Fort Stoddert (Mount Vernon, Alabama)
Mount Vernon · Alabama · Creek War
History & Significance
Congress created the Mississippi Territory and ordered the U.S. Army to establish posts along the new boundary for protection of settlers and collection of customs duties; in July 1799, Fort Stoddert was established at Ward's Bluff on the Mobile River. The stockade fort served as the southwestern terminus of the Federal Road running through Creek lands to Fort Wilkinson in Georgia.
Located six miles north of the 31st Parallel, it functioned as a port of entry for trade goods and customs collection, as well as a post office and Court of Admiralty administering maritime justice for the Tombigbee District. Early in 1811, John Hood and Samuel Miller brought a printing press to the fort and published The Mobile Centinel, the first newspaper in what would become Alabama, from May 23, 1811 to June 6, 1812.
In February 1807, Captain Edmund P. Gaines arrested former Vice President Aaron Burr near the fort for treason and held him prisoner. In early September 1813, the fort sheltered thousands of refugees displaced by the destruction of Fort Mims at the beginning of the Creek War. By the end of 1814, Fort Stoddert no longer functioned as a military post, though the name continued to apply to the civilian community that had grown around the fort.
Key Facts
Map
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Sources
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=149312
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stoddert
- https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/fort-stoddert/
- https://jmb005.wixsite.com/creekwarandwarof1812/fort-stoddert