Fort Bainbridge (Boromville, Alabama (Macon and Russell counties), Alabama)
Boromville, Alabama (Macon and Russell counties) · Alabama · Creek War
History & Significance
Fort Bainbridge was completed in March 1814 during the Creek War of 1813–14 on what is now the county line of Macon and Russell Counties on the Old Federal Road. Named in honor of naval captain William Bainbridge, who served under six presidents and commanded several ships including USS Constitution, the fort served a vital logistics role.
Built in the style of a bastion fort with eight points and defended by a ditch filled with pickets and a drawbridge, it allowed supply wagons to travel between Fort Mitchell and Hull in one-day intervals and was garrisoned by 100 to 300 troops. The fort was garrisoned by Tennessee militia until July 31, 1814.
After the war, the site evolved into a civilian stagecoach stop: Captain Kendall Lewis, along with his Creek chief father-in-law Big Warrior, operated a tavern about 400 yards west of Fort Bainbridge, which stayed open under Lewis's widow's care until at least 1836. The Marquis de Lafayette stayed at the Lewis Tavern for his first night in Alabama during his return tour; Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach visited during his 1826 travels. The Key family erected a mansion on the fort's site around 1857, which was deserted by 1932 when historian Peter Alexander Brannon noted that the fort "had long since been leveled."
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/fort-bainbridge/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bainbridge
- https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/fort-bainbridge/