ALABAMA
US STATE OF ALABAMA
The area of what was to become Alabama was originally part of the US Territory of the Mississippi established in 1798/1801. It remained however mainly Native American country until the defeat of the Creek at Hosreshoe Bend in 1814 and the subsequent arrival of the first important groups of white settlers. (1) In 1817 the region was detached from the Mississippi Territory and organized as a separate US Territory of Alabama, which two years later became a State of the Union. (1) Most Native Americans were relocated to Indian Territory in the 1830's. The main remaining group were the Poarch Creek, allies of the US during the war of 1814. __________________________________________________________________________________STATE OFFICERS
Governors 1847 - 1849 Reuben Chapman 1799 - 1882 1849 - 1853 Henry Watkins Collier 1801 - 1855 1853 - 1857 John Anthony Winston 1812 - 1871 1857 - 1861 Andrew Barry Moore, continued in office as governor of the Confederate State of Alabama 1807 - 1873
ALABAMA 1861 - 1868 : CONFEDERATION AND RECONSTRUCTION
Chronology (See also CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA - to be added) 1861 Jan 11 : Alabama seceded from the Union. (1) Feb 08 : Alabama became a founding member of the Confederate States of America. 1862 Apr 11 : Brief occupation (until Aug) of parts of Northern Alabama by Union forces. [Comm.: MajGen. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchell (1809 - 1862), subordinated to the Army and Union Department of the Mississippi]. 1865 Mar 18 : Major Union offensive ending with the occupation of the capital Montgomery (Apr 12). Alabama came under the authority of the Union commander in the area. Jun 21 : Restoration of civilian rule under Union occupation (first under the Union Department of Alabama until 1866, then under the Union Department of the South) 1866 Dec 07 : Alabama rejected the Fourteenth Amendent of the US Constitution, providing citizenship to - and protection of - the freed slaves. 1867 Mar 02 : As a consequence of this rejection, the state was placed under direct Union military rule. (1) "The Free State of Winston" When Alabama seceded the inhabitants of its northern counties (Cullman, Franklin, Lawrence, Walker, Winston, ...) who didn't possess slaves showed no enthusiasm at all and actually prefered to remain loyal to the Union. Consequently delegates of the counties gathered on Jul 04 1861 at Houston, the seat of the County of Winston and issued a proclamation whereby they rejected secession and proclaimed the neutrality of the hills and mountains of Northwest Alabama during the war. Although the proclamation had no further consequences, the situation in the region - sometimes nicknamed "Free State of Winston" by the Confederates - remained tense for the rest of the war - especially after the introduction of conscription by the Confederate authorities in 1862 - and many Loyalists (or Tories) joined the Union army. The principal leader of the movement was Charles Christopher "Chris" Sheats (1839 - 1904) __________________________________________________________________________________STATE OFFICERS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATE OF ALABAMA 1861 - 1865
Governors 1861 Andrew Barry Moore s.a. 1861 - 1863 John Gil Shorter 1818 - 1872 1863 - 1865 Thomas Hill Watts, arrested by the Union authorities 1819 - 1892 __________________________________________________________________________________ADMINISTRATORS UNDER UNION OCCUPATION AND RECONSTRUCTION 1865 - 1868
(for more on the Union administrative structure and offices in the occupied South see : The Confederate States of America : Union occupation and Reconstruction - to be added) UNION MILITARY COMMANDERS AND ADMINISTRATORS Commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Union Military Division of the Mississippi (de facto administrator of most of occupied Alabama until the restoration of civil rule in Jun - subordinated to the Union Military Division of the Mississippi) 1865 MajGen. James Harrison Wilson 1837 - 1925 A separate "Reconstruction" Union Department of Alabama was established in 1865. Commander of the Union Department of Alabama (subordinated to the Union Military Division of the Tennessee) 1865 - 1866 MajGen. Charles Robert Woods 1827 - 1885 In 1866 - 1867 Alabama was briefly part of the Union Department of the South and thereafter - until 1868 - of the 3rd Military District. Commander of the Union District of Alabama (= de facto military governor, directly supervising the whole state administration) 1867 - 1868 BrigGen. Wager Swayne 1834 - 1902 Assistant Commissioners of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (The "Freedmen's Bureau" was concerned with the general welfare of the freed black slaves - especially with their education - and with their integration in the postwar society) 1865 - 1868 BrigGen. Wager Swayne s.a. 1858 BrigGen. Julius Hayden 1820 - 1875 1868 Col. Oliver Lathrop Shepherd 1815 - 1868 Col. Thomas Howard Ruger 1833 - 1907 1868 - 1869 Col. Edwin Beecher STATE OFFICERS Governors 1865 Lewis Eliphalet Parsons, provisional governor appointed by the US president 1817 - 1895 1865 - 1868 Robert Miller Patton (2) 1809 - 1885 (2) After 1867 Patton formally continued in office under Union military rule, but only as a powerless figurehead.
US STATE OF ALABAMA
On Jul 13 1868 Alabama finally ratified the 14th Amendment and was readmitted into the Union. (1) (1) The State remained however under Union military occupation - as part of the Union Department of the South - until 1877. __________________________________________________________________________________STATE OFFICERS
Governors 1868 - 1870 William Hugh Smith 1826 - 1899 1870 - 1872 Robert Burns Lindsay 1824 - 1902 1872 - 1874 David Peter Lewis 1820 - 1884 1874 - 1878 George Smith Houston 1811 - 1879 1878 - 1882 Rufus Wills Cobb 1829 - 1913 1882 - 1886 Edward Ashbury O'Neal 1818 - 1890 1886 - 1890 Thomas Seay 1846 - 1896 1890 - 1894 Thomas Goode Jones 1844 - 1914 1894 - 1896 William Calvin Oates 1835 - 1910 1896 - 1900 Joseph Forney Johnston 1843 - 1913 1900 - 1901 William James Samford 1844 - 1901 Acting Governor during the illness of Governor Samford 1900 William Dorsey Jelks 1855 - 1931 1901 - 1907 William Dorsey Jelks s.a. Acting Governor during the illness of Governor Jelks 1904 - 1905 Russell McWhorter Cunningham 1855 - 1922 1907 - 1911 Braxton Bragg Comer 1848 - 1927 1911 - 1915 Emmett O'Neal 1853 - 1922 1915 - 1919 Charles Henderson 1860 - 1937 1919 - 1923 Thomas Erby Kilby 1865 - 1943 1923 - 1927 William Woodward Brandon 1868 - 1934 Acting Governor during the absence of Governor Brandon 1924 Charles Samuel McDowell Jr. 1871 - 1927 - 1931 Bibb Graves 1873 - 1942 1931 - 1935 Benjamin Meek Miller 1864 - 1944 1935 - 1939 Bibb Graves (2x) 1939 - 1943 Frank Murray Dixon 1892 - 1965 1943 - 1947 George Chauncey Sparks 1884 - 1968
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