Creeks and the United States. It ended in the utter overthrow of the Indians, but it is doubtful if a fight was ever maintained more bravely by any people. The achievements of the Red Sticks are all the more remarkable, when we remember that large numbers of the Creeks refused to "take the war talk" and were steadfastly friendly to the whites throughout the struggle.

The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Ghent on December 24, 1814, but when the news reached General Jackson the battle of New Orleans had been fought. Soon afterwards a British fleet appeared at Mobile Point, and five thousand men were landed. Major Lawrence, seeing that resistance was hopeless, surrendered the post, and the garrison, numbering three hundred and sixty, became prisoners of war. This was on February 12. A month later the news of the peace had reached the southern country. The British departed on April 1, and thus the soil of Alabama was freed of foreign occupants. So we may now turn from battles and marches to the more peaceful agencies at work in the upbuilding of the future State.

The year 1816 is notable for three important cessions of land. The first was made by the Cherokees. For $65,000 they gave up all their claims west and south of a line drawn from Chickasaw Island, in the Tennessee, due south to the top of the dividing ridge between the waters of the Tennessee and the Tombigbee, thence eastwardly to the west branch of Wills Creek, and down that creek to the Coosa River. The second was made about the same time by the Chickasaws. For a small money payment they gave up their claims east of a line drawn from the mouth of Caney Creek on the Tennessee, in the present Colbert County, in a generally southwestern direction to Cotton Gin Port on the Tombigbee. The third was made by the Choctaws, who gave up all their remaining claims east of the Tombigbee.

These cessions, following the treaty of Fort Jackson, left

RAPID INCREASE OF SETTLERS.

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about three-quarters of the lands in Alabama open to settlement by white men; but the Creeks showed their ill will now and then, and committed occasional outrages.

During the war the settlements in the Tombigbee and Tensaw country had received little increase, but Madison County had not suffered. Its population at this time was about ten thousand, and in June, 1815, it elected three delegates to the Territorial legislature, while the Washington district on the Tombigbee sent but two. Immigration began afresh, and by the close of the year 1816 the population of the whole Territory was not less than seventy-five thousand. Nearly thirty thousand of this belonged to the eastern or Alabama section. Holmes, who had been a faithful and energetic official in war time, was still governor.

The two years immediately following the peace were chiefly notable for the rapid

SETTLER'S CABIN.

increase of settlers, the felling of forests, and the building of cabins. From Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas an ever-growing stream of immigrants, mainly of good English and Scotch-Irish stock, poured through the Creek country to the heart of the Territory. The Tennessee Valley drew largely on the sturdy folk of Tennessee, chiefly of Virginia or Carolina biood. Such a rapid growth of population in a Territory is always followed by an appeal for admission as a State. The people of Mississippi Territory had, in fact, been asking for admission before the war; and now the movement grew stronger. At the same time it was felt that the Territory was too extensive to be made into a single State, and the question was raised whether it should be divided by a line running east and west or north and south. If the

lands acquired from Spain in 1810 had been made part of Mississippi, the line would probably have run east and west; but Louisiana obtained the country as far east as the Pearl.

By Act of Congress of date March 1, 1817, the Territory was divided by the line which now separates the States of Mississippi and Alabama. Beginning at the point where the Tennessee River crosses the southern boundary of Tennessee, the line ran up the river to the mouth of Bear Creek, thence direct to the northwest corner of Washington County, and thence due south to the Gulf. The western half retained the name of Mississippi, and was at once admitted as a State. On March 3 the eastern half was organized as a Territory, and was called Alabama.

QUESTIONS.

Describe the Horseshoe. Tell about the battle there. Who succeeded Jackson, and what did he do? Why did Jackson return to the Creek country? What was the boundary established by the treaty of Fort Jackson? What were General Jackson's movements after leaving Fort Jackson? Describe the attack on Fort Bowyer. How and why was Pensacola taken? What was Major Blue's mission? What military events happened in the south after the treaty of Ghent ? What Indian cessions were made in 1816? What was the effect of the peace on immigration? What important Act of Congress was passed on March 1, 1817? What on March 3? Tell what you know of the following, pointing out places on the map: Fort Williams; Tohopeka; Fort Toulouse; Weatherford; Fort Decatur; Major Lawrence.

CHAPTER XV.

ALABAMA A STATE IN THE UNION.

ALABAMA as a Territory was in a stage of progress towards statehood through which most of the States in the Union have had to pass. Its governor and secretary were appointed by the President, and the governor's powers were very extensive. There was a legislature of two chambers, the upper chamber called the Legislative Council, the lower called the House of Representatives. The act of Congress provided that those members of the Legislative Council of Mississippi Territory who represented the counties now thrown into Alabama should constitute the first Legislative Council of the new Territory, and that its first House of Representatives should be made up of the members from those counties who were sitting in the House of Representatives of Mississippi Territory. It was further provided that all persons then holding public office should remain in office as before, and that all laws in force at the time the act went into effect should continue in force; but a new judge was to be named, who, with the two already in office, should make up a general court at St. Stephens. St. Stephens was named as the seat of government until the legislature should otherwise order. The act of Congress did not go into effect until Mississippi had adopted a State constitution.

This was done in the summer of 1817, and then the President appointed William Wyatt Bibb, of Georgia, governor of Alabama Territory. He was a Virginian by birth, a graduate of William and Mary College, and a physician by profession. He had sat in the Georgia legislature, in the House of Rep

resentatives at Washington, and in the Senate of the United States. Obedient to his call, the legislature convened at St. Stephens January 19, 1818. As it happened, James Titus was the only member of the Legislative Council. It is said that he sat alone, in a separate chamber, and went through all the forms of legislation, "meeting" and "adjourning" with much ceremony. In the House of Representatives the counties of Baldwin, Clark, Madison, Washington, Monroe, Mobile, and Montgomery had representatives. Gabriel Moore, of Madison, was speaker. Monroe had been established in 1815, and Montgomery in 1816.

Governor Bibb in his message called attention to a petition of the Mississippi convention asking Congress to shift the boundary line to the Tombigbee River. But the people of Alabama successfully opposed this. The legislature promptly went to work. The names of six persons were sent to the President of the United States, and he chose three of them to be additional members of the Council. A stock bank already in existence at Huntsville had its name changed, and the Tombeckbe Bank, with a capital of $500,000, was established at St.

Stephens. The St. Stephens Academy and the St. Stephens Steamboat Company were incorporated. Commissioners were chosen to select a permanent capital. The Territory was