This section chronicles adventures away from home and includes some Americana.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

In March 1814, General Jackson's army left Fort Williams on the Coosa, cut a 52-mile trail through the forest in three days, and on the 26th made camp six miles north of Horseshoe Bend. The next morning, Jackson sent General John Coffee and 700 mounted infantry and 600 Cherokee and Lower Creek allies three miles down-stream to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the bend. He took the rest of the army - about 2000 men, consisting of East and West Tennessee militia and the Thirty-ninth U.S. Infantry - into the peninsula and at 10:30 a.m. began an ineffectual two-hour artillery bombardment of the Red Sticks' log barricade. At noon, some of Coffee's Cherokees crossed the river and assaulted the Red Sticks from the rear. Jackson quickly ordered a frontal bayonet charge, which poured over the barricade. Fighting ranged over the south end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.

Though the Red Sticks had been crushed at Tohopeka, the remnants of the hostile Creeks held out for several months. In August 1814, exhausted and starving, they surrendered to Jackson at Wetumpka, near the present city of Montgomery, Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson ending the conflict required the Creeks to cede some 20 million acres of land - more than half of their ancestral territorial holdings - to the United States. The state of Alabama was carved out of this domain and admitted to the Union in 1819.

In 1829, partly as a result of his fame from the battles of Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States; a year later he signed the Indian Removal Bill forcing all the tribes east of the Mississippi River to move to Oklahoma, a journey the Cherokees called the "Trail of Tears." The Southeast, cleared of most Indians and free from the threat of foreign intervention, thus became part of the United States and was opened for settlement.

Miller Covered Bridge

Miller Covered Bridge (10 Photos)

Prior to 1908 the only way that a traveler could cross the Tallapoosa River between New Site and Dadeville was by way of the Miller Ferry. The ferry, was located just a few yards downstream from the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa.


Make our past a part of your future...


Selma, Alabama offers visitors a rare combination of gracious Southern hospitality and extraordinary history that make for an unforgettable visit.

When it comes to history, few can compete.

With over 185 years of important events, from before the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era, Selma is the place where the past comes to life. Selma boasts the state's largest historic district, over 1,250 structures. Our museums, historic sites and streets paved in local legend offer a golden opportunity to uncover the South's rich heritage.

Come take part in a time of pageantry.

Relive the past in Selma, "Queen City of the Blackbelt," through our magnificent architecture. Tour a columned antebellum mansion, such as Sturdivant Hall. Take a leisurely driving tour along our shady streets. Written guides reveal the stories of Victorian cottages, Italianate and Gothic estates and great ancestral homes, some moved by oxcart from nearby Cahawba, the state's first capital. Many are open for tours during The Annual Spring Pilgrimage. Then visit the Riverfront District's restored storefronts and warehouses, antique shops, museums and restaurants.

Remember a battle between states.

As one of the South's major munitions and supply centers during the Civil War, Selma saw firsthand the drama of the War Between the States. Museums around town display important artifacts and documents from the period, while the battlefield marking the fateful last stand of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops lies nearby. Each April, visitors can see Union and Confederate forces clash in a gripping reenactment of the decisive battle.

See the struggle for freedom's prize: the right to vote.

During the turbulent 1960's, Selma was a focal point for the American Voting Rights Movement. Come see Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the other landmarks where heroes struggled to win voting rights. Among the museums and memorials, you'll want to visit the National Voting Rights Museum and the Old Depot Museum and take the Martin Luther King, Jr. Street Walking Tour.

Montgomery Biscuits



Riverwalk Stadium Gameday Information

Park Owner: City of Montgomery
Architect: HOK Sports, Kansas City, MO
First Pitch: April 16, 2004
Park Dimensions: LF 314'; LC 380'; CF 401'; RC 377'; RF 332'
Wall Height: LF-LC: 13' 9 ¾"; CF-RC: 8'; RF 9'
Capacity: 7,000
Directions: Take I-65 to exit #172, just North of junction with I-85; proceed East on Herron St.; Herron St. becomes Bibb St.; take Bibb for approx. ½ mile; turn left on Coosa St.


= Executive Box Seats

= Super Box Seats

= Box Seats

= Lawn Seating

= Suite Level

Full Seating Chart


This shot shows the old train station that fans enter through when attending a Biscuits game.

Tuskegee Institute

Header: Legends of Tuskegee

Title: Introduction


Who are the Legends of Tuskegee and what do they have in common? Booker Taliafero Washington, George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen all came to Tuskegee and created their own legends. Tuskegee is more than a town located in Macon County, Alabama. It is an idea and an ideal. It was a bold experiment and a site of major African-American achievements for over 100 years.

Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. Washington (1856-1915)
It was at Tuskegee, in the heart of the American South, that Washington founded the "Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers." He built the school (later known as Tuskegee Institute) into a major center for African-American education. He brought the best and brightest African Americans to work with him to fulfill his mission of educating African Americans for self-sufficiency. Washington and Tuskegee Institute became a major political force in America.

George Washington CarverGeorge Washington Carver (circa 1864-1943)
Hired in 1896 by Booker T. Washington to teach agriculture at Tuskegee, Carver spent over 40 years on the Tuskegee campus. An inspired teacher, Carver taught many generations of Tuskegee students. He was committed to increasing African-American farmers' economic independence. Tuskegee Institute became synonymous with Carver and his innovative research on Southern crops and farming methods.

Tuskegee Airmen Tuskegee Airmen (1941-1946)
The school at Tuskegee founded by Booker T. Washington had a well-respected aeronautical engineering program. Because of the Institute's flight program, the U.S. military selected Tuskegee Institute as a place to train African-American pilots for the war effort. Aviators came to Tuskegee, Alabama, to hone their flying skills. Their rigorous training at Moton Field and Tuskegee Army Air Field molded over 1,000 pilots into one of the most highly respected U.S. fighter groups of World War II.


This three-part web exhibit highlights the achievements of Washington, Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen. It features collections at Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site and Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site located in Tuskegee, Alabama, and selected items from the Booker T. Washington National Monument in Hardy, Virginia, and George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri. The exhibit also features collections from the Library of Congress, National Digital Library; National Archives and Records Administration; and the Department of Defense.


Small Image of Washington's ParlorYou can view two 360 degree panoramic views of Washington's study and parlor at The Oaks, Tuskegee, Alabama, using Quicktime VR. The plug-in is available for FREE download from http://www.nps.gov/hfc/plugins.

Visit contributing parks:

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
Booker T. Washington National Monument
George Washington Carver National Monument

Visit other NPS sites of interest:
NPS Diversity
Underground Railroad
African-American Parks


Since the beginning of America’s existence, education has always been considered as one of the keys to social, political and economical acceptance for African Americans. Tuskegee Normal School was established by the state of Alabama, influenced by a former slave and a former slave owner to educate newly freed people and their children. The Normal school, later Institute, became a beacon of hope for African Americans to reach their goal of acceptance. The school officially opened on July 4, 1881 in the African American Methodist Episcopal Zion Church under the auspices of religion. This date was chosen to commemorate the independence of a Nation and the freedom of a forgotten people. Booker T. Washington became the first principal of a newly formed school at the age of twenty-six. He later hired individuals like George W. Carver and Robert Taylor to help lead the institute to its world-renowned status.

Today, the legacy of Washington, Carver and many others has been preserved in the Historic Campus District of Tuskegee University where original buildings constructed by the students, from bricks made in the Institute brickyard still stand.

The Site, located on the campus of present day Tuskegee University, became a part of the National Park System in 1974.

Tuskegee Airman

The sky was the limit--literally! After the successful flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903, Americans of all races were stung by the love bug of flight. In the late 1920's and 1930's African Americans in great numbers began their love affair with flight. They learned the basics of flight on either American soil or abroad, and created their own flight schools and clubs.

This love affair was kindled in the late 1930's, when the United States Government created Civilian Pilot Training Programs throughout the country to provide a surplus of pilots in case of a national emergency. African Americans were included in these programs, although trained at segregated facilities.

Their love of flight became fully ablaze amid World War II as political pressure challenged the government to expand the role of African Americans in the military. The Army Air Corps was the first agency to accept the challenge. Tuskegee Institute, a small black college in Alabama, was selected to host the "military experiment" to train African American pilots and support staff--thus the Tuskegee Airmen were born.

The outstanding performance of the over 15,000 men and women who shared the "Tuskegee Experience" from 1942-1946, is immortalized at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.