrines among all the tribes, and these devoted missionaries 'and fearless traders were the first white men of which we possess any authentic record to penetrate all that section now known as Jones' valley and gaze upon the sleeping giant of Red noun tain who, when awakened from his slum- Der of the ages was destined to astound the world by his unlimited store of wealth On their homeward journey, ex- hausted and weary, these devout men reached Mobile by canoe from Black War rior falls (Tuscaloosa). stopping on the way at different points to hold service The great Indian trail leading from the Big spring at Huntsville to Ditto's land ing, now Whitesburg, southward. through Browns valley, Blountsville valley, Mur- phrees valley, Jones' valley, thence on- ward from the spot where Bsesemer now stands, through BucSsville and past the residence of the great and good Dr. Daniel Davis. thence onward to Tuscaloosa was marked at intervals by little mounds of earth and rocks surmounted by a wooden cross, fragments of which were found by the engineers who first sur veyed the state. Likewise upon the In dian trail leading from Talladega to Partridge's ferry. on the Warrior, via the present village of Jugtown, in Jefferson county. This was nearly direct line from east to west. Among the hills and wales of Alabama and Tennessee lie the ashes of many a gallant coureur de bois and gentle-minded missionary; the drifted leaves their bed the waving grass their cover their dying means hushed in un- broken silence, the wandering winds their requiem. From out the past there comes no voice to tell when and where they fell asleep, nor of the broken hearts they left in far-away, sunny France. Such, in all climes and ages, has been the sacrifice tndl ClNlfZdllon 1dyS upon the altar or human ambition and progress.
 Standing forth in conspicuous splen- dor and heroic mould Is the form of the chivalrous Bienville. governor for more than 40 years, justly entitled to rank as the founder of Aladama, and the father of our state.
 When the fading glories of summer had mingled with the pathos and the purple tints of autumn during the year 1763, the dominion of Mobile and it's ap- pendages in the interior passed from the control of France to that of Great Brit ain, beeing a part of the acquisition of the seven years war, which lost 10 France so much of her possessions in North America. The newly acquired ter ritory was made a part of West Florida. with George Johnston. a captain in the navy, as governor. On the 20th of Oc- tober, 1783, Mobile was taken possession of by Major Robert Farmer, as the agent of the king. From Pensacola, by way of the bay, came a regiment of Scotch Highlanders to garrison Fort Condo, the citadel built by the French. The act of transfer was signalized by appropriate military ceremonies As the lilies of Saint Derrys were lowered from the flagstaff of Fort Condo, and the lion of Saint George elevated in their stead. the Scottish bag-pipes sounded the national anthem of England and a feu-de-joie announced that the name of the fortress, in compliment to the Queen of Great Britain. was changed to Fort Charlotte. For purposes of civil Jurisdiction. that portion of the province west of the Perdido river, extending as far as Pearl river was erected into 8 county called after the same Princess Charlotte county and judicial and min fSterial officers appointed
 The period of British possession em- braces 20 years, very momentous to our nation as they covered the era of the American revolution. We have but little information as to the condition and pro- gress of affairs in either Mobile or the interior while the dynasty of the British lasted, for when they evacuated the province they carried with them all the documents referring to their administra- tion, and deposited them in Somerset House, London. where, according to Surveyor General Vincent Pfntardo, they were to be found in the year 1S17 and doubtless still remain To us of this day and generation, much of importance that occurred in the annals of our state is now sealed volume
 Judged by the opinion of his contem- poraries, the first British Governor of Alabama, Major Robert Farmer, seems to have been man of marked peculiar ities of character. According to one, Frenchman of high standing, Monsieur Aubry, who. writing to the French gov ernment from New Orleans under date of May 18th, 1765 says: ''The corres- pondence which I am obliged to have with the English who write to me from all parts and particularly with the gov ayr, of. Mohf1a pfuaa mo