TIMELINE OF SPANISH AND AMERICAN EFFORTS TO CONQUER BRITISH WEST FLORIDA: 1768 - 1781
1768: Former Pennsylvania merchant Oliver Pollock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Pollock moved to New Orleans.
August 17, 1769: Pollock sold flour at half its market value to the Spanish in New Orleans. Because of his generosity he was granted freedom of trading in Louisiana for as long as he wished.
1770: Spain and Great Britain seemed to be on the verge of war over a dispute over the Falkland Islands. British troops in New York were mobilized for an intended attack on New Orleans. Commercial control of the Mississippi River was already of supreme importance to the British. English "floating stores" dominated commerce with the Spanish on the river.
May 1776: General Charles Lee wrote the Spanish monarchy appealing for help for American rebels. He argued that an independent America would reduce the threat of a British attack on Spanish possessions in the New World.
June 1776: Spain gave the Continental Congress 1,000,000 livres and in July deposited 2,000 barrels of gunpowder in New Orleans.
July 19, 1776: Captain George Gibson, Lieutenant William Linn and 15 Americans disguised as traders left Ft. Pitt for New Orleans. When they arrived in New Orleans, Oliver Pollock conceiled their identity from British spies.
August 1776: Captain George Gibson and Oliver Pollock purchased 5 tons of gunpowder in New Orleans from the Spaniards and sent it up the Mississippi River to Fort Pitt under the care of Lieutenant William Linn. Pollock believed that the Spanish cooperation was influenced by news of the Declaration of Independence.
September 22, 1776: Linn and his men leave New Orleans for Fort Pitt.
January 1, 1777: Bernardo de Galvez took over as Governor of Louisiana. Governor Galvez at
once told Pollock that he would cooperated with the Continental Congress. He declared that the Port of New Orleans would be open and free to American commerce. He also approved the admission and sale of prizes captured by American cruisers and he requested American troops, goods and money for a proposed attack upon British posts on the Mississippi along with Mobile and Pensacola.
May 2, 1777: The gunpowder arrived at Fort Pitt on heavily laden flatboats rowed upstream against the current the entire way from New Orleans. The news of the delivery of this powder caused the British to begin harassing American shipping on the Mississippi. The British had told the Indians that the colonists had no gunpowder due to their embargo of American ports. This gunpowder was necessary to re-establish trade with the Indians and for the protection of the rebels.
May 1777: Galvez threatened to fire on British ships at New Orleans which had come to demand the release of British vessels seized by the Spanish on the Mississippi River for allegedly being engaged in illegal commerce. Two of these confiscated vessels were owned by Americans and these boats were secretly returned to their owners by Galvez when he was requested to do so by Pollock.
1777: Pollock was appointed "commercial agent of the United States at New Orleans", making him the representative of the colonies in the city. Pollock informed the Continental Congress of the cooperation of Governor Galvez and urged them to send blank commissions to be used for recruiting American troops.
October, 1777: Captain Gibson, who had been imprisoned in New Orleans by the order of Spanish Governor Galvez, in order to pacify British officials in the city, was released and was permitted to embark for Philadelphia on a ship. This was arranged by Oliver Pollock and Gibson concealed more of the gunpowder and was able to smuggle it to Philadelphia on this voyage.
1778: Spain secretly aided the Americans through the firm of Joseph Gardoqui. Funds were collected at Madrid by Diego Gardoqui who forwarded the money to Arthur Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lee_(diplomat) in Paris. Lee ordered war material from the Gardoqui Company in Bilboa and they shipped the goods to America. In 1778, Americans acquired 18,000 blankets, 11,000 pairs of shoes, 41,000 pairs of stockings, and great quantities of shirts, tent cloth and medicine.
May 1778: Pollock suggested to the Continental Congress that they should send a force of about 300 men to capture Natchez and Manchac because in the event of war between Great Britain and Spain, the Spaniards would immediately take possession of these two posts.
June 20, 1779: Francisco Garcia, an emissary from Bernardo de Galvez, arrived in San
Antonio with a letter for Texas Governor Domingo Cabello, requesting and authorizing the first
official cattle drive from Texas to Louisiana. Following the August 1778 hurricane in Louisiana
the cattle herds were decimated and his troops in Louisiana needed beef. He also needed horses
for his cavalry and to pull artillery pieces.
August 27, 1779: Gen. Bernardo Galvez learned of the May 8, 1789 Declaration of War
against England on August 16th. Because he knew that war was imminent, he had been prepared
– at least until the hurricane struck the week before. One Galliot and three gunboats were
salvaged from the bottom of the river and restored. These vessels were equipped ten cannons,
one of 24 pounder, five 18 pounders, and four 4 pounders, and ammunitions .
He led the 700 Spanish Army regulars at New Orleans up the Mississippi River 105 miles to
attack Fort Bute, in Manchac, Louisiana in 11 days.
September 11, 1779: Galvez marched upon Ft. Richmond at Baton Rouge, some 60 miles to
the west.
January 28, 1780: Galvez departed New Orleans bound for Ft. Charlotte at Mobile with
twelve ships containing 754 men. His men were well fed on Texas beef. Mobile was the British
capital of West Florida.
May 26, 1780: The Spanish authorities at Ft. Carlos in St. Louis aided George Rogers
Clark in the conquest of the territories northwest of the Ohio River and rallied to defeat the
combined British and Indian attack on St. Louis in 1780.
May 30, 1780: The records are unclear about the exact number of Texas longhorn steers
were delivered to Galvez. The best estimate is that between 9,000 – 15,000 head of cattle, plus
bulls and horses were provided.
16 Oct. 1780 Galvez led a Spanish fleet of 15 war ships and 59 transport ships from
Havana to attack Pensacola. Embarked were 164 officers and 3,829 men.
1
October 8, 1780: A hurricane hit the Spanish flotilla. Many were lost. The survivors
retreated to Havana. Along the way they seized two British frigates. For fear that the British
might seek to retake Mobile before he could take Pensacola, Galvez dispatched two warships and
500 soldiers to reinforce Mobile. Galvez's flotilla survived a hurricane in harbor before initiating two months of constant artillery
and cannon bombardment of the British forts.
April 23, 1780: Reinforcements had arrived,
increasing Galvez's total force to 7,800.
May 8, 1781: The 18-year British
occupation of Pensacola, Florida, ended with a British surrender.
8 May 1781 The British surrender at Pensacola removed the British threat from the
Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. Galvez was assisted by four French frigates. He
gave them 500,000 pesos to reprovision their ships. These ships then proceeded to join the
French blockade of Yorktown, which led to the British surrender.
SUMMARY OF SPANISH SUPPORT FOR THE REBELS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION http://www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagoo003.php
1. Provided large sums of money
2. Provided arms, ammunition, food, supplies
3. Spanish soldiers and Militia fought the British in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, Florida.
4. Fought the British around the world, e.g. Bahamas, Central America, Gibraltar
5. Provided safe harbor to and supplied American War Ships e.g. John Paul Jones
6. Removed the British from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers
7. Removed the British from the Gulf Coast
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Dauphin Island has absolutely THE BEST American Revolution stories you've NEVER heard of. One of the many stories that goes unrecognized for its historical importance is Dauphin Island's tenth armed, amphibious invasion, the 1780 Spanish siege of British Mobile's Fort Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Charlotte .
We begin this Dauphin Island story of the American Revolution when the U.S.S. West Florida, commanded by Captain William Pickles, first dropped anchor near the ship channel off Dauphin Island in February of 1780. Captain Pickles and his Continental Navy ship were accompanied by a huge convoy of Spanish ships. The Spanish convoy had sailed from New Orleans in January but had been delayed by both the action of storms and by being becalmed. This fleet carried almost 800 soldiers and sailors on board 13 ships consisting of a merchant frigate, 4 row galleys, a sloop, a packet boat, three brigantines, a frigate of war, a galliot and a royal brig.
The mission of this enormous amphibious force anchored at Dauphin Island was to secure the strategic main channel at the mouth of Mobile Bay and to take tactical advantage of this position during the capture of Ft. Charlotte in Mobile. The conquest of Mobile was part of Spanish commander Bernardo de Galvez' plan to use Mobile as a supply station during his anticipated successful attack upon Pensacola. The conquest of Pensacola, British capital of West Florida, would insure the eventual Spanish conquest of all the land on the Gulf Coast. This would mean an end to British harassment in the Gulf for American smugglers from the Atlantic Coast who were moving war materials for the Continental Army from New Orleans, Havana and other southern ports through the British blockade of American harbors on the Atlantic.
The little known story of how a Continental Navy ship, the U.S.S. West Florida, ended up in the water off Dauphin Island in 1780 as part of a larger Spanish flotilla preparing for an armed amphibious invasion of Mobile Bay is a long one that begins almost four years earlier in 1776 when the Continental Congress in Philadelphia first considered a GULF COAST CAMPAIGN. The legacy of this historic invasion comes down to every present-day property owner on Dauphin Island because the origin of all modern day legal land titles on Dauphin Island originate with a Spanish re-grant of British title to the island which was allowed by the provisions of a treaty ending THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
From Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE, page 263:
"This is the first instance in these records of re-granting what had been British property. The Versailles treaty of peace of September 3, 1783, was to allow eighteen months for British subjects to sell and leave, and the time was extended six months longer ; but this treaty was not yet concluded. While West Florida was Spanish in fact, the war continued elsewhere until that treaty recognized the independence of the United States, and at the same time confirmed East and West Florida to Spain.
The most prominent re-grant was that by Governor Grimarest of Dauphine Island to Joseph Moro, the origin, in fact, of the existing title to that historic spot. Moro's petition of July 31, 1781, is dated at New Orleans, and says that he is an inhabitant of that city. Galvez the next day directs Grimarest to investigate the matter, and if the land is vacant to put Moro into possession and return the proceedings made out 'in continuation' with the commission, — a substitute for the endorsements on original papers by officials in our practice. September 21 of the same year there was a report by Charles Parent, Orbano Demouy, Dubroea, and Louis Carriere, who had been called on for evidence.
For some reason the matter was held up over two years, until after peace was declared; for Grimarest's concession to Moro bears date December 5, 1783, after J. B. Lamy had made a settlement in the centre of the island. In 1785 we find the king maintaining there a pilot and four sailors at an expense of $696.00."
Before telling the story of the arrival of the U.S.S. WEST FLORIDA off Dauphin Island, we must finish the work of constructing a time line that describes the progress as well as the failure of the Continental Congress' GULF COAST STRATEGY. One of the most important architects of this strategy was ROBERT MORRIS, often called "the financier of the American Revolution." One modern day place where the memory of Robert Morris is preserved is at Washington Chapel at Valley Forge where Morris' strong box from the American Revolution stands on display at the back of the chapel. It was once used as a deposit box for the church's offerings.
Another place where the legacy of Morris stands out is in the painting that graces our Nation's Capitol dome, THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON.
Mercury handing Morris a bag of gold. (notice old King Neptune on the right)
We begin this Dauphin Island story of the American Revolution when the U.S.S. West Florida, commanded by Captain William Pickles, first dropped anchor near the ship channel off Dauphin Island in February of 1780. Captain Pickles and his Continental Navy ship were accompanied by a huge convoy of Spanish ships. The Spanish convoy had sailed from New Orleans in January but had been delayed by both the action of storms and by being becalmed. This fleet carried almost 800 soldiers and sailors on board 13 ships consisting of a merchant frigate, 4 row galleys, a sloop, a packet boat, three brigantines, a frigate of war, a galliot and a royal brig.
The mission of this enormous amphibious force anchored at Dauphin Island was to secure the strategic main channel at the mouth of Mobile Bay and to take tactical advantage of this position during the capture of Ft. Charlotte in Mobile. The conquest of Mobile was part of Spanish commander Bernardo de Galvez' plan to use Mobile as a supply station during his anticipated successful attack upon Pensacola. The conquest of Pensacola, British capital of West Florida, would insure the eventual Spanish conquest of all the land on the Gulf Coast. This would mean an end to British harassment in the Gulf for American smugglers from the Atlantic Coast who were moving war materials for the Continental Army from New Orleans, Havana and other southern ports through the British blockade of American harbors on the Atlantic.
The little known story of how a Continental Navy ship, the U.S.S. West Florida, ended up in the water off Dauphin Island in 1780 as part of a larger Spanish flotilla preparing for an armed amphibious invasion of Mobile Bay is a long one that begins almost four years earlier in 1776 when the Continental Congress in Philadelphia first considered a GULF COAST CAMPAIGN. The legacy of this historic invasion comes down to every present-day property owner on Dauphin Island because the origin of all modern day legal land titles on Dauphin Island originate with a Spanish re-grant of British title to the island which was allowed by the provisions of a treaty ending THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
From Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE, page 263:
"This is the first instance in these records of re-granting what had been British property. The Versailles treaty of peace of September 3, 1783, was to allow eighteen months for British subjects to sell and leave, and the time was extended six months longer ; but this treaty was not yet concluded. While West Florida was Spanish in fact, the war continued elsewhere until that treaty recognized the independence of the United States, and at the same time confirmed East and West Florida to Spain.
The most prominent re-grant was that by Governor Grimarest of Dauphine Island to Joseph Moro, the origin, in fact, of the existing title to that historic spot. Moro's petition of July 31, 1781, is dated at New Orleans, and says that he is an inhabitant of that city. Galvez the next day directs Grimarest to investigate the matter, and if the land is vacant to put Moro into possession and return the proceedings made out 'in continuation' with the commission, — a substitute for the endorsements on original papers by officials in our practice. September 21 of the same year there was a report by Charles Parent, Orbano Demouy, Dubroea, and Louis Carriere, who had been called on for evidence.
For some reason the matter was held up over two years, until after peace was declared; for Grimarest's concession to Moro bears date December 5, 1783, after J. B. Lamy had made a settlement in the centre of the island. In 1785 we find the king maintaining there a pilot and four sailors at an expense of $696.00."
Before telling the story of the arrival of the U.S.S. WEST FLORIDA off Dauphin Island, we must finish the work of constructing a time line that describes the progress as well as the failure of the Continental Congress' GULF COAST STRATEGY. One of the most important architects of this strategy was ROBERT MORRIS, often called "the financier of the American Revolution." One modern day place where the memory of Robert Morris is preserved is at Washington Chapel at Valley Forge where Morris' strong box from the American Revolution stands on display at the back of the chapel. It was once used as a deposit box for the church's offerings.
Another place where the legacy of Morris stands out is in the painting that graces our Nation's Capitol dome, THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON.
Mercury handing Morris a bag of gold. (notice old King Neptune on the right)
Sunday, November 8, 2015
THE STREETS OF DAUPHIN ISLAND
(the following listing of Dauphin Island's streets is found in S. Blake McNeely's book, THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA.http://www.southalabama.edu/mccallarchives/guides_to_collections/mcneely/mcneely.shtml
I have added the streets' locations in relation to the three-way-stop at LeMoyne and Bienville , a Wikipedia link for the street's namesake and a Find-A-Grave link for the namesake if it applies.)
A Committee on Nomenclature of which Mr. Stephens G. Croom
(Stephens G. Croom [Find-A-Grave link https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271696 ] was born in 1906. Initially, Croom was active in the utility industry, but ultimately devoted forty years of his life to building a successful career in the insurance business. As a key member of the USS Alabama Development Committee Board, Stephens played a pivotal role in bringing the South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama to Mobile and developing the site into a major tourist attraction. Both Stephens and his wife, Velma Lassiter Croom[Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271720 ], were politically and civically active in Mobile society. Velma served as the president of the Junior League of Mobile, Inc., from 1950 to 1951. Stephens G. Croom died in 1992.) was Chairman, carefully selected names which are significant in the long, romantic and colorful history of this Island which played a vital part in the settlement of North America and which is being developed as one of America's greatest resort, retirement and recreational areas.
The Boulevards, Avenues, Lanes and Places run east and west. Drives, Streets and Courts run north and south. All names are arranged alphabetically, beginning at the Fort Gaines Park on the East and at the Sand Dunes on the South. The names of Places and Lanes begin with the same letter as the names of the streets with which they intersect- such names are arranged alphabetically southward from Bienville Boulevard. Names selected are significant to Dauphin Island.
A house numbering system was also developed whereby lots on the Avenues, Lanes and Places are given numbers corresponding with the overall numbering on Bienville Boulevard. The lots on the Drives, Streets and Courts will be numbered in accord with the numbering system on LeMoyne Drive.
#1: ADMIRAL SEMMES AVENUE
named for Admiral Raphael Semmes, one of America's best known American naval officers, a respected citizen of Mobile who commanded the renowned Confederate ship, ALABAMA. This east-to-west street is located SE of the 3-way stop between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Semmes
Find-a-grave link for Admiral Semmes http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21356
#2: ALABAMA AVENUE
named for the sovereign State of Alabama whose Governor Gordon Persons(Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
made the decision to build the Dauphin Island Bridge providing a substantial investment in the bridge was made by property purchasers on the Island making this development possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
This east-to-west street is located south of the 3-way stop. It begins just east of its intersection with Iberville Drive and continues west to Narvaez Street.
#3: ANNANDALE STREET
named for the ancestral home of one of those who spent years of service on behalf of Isle Dauphine.(It is the opinion of this writer that this refers to Forney Johnston. The Johnston family claims that they originated in Annandale, Scotland http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Johnston )This north-to-south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Apalache Avenue on the north and Admiral Semmes on the south.
#4: APALACHE AVENUE named for the Apalache Indian tribe living in the neighborhood of Mobile, which sent its chief to Isle Dauphine along with twenty-three other Indian Nations to sing their calumet of peace to Monsieur de L'Epinet, Governor General of Louisiana.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay ( ed. note: The Apalaches were originally from the vicinity of present-day Tallahassee but were victims of the greatest known Indian slave raid ever conducted in North America in 1704 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee_massacre . They were enslaved by the English from Charleston and their Indian allies. Those that escaped,being converts to Roman Catholicism, sought sanctuary from the French on Mobile Bay and received refuge. The Apalachee River in the Mobile Delta takes its name from this East Florida tribe.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee#Spanish_missions_and_18th-century_war ) This east-to-west street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west.
#5: AUDUBON STREET
named for the great artist, John James Audubon, who is said to have painted the hummingbird https://www.audubon.org/news/what-mr-audubon-thought-hummingbirds
in the famous Birds of America while visiting in Mobile.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_James_Audubon This north-to-south street is east of the 3-way stop and runs from Cavalier Circle on Colony Cove north of Bienville to Audubon Place on the south. Find-A-Grave link for Audubon http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6102721
#6 BEAUREGARD STREET
named for Pierre G.T. Beauregard, an engineer officer in the U.S. Army who as a captain was in charge of Gulf Coast defenses when Fort Gaines was built and who later became one of the ranking generals in the Confederate Army.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._T._Beauregard This north to south street is located SE of the 3-way stop. In begins on the north at Apalache Avenue and ends on the south at Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4417
#7 BIENVILLE BOULEVARD
named for Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the founder of Mobile, who spent much of his time at his Dauphin Island headquarters, Dauphin Island being the port of entry from France to the New World. Bienville is said to have had extraordinary charm and real genius for diplomatic relations with the Indian Nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville This main east to west street begins at Ft. Gaines, runs through the 3-way stop at LeMoyne Drive and ends at the West End Park. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#8 BILOXI AVENUE
named for the Biloxi Indians, a tribe living at the location Iberville chose on arrival from France as his first base for the exploration of the Mississippi River area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biloxi_people This east to west street is NW of the 3-way stop and begins at Major Farmer Street on the east and ends at Narvaez Street.
#9 BUCHANAN DRIVE
named for Admiral Franklin Buchanan, the first commander of the U.S. Military Academy at Annapolis, the highest ranking officer in the Confederate Navy, commander of the naval defenses of Mobile, director of the task of organizing a fleet of ironclad warships built in Selma for an attack on the Federal fleet blockading Mobile Bay.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Buchanan This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville. It begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=11124&page=gr
#10 CADILLAC AVENUE
named for Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, appointed by the French government to succeed Bienville as second Governor of Louisiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_la_Mothe_Cadillac
This east to west street is located two sections north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. The eastern secton runs from Grant Street on the east to Narvaez Street on the west. West of Salt Creek Cadillac begins again on the east of Pascagoula Street and continues west to the canals south of Druhan Island. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113583180
#11 CALUMET PARK
named in honor of America's greatest Indian "pow-wows" or peace conferences which was held on Dauphin Island by twenty-four Indian tribes who met for sixty days with French Governor L'Epinet and who smoked with him the calumet of peace. This great congress of Indian Nations was of far-reaching importance throughout the entire Mississippi Valley.https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PR14&lpg=PR14&dq=%22dauphin+island%22++CALUMET&source=bl&ots=y6rlm4tm9L&sig=WzjOYloqyyP53XbZc_pRBJG1yUU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMIzJe-uPKDyQIVh_M-Ch3stg5B#v=onepage&q=%22dauphin%20island%22%20%20CALUMET&f=false Calumet Park is the official name of the park that surrounds the Water Tower at the 3-way stop.
#12 CHATEAUGUE POINT (pronounced Shatto-gay)
it is here that the Bridge first touches Dauphin Island. Sieur de Chateaugue was one of the LeMoyne brothers and devoted much of his effort to the transfer of supplies from the King's Warehouse on Dauphin Island to the capital fort at Mobile. Time and new accents have reduced this geographical name on Dauphin Island to "Point Chugae" (pronounced Chu-gi) . The northern section of LeMoyne Drive ends at the present-day bridge on Point Chugae.https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Le_Moyne_de_Ch%C3%A2teauguay
#14 CHENAULT AVENUE
an ancestral name of French significance in the development of Dauphin Island. (This writer has been told that this street was actually named for WWII hero Claire Chennault. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=194 ) This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street.
#15 CLUBHOUSE AVENUE
named for the Fort Gaines Clubhouse which is situated midway along this roadway. http://www.dauphinislandhistory.org/photos_pcards/ft_gaines_club_expand.htm (this is no longer a Dauphin Island street name)
#16 CONDE AVENUE
named for the French military leader who was known as the Great Conde and who LaSalle and Tonty much needed support in France and help in maintaining supplies for their extensive expeditions. Louis II de Bourbon, Duc d’Enghien , Prince de Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Cond%C3%A9 This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street. He was buried in the Église at Valery, the traditional burial place of the Princes of Condé. The following link describes the tomb of THE GREAT CONDE http://www.tombes-sepultures.com/crbst_1024.html
#17 CONTI AVENUE
named for Prince de Conti, a French leader and also King of Poland, who actively supported the new Louisiana Province. He was especially loved in France because of his considerate personality and admired because of his courage and leadership.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Louis,_Prince_of_Conti This street is located NE of the 3-way stop and dead-ends only about one block west from its intersection with its intersection at the north end of Grant Street. Link to the burial place of Louis, Prince of Conti http://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article2763
#18 DELCHAMPS DRIVE
named for Oliver H. Delchamps(1900-1987), President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce when the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge were built. This street is NE of the 3-way stop. It is the last street intersecting with the east side of LeMoyne Drive before the bridge that takes you off the island. Mr. Delchamps and his brother founded the Delchamps Supermarket chain. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50550074
#19 DELUNA STREET
named for Tristan de Luna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trist%C3%A1n_de_Luna_y_Arellano , commander of a group of Vera Cruz colonists who in 1559 laid out a city on Mobile Bay that would have been the first city to be established with the present limits of the United States if it had lived. This street does not exist in the present-day on Dauphin Island and its original location, if any, is unknown. DeLuna returned to the Yucatan where he served as governor until his death in 1571. Link to the discovery of a DeLuna shipwreck near Pensacola http://uwf.edu/cassh/departments/anthropology-and-archaeology/research/faculty-and-staff-projects/maritime/emanuel-point-shipwreck/
#20 DESOTO AVENUE
named for Hernando de Soto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto, Spanish governor of Cuba, the most famous of the explorers of the American South and conqueror of the Mobile Indians at Mauvilla. This east to west street is north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. It begins at DeSoto Drive on the east and goes west past its intersection with LeVert Street. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#21 DEWBERRY STREET
named for J.M. Dewberry who was one of the pioneers in efforts to connect Dauphin Island with the mainland of Mobile County. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. In 1914 the Dauphin Island Improvement Co., J.M. Dewberry, President, contracted with Holabird & Roche Architects of Chicago to prepare plans for a 200 room fireproof hotel to be erected on Dauphin Island. The following link is to a PDF file from the Dauphin Island History Archive of the October 25, 1957 DAUPHIN ISLAND NEWS. On page 5 is an article about Miss Leola Dewberry, Mr. Dewberry's daughter. She talks about visiting the island in the early 1900s and her father's three attempts to build a bridge to the island. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/dinews/din10251957_8pgs.pdf
#22 EPINET STREET (pronounced Ep-i-nay)
named for L'Epinet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay, successor to Cadillac as governor of Louisiana, who immediately began to repair the damage of Cadillac's governorship by making friends of the twenty-four Indian tribes which visited him at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. After leaving Mobile Bay in 1718, L'Epinet was appointed Governor of Grenada. While visiting the Governor of the West Indies on Martinique in January of 1721, L'Epinet died.http://www.knowla.org/entry/1464/
#23 FORNEY JOHNSTON DRIVE
named for Forney Johnston http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6641xz5 , the son of Alabama's twice governor Joseph F. Johnston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Johnston , and the able and patient leader of the group which for half a century retained composite title to Dauphin Island as a requisite for its development as one of America's leading seashore recreational destinations.
This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville Boulevard. It begins north of D'Olive Avenue and runs south to past Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Joseph F. Johnston http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=7342162&page=gr
#24 FORT CHARLOTTE AVENUE
named for Fort Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Charlotte
, the English name given in 1763 to the newly acquired Fort Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde in Mobile as an honor to Queen Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Mecklenburg-Strelitz , the wife of King George III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom
of England. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on Bienville Boulevard and curves southwest to its intersection with Hernando Street.
#25 FORT CONDE PLACE
named for Fort Conde de la Mobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde which was the name given to the enlarged Mobile fortress in 1720 and which at that time occupied the entire area between Royal, St. Emanuel, Church and Theatre Streets. This north to south street is NE of the 3-way street. It begins north of its intersection with Conde Avenue and goes south to Bienville Boulevard.
#26 FORT GAINES TRAIL
named for Fort Gaines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gaines_(Alabama) built on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island to protect the bay and any ships taking refuge there after President Monroe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe protested Europe's interference with affairs in the United States. Prior to the bridge being built in the early 1950s, the main road on the island was the FORT GAINES TRAIL. There is no Fort Gaines Trail on present-day Dauphin Island.
#27 FORT LOUIS COURT
named for Fort Louis de la Mobile http://fortwiki.com/Fort_Louis_de_la_Louisiane , built in 1702 at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site on the Mobile River and established as the capital of French Louisiana. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs only one block south of its intersection with Bienville Boulevard near Cadillac Square.
#28 FORT MIMS PLACE
named for Fort Mims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre on the Alabama River near present-day Stockton, scene of a massacre by the Creek Indians in 1813, a barbaric act that aroused the entire nation. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#29 FORT ROSALIE PLACE
named for Fort Rosalie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rosalie , now the city of Natchez, a French fort on the Mississippi River built by Bienville in 1715 and named in honor of the wife of Pontchartrain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Ph%C3%A9lypeaux . This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#30 FORT STODDERT
named for Fort Stoddert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stoddert built on Mobile River just above Ellicott's Stone (near Mount Vernon, Alabama) as a stronghold for the United States as this country watched the Spaniards who then held Mobile. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#31 FORT TENSAS PLACE (pronounced Tensaw)
named for the fortifications on Tensas River which for many years was the most important navigable stream leading to Mobile Bay from the inland areas.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#32 FORT TOMBECBE PLACE
named for Fort Tombecbe http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3080 which was built by Bienville in 1735 on the Tombigbee River.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#33 GENERAL ANDERSON PLACE
named for General Charles D. Anderson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_DeWitt_Anderson , commander of Fort Gaines at the time it was lost to the Federal forces in battles preliminary to the capture of Mobile near the end of the Civil War. This west to east dead end street begins on its western end at its intersection with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42498696
#34 GENERAL GAINES PLACE(ed. note: Of all the mistakes in this listing of Dauphin Island street names, THIS IS THE WORST! Corrections to the original text will follow.)
named for General George S. Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1476 who operated a large Trading House at St. Stephens, an important outpost in the young United States, while Mobile was still held by the Spanish during the early days on the nineteenth century. As a trader, General Gaines was one of the first business men to see the need of the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway as he in 1810 was barging supplies down the Ohio River from Pittsburg, then up the Tennessee River to Calbert's [sic-ed. note: Colbert's] Ferry from where his goods were carried overland to the Tombigbee River (history of Cotton Gin Port, Ms.http://files.usgwarchives.net/ms/monroe/history/cottongp.txt ) and then barged on downstream to St. Stephens. (ed. note: The biographical information on George S. Gaines is correct, howeveer, Gaines was never a general and he is not the namesake for Fort Gaines. That honor goes to his brother, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3063 .
This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive.
Find-A-Grave link for General E.P. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10656863 Find-A-Grave link for his brother, George S. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26236017
#35 GENERAL GORGAS DRIVE
named for General William Crawford Gorgas http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1048 , the only native Alabamian to be placed in the American Hall of Fame, a Mobilian who destroyed yellow fever in the Canal Zone, thereby making possible the completion of the Panama Canal. This north to south street begins on the north at its intersection with Fort Charlotte Avenue and dead ends just beyond its intersection with General Wilkinson Place. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6843719&page=gr
#36 GENERAL LEDBETTER PLACE [sic- ed. note, should read "LEADBETTER"]
named for General Danville Ledbetter http://www.geni.com/people/Brig-General-Danville-Leadbetter-CSA/6000000012567400042 , a West Point graduate who superintended Fort Morgan repairs and the building of Fort Gaines, who was in charge of building of the Mobile Custom House (now a municipally owned building housing the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and other important organizations and institutions[ed. note:demolished in 1963 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Campbell_United_States_Courthouse#/media/File:Custom_House_in_Mobile_1894.jpg ] ), and who later became a general in the Confederate Army. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11008
#37 GENERAL PAGE PLACE
named for General R.L. Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lucian_Page , heroic commander of Fort Morgan at the time of its surrender to Federal troops during the Civil War. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11042
#38 GENERAL WILKINSON PLACE
named for General James Wilkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilkinson who occupied Mobile, seizing it from the Spanish during the War of 1812 because of Spain's alliance with England. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14093089 (ed. note: The estate of General Wilkinson made a claim to having been deeded Dauphin Island during the Spanish regime but it was denied by the Private Land Claims Commission of Alabama in about 1838)
#39 GORDON PERSONS OVERSEAS HIGHWAY
named for Gordon Persons who was Governor of Alabama when the Dauphin Island Bridge was built. (Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
#40 GRANT STREET
named for John Grant who in 1839 secured permission from the Alabama legislature to dredge the "Cedar Point Channel" and operate it as a toll passage. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KNIPPERS-CLARENCE/2006-11/1164033069 This north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. This street begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay at Carolyn Circle and ends on the south at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=28227297
#41 HAMILTON PLACE
named for Peter Joseph Hamilton, a great student of Mobile history, author of "Colonial Mobile," one of the best known books on historic Mobile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Hamilton This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94069092
#42 HERMES PLACE (pronounced Her-mees)
named for the British warship "Hermes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(1811) destroyed in an attack on Fort Bowyer (where Fort Morgan now stands) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bowyer
when a British fleet of thirty-eight warships attacked Dauphin Island and the fort after the Battle of New Orleans in the "War of 1812." There have been seven other warships in the British Navy carrying this renowned name since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes (ed. note: Here's another place where D.I.'s "Founding Fathers" "flubbed the dub." The Hermes was not part of the large British fleet that attacked Fort Bowyer during THE SECOND BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in February of 1815. The "Hermes" sank during the FIRST BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in September of 1814 http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3582 ) This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#43 HERNANDO STREET
named for Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer who set out to conquer and colonize Florida for Spain, but who instead won fame by the discovery of the Mississippi River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard and ends at its intersection with Hernando Place on the south near the shore of Pelican Bay. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#44 HITCHCOCK PLACE
named for Judge Henry Hitchcock, secretary of the Alabama Territory and acting governor who did much of the work on the first Alabama constitution and was elected its first attorney general, later becoming U.S. attorney for the southern district of Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hitchcock This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49077311
#45 HOUSTON PLACE
named for General Samuel Houston, one of the greatest men in Texas history and a distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=510
#46 HUBERT STREET (pronounced Hu-bare)
named for Marc Antoine Hubert, the commissary-general of Louisiana from 1716-1720, who lived on Dauphin Island from 1716 to 1718. https://books.google.com/books?id=0S6n0VOSXE8C&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=%22marc+antoine+hubert%22+1717&source=bl&ots=tGxi3okg2i&sig=4ACcvc92Xt2KaZ90PhmnufMb320&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwA2oVChMIvsGlxICYyQIVTHs-Ch3elQmQ#v=onepage&q=%22marc%20antoine%20hubert%22%201717&f=false This short north to south street is located NE of the 3-way stop. Its north end begins near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and ends on the south at its intersection with Cadillac Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Hubert was not found.
#47 HUITRES PLACE (pronounced Wee-tre)
named for Pointe-aux-Huitres, meaning Oyster Point because of the great abundance of oysters found there by the French, and now called Cedar Point. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/fleur/fleur9-11.pdf This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#48 HUNLEY PLACE
named for Horace L. Hunley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Lawson_Hunley , the financier for "THE HUNLEY" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine), a submarine built in Mobile and the first one credited with sinking a warship. This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10886
#49 IBERVILLE DRIVE
named for Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Le_Moyne_d%27Iberville , chosen by the French king https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France to carry out LaSalle's dream of establishing a French colony on the Gulf Coast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas , who persuaded the French king to let him establish his colony on Mobile Bay at Isle Dauphine and on Mobile River at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site . As French Commander for the New World, he sent his young twenty-one year old brother, Bienville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville , to establish the fort at Mobile and the base at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. This street begins at its intersection with Alabama Avenue and ends south of its intersection with Itasca Place near the Isle Dauphine Golf Course. Find-A-Grave link for Iberville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149735676 Find-A-Grave link for Bienville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#50 INDIAN PLACE
named for the twenty-four Indian tribes which lived peacefully near Mobile and which maintained close friendship with the French in Mobile. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at its intersection with Hernando Street and goes west to a dead end past its intersection with Iberville Drive. Penicaut's https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpe23 commentary from page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET: "These savages are named the Chaqtos, the Taouachas, the Apalaches, the Tinssas, the Mobilians, the Tomez, the Gensdes Fourches [McWilliams' footnote 13: The first seven tribes named are small tribes living near Fort Louis de la Mobile. The Naniabas, who lived at The Forks (FOURCHES) of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, are omitted from this list. Surely they come to sing the calumet to the new governor and share in French largess. The deduction is that Gens des Fourches were the Naniabas) the Chactas, the Pascagoulas, the Passacolas, the Capinans, the Colapissas, the Bayagoulas, the Oumas, the Tonicas, the Chaouchas, the Natchez, the Chicachas, the Nassitoches, the Yatacez, the Alabamons, the Canapouces, and others [McWilliams' footnote 14: I have twenty-two tribes listed. But I had to supply Chactas, Pascagoulas and Passacolas from Spofford, p. 372. Margry has nineteen in his list (DECOUVERTES, V, 547) Several of these tribes had come from a great distance: the Chicachas from north Mississippi and Tennessee; the Nassitoches and Yatacez from the Red River; the Canapouces(Catawba) from Carolina. But French presents no doubt paid them well for the effort.]
These calumets of peace lasted more than two months because the savages, being too badly separated one from another, could not all be there at the same time. They were all well received by M. de l'Epinet, who sent them back home with presents." Link to page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=%22fleur+de+lys+and+calumet%22+%22fourches%22&source=bl&ots=y6rlv0sliT&sig=TVCCNZF7p5wLf2H3GVzils0ajiM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIhrbHuvKcyQIVSxo-Ch3h6Q3H#v=onepage&q=%22fleur%20de%20lys%20and%20calumet%22%20%22fourches%22&f=false
#51 INEZ PLACE
named for the book "Inez: A Tale of The Alamo," (link to the novel's text https://archive.org/details/ineztaleofalamo00evaniala link to Encyclopedia of Alabama entry http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-2187 ) written by Mobile's famous writer, Augusta Evans Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Jane_Evans . This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link for Augusta Evans Wilson http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=30565410
#53 INFANTA PLACE
named for the "heir apparent" to the French throne when Isle Dauphine was first settled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Dauphin. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Link to the burial place of Louis, the Grand Dauphin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St_Denis
#54 INGRAHAM PLACE
named for Joseph Holt Ingraham https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Holt_Ingraham , rector of St. John's Church in Mobile http://www.stjohnsmobile.org/history_info around the year 1800[ed. note: this date is a mistake. Ingraham came to Mobile in 1855 at age 46 to become rector of St. Johns.], and who wrote three successful religious novels. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12212059
#55 IROQUOIS PLACE
named for the Iroquois Indianshttp://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Rene_R._de_La_Salle , the French name for a once powerful Confederacy of six North American Indian Tribes that came into early conflict with the French and were a barrier to their southward advance from Canada. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#56 IRVING PLACE
named for Washington Irving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving , distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=531
#57 ISABELLA POINT
named for Isabella de Bobadilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In%C3%A9s_de_Bobadilla , the wife of Hernando DeSoto, Isabella is said to have waited in vain at Dauphin Island for the return of DeSoto who was killed while on one of his extensive exploration trips through the Mississippi Valley. Isabella had been escorted to the Mobile Bay area by Captain Maldonado, the Spanish fleet commander in support of DeSoto. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=151099253 (ed. note: Isabella Point was enlarged to build Dauphin Island's JEREMIAH A. DENTON AIRPORT.)#
#58 ITASCA PLACE
named for the U.S. ship "Itasca" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Itasca_(1861) of four guns which was among the fleet of wooden ships blockading Mobile Bay in the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#59 JEFFERIES BEACH
named for A. Beverly Jefferies who was Chairman of the Mobile County Board of Revenue and Road Commissioners when plans were formulated for building the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66928804 (ed. note: At present, the original location of Jefferies Beach is unknown to this writer."Beverly Jefferies Highway" is located east of Citronelle.)
#60 KEY STREET
named for Francis Scott Key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key , author of "The Star Spangled Banner," who was a goodwill ambassador from the United States government to Alabama when President Jackson had enraged the Alabama governor by sending Federal troops to enforce an Indian treaty(link to the story of Key's visit to Alabama http://alabamapioneers.com/francis-scott-key-close-friendship-alabama-governor-gayles-wife-daughter/#sthash.QKr5jQXs.dpbs ). Most of this north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=578
#61 LACKLAND STREET
named for Samuel Houston Lackland, one of the founders of Mobile's Azalea Trail http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310summer07/hinds/history.htmland a staunch supporter of Dauphin Island for many years. Most of this north to south street in NW of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link >http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105033426
(the following listing of Dauphin Island's streets is found in S. Blake McNeely's book, THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA.http://www.southalabama.edu/mccallarchives/guides_to_collections/mcneely/mcneely.shtml
I have added the streets' locations in relation to the three-way-stop at LeMoyne and Bienville , a Wikipedia link for the street's namesake and a Find-A-Grave link for the namesake if it applies.)
A Committee on Nomenclature of which Mr. Stephens G. Croom
(Stephens G. Croom [Find-A-Grave link https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271696 ] was born in 1906. Initially, Croom was active in the utility industry, but ultimately devoted forty years of his life to building a successful career in the insurance business. As a key member of the USS Alabama Development Committee Board, Stephens played a pivotal role in bringing the South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama to Mobile and developing the site into a major tourist attraction. Both Stephens and his wife, Velma Lassiter Croom[Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271720 ], were politically and civically active in Mobile society. Velma served as the president of the Junior League of Mobile, Inc., from 1950 to 1951. Stephens G. Croom died in 1992.) was Chairman, carefully selected names which are significant in the long, romantic and colorful history of this Island which played a vital part in the settlement of North America and which is being developed as one of America's greatest resort, retirement and recreational areas.
The Boulevards, Avenues, Lanes and Places run east and west. Drives, Streets and Courts run north and south. All names are arranged alphabetically, beginning at the Fort Gaines Park on the East and at the Sand Dunes on the South. The names of Places and Lanes begin with the same letter as the names of the streets with which they intersect- such names are arranged alphabetically southward from Bienville Boulevard. Names selected are significant to Dauphin Island.
A house numbering system was also developed whereby lots on the Avenues, Lanes and Places are given numbers corresponding with the overall numbering on Bienville Boulevard. The lots on the Drives, Streets and Courts will be numbered in accord with the numbering system on LeMoyne Drive.
#1: ADMIRAL SEMMES AVENUE
named for Admiral Raphael Semmes, one of America's best known American naval officers, a respected citizen of Mobile who commanded the renowned Confederate ship, ALABAMA. This east-to-west street is located SE of the 3-way stop between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Semmes
Find-a-grave link for Admiral Semmes http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21356
#2: ALABAMA AVENUE
named for the sovereign State of Alabama whose Governor Gordon Persons(Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
made the decision to build the Dauphin Island Bridge providing a substantial investment in the bridge was made by property purchasers on the Island making this development possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
This east-to-west street is located south of the 3-way stop. It begins just east of its intersection with Iberville Drive and continues west to Narvaez Street.
#3: ANNANDALE STREET
named for the ancestral home of one of those who spent years of service on behalf of Isle Dauphine.(It is the opinion of this writer that this refers to Forney Johnston. The Johnston family claims that they originated in Annandale, Scotland http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Johnston )This north-to-south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Apalache Avenue on the north and Admiral Semmes on the south.
#4: APALACHE AVENUE named for the Apalache Indian tribe living in the neighborhood of Mobile, which sent its chief to Isle Dauphine along with twenty-three other Indian Nations to sing their calumet of peace to Monsieur de L'Epinet, Governor General of Louisiana.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay ( ed. note: The Apalaches were originally from the vicinity of present-day Tallahassee but were victims of the greatest known Indian slave raid ever conducted in North America in 1704 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee_massacre . They were enslaved by the English from Charleston and their Indian allies. Those that escaped,being converts to Roman Catholicism, sought sanctuary from the French on Mobile Bay and received refuge. The Apalachee River in the Mobile Delta takes its name from this East Florida tribe.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee#Spanish_missions_and_18th-century_war ) This east-to-west street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west.
#5: AUDUBON STREET
named for the great artist, John James Audubon, who is said to have painted the hummingbird https://www.audubon.org/news/what-mr-audubon-thought-hummingbirds
in the famous Birds of America while visiting in Mobile.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_James_Audubon This north-to-south street is east of the 3-way stop and runs from Cavalier Circle on Colony Cove north of Bienville to Audubon Place on the south. Find-A-Grave link for Audubon http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6102721
#6 BEAUREGARD STREET
named for Pierre G.T. Beauregard, an engineer officer in the U.S. Army who as a captain was in charge of Gulf Coast defenses when Fort Gaines was built and who later became one of the ranking generals in the Confederate Army.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._T._Beauregard This north to south street is located SE of the 3-way stop. In begins on the north at Apalache Avenue and ends on the south at Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4417
#7 BIENVILLE BOULEVARD
named for Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the founder of Mobile, who spent much of his time at his Dauphin Island headquarters, Dauphin Island being the port of entry from France to the New World. Bienville is said to have had extraordinary charm and real genius for diplomatic relations with the Indian Nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville This main east to west street begins at Ft. Gaines, runs through the 3-way stop at LeMoyne Drive and ends at the West End Park. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#8 BILOXI AVENUE
named for the Biloxi Indians, a tribe living at the location Iberville chose on arrival from France as his first base for the exploration of the Mississippi River area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biloxi_people This east to west street is NW of the 3-way stop and begins at Major Farmer Street on the east and ends at Narvaez Street.
#9 BUCHANAN DRIVE
named for Admiral Franklin Buchanan, the first commander of the U.S. Military Academy at Annapolis, the highest ranking officer in the Confederate Navy, commander of the naval defenses of Mobile, director of the task of organizing a fleet of ironclad warships built in Selma for an attack on the Federal fleet blockading Mobile Bay.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Buchanan This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville. It begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=11124&page=gr
#10 CADILLAC AVENUE
named for Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, appointed by the French government to succeed Bienville as second Governor of Louisiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_la_Mothe_Cadillac
This east to west street is located two sections north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. The eastern secton runs from Grant Street on the east to Narvaez Street on the west. West of Salt Creek Cadillac begins again on the east of Pascagoula Street and continues west to the canals south of Druhan Island. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113583180
#11 CALUMET PARK
named in honor of America's greatest Indian "pow-wows" or peace conferences which was held on Dauphin Island by twenty-four Indian tribes who met for sixty days with French Governor L'Epinet and who smoked with him the calumet of peace. This great congress of Indian Nations was of far-reaching importance throughout the entire Mississippi Valley.https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PR14&lpg=PR14&dq=%22dauphin+island%22++CALUMET&source=bl&ots=y6rlm4tm9L&sig=WzjOYloqyyP53XbZc_pRBJG1yUU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMIzJe-uPKDyQIVh_M-Ch3stg5B#v=onepage&q=%22dauphin%20island%22%20%20CALUMET&f=false Calumet Park is the official name of the park that surrounds the Water Tower at the 3-way stop.
#12 CHATEAUGUE POINT (pronounced Shatto-gay)
it is here that the Bridge first touches Dauphin Island. Sieur de Chateaugue was one of the LeMoyne brothers and devoted much of his effort to the transfer of supplies from the King's Warehouse on Dauphin Island to the capital fort at Mobile. Time and new accents have reduced this geographical name on Dauphin Island to "Point Chugae" (pronounced Chu-gi) . The northern section of LeMoyne Drive ends at the present-day bridge on Point Chugae.https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Le_Moyne_de_Ch%C3%A2teauguay
Antoine Le Moyne de Châteauguay died March 21, 1747 in Rochefort, France.
#13 CHAUMONT AVENUE
named for Mme. Chaumont of France who owned a large plantation near Moss Point and who in 1720 was one of seven plantation owners who brought over more than 4,000 persons from Europe in seven ships and established them in the Louisiana province. T
This street is north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne. It begins at Key Street on the east and runs west to Omega Street.(according to this link the Chaumont Plantation was located up the Pascagoula River 37 miles from its mouth and one mile south of the present-day Wade Bridge http://www.jchgs-ms.org/PDF%20files/Jackson%20County%20timeline%20from%201812.pdf ) Madame Chaumont was Marie-Catherine Barre (1673-1762) . She was married to Antoine Chaumont. http://daniel.burgot.perso.neuf.fr/html/deportation/chaumont.htm#14 CHENAULT AVENUE
an ancestral name of French significance in the development of Dauphin Island. (This writer has been told that this street was actually named for WWII hero Claire Chennault. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=194 ) This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street.
#15 CLUBHOUSE AVENUE
named for the Fort Gaines Clubhouse which is situated midway along this roadway. http://www.dauphinislandhistory.org/photos_pcards/ft_gaines_club_expand.htm (this is no longer a Dauphin Island street name)
#16 CONDE AVENUE
named for the French military leader who was known as the Great Conde and who LaSalle and Tonty much needed support in France and help in maintaining supplies for their extensive expeditions. Louis II de Bourbon, Duc d’Enghien , Prince de Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Cond%C3%A9 This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street. He was buried in the Église at Valery, the traditional burial place of the Princes of Condé. The following link describes the tomb of THE GREAT CONDE http://www.tombes-sepultures.com/crbst_1024.html
#17 CONTI AVENUE
named for Prince de Conti, a French leader and also King of Poland, who actively supported the new Louisiana Province. He was especially loved in France because of his considerate personality and admired because of his courage and leadership.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Louis,_Prince_of_Conti This street is located NE of the 3-way stop and dead-ends only about one block west from its intersection with its intersection at the north end of Grant Street. Link to the burial place of Louis, Prince of Conti http://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article2763
#18 DELCHAMPS DRIVE
named for Oliver H. Delchamps(1900-1987), President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce when the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge were built. This street is NE of the 3-way stop. It is the last street intersecting with the east side of LeMoyne Drive before the bridge that takes you off the island. Mr. Delchamps and his brother founded the Delchamps Supermarket chain. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50550074
#19 DELUNA STREET
named for Tristan de Luna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trist%C3%A1n_de_Luna_y_Arellano , commander of a group of Vera Cruz colonists who in 1559 laid out a city on Mobile Bay that would have been the first city to be established with the present limits of the United States if it had lived. This street does not exist in the present-day on Dauphin Island and its original location, if any, is unknown. DeLuna returned to the Yucatan where he served as governor until his death in 1571. Link to the discovery of a DeLuna shipwreck near Pensacola http://uwf.edu/cassh/departments/anthropology-and-archaeology/research/faculty-and-staff-projects/maritime/emanuel-point-shipwreck/
#20 DESOTO AVENUE
named for Hernando de Soto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto, Spanish governor of Cuba, the most famous of the explorers of the American South and conqueror of the Mobile Indians at Mauvilla. This east to west street is north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. It begins at DeSoto Drive on the east and goes west past its intersection with LeVert Street. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#21 DEWBERRY STREET
named for J.M. Dewberry who was one of the pioneers in efforts to connect Dauphin Island with the mainland of Mobile County. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. In 1914 the Dauphin Island Improvement Co., J.M. Dewberry, President, contracted with Holabird & Roche Architects of Chicago to prepare plans for a 200 room fireproof hotel to be erected on Dauphin Island. The following link is to a PDF file from the Dauphin Island History Archive of the October 25, 1957 DAUPHIN ISLAND NEWS. On page 5 is an article about Miss Leola Dewberry, Mr. Dewberry's daughter. She talks about visiting the island in the early 1900s and her father's three attempts to build a bridge to the island. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/dinews/din10251957_8pgs.pdf
#22 EPINET STREET (pronounced Ep-i-nay)
named for L'Epinet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay, successor to Cadillac as governor of Louisiana, who immediately began to repair the damage of Cadillac's governorship by making friends of the twenty-four Indian tribes which visited him at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. After leaving Mobile Bay in 1718, L'Epinet was appointed Governor of Grenada. While visiting the Governor of the West Indies on Martinique in January of 1721, L'Epinet died.http://www.knowla.org/entry/1464/
#23 FORNEY JOHNSTON DRIVE
named for Forney Johnston http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6641xz5 , the son of Alabama's twice governor Joseph F. Johnston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Johnston , and the able and patient leader of the group which for half a century retained composite title to Dauphin Island as a requisite for its development as one of America's leading seashore recreational destinations.
This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville Boulevard. It begins north of D'Olive Avenue and runs south to past Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Joseph F. Johnston http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=7342162&page=gr
#24 FORT CHARLOTTE AVENUE
named for Fort Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Charlotte
, the English name given in 1763 to the newly acquired Fort Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde in Mobile as an honor to Queen Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Mecklenburg-Strelitz , the wife of King George III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom
of England. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on Bienville Boulevard and curves southwest to its intersection with Hernando Street.
#25 FORT CONDE PLACE
named for Fort Conde de la Mobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde which was the name given to the enlarged Mobile fortress in 1720 and which at that time occupied the entire area between Royal, St. Emanuel, Church and Theatre Streets. This north to south street is NE of the 3-way street. It begins north of its intersection with Conde Avenue and goes south to Bienville Boulevard.
#26 FORT GAINES TRAIL
named for Fort Gaines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gaines_(Alabama) built on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island to protect the bay and any ships taking refuge there after President Monroe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe protested Europe's interference with affairs in the United States. Prior to the bridge being built in the early 1950s, the main road on the island was the FORT GAINES TRAIL. There is no Fort Gaines Trail on present-day Dauphin Island.
#27 FORT LOUIS COURT
named for Fort Louis de la Mobile http://fortwiki.com/Fort_Louis_de_la_Louisiane , built in 1702 at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site on the Mobile River and established as the capital of French Louisiana. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs only one block south of its intersection with Bienville Boulevard near Cadillac Square.
#28 FORT MIMS PLACE
named for Fort Mims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre on the Alabama River near present-day Stockton, scene of a massacre by the Creek Indians in 1813, a barbaric act that aroused the entire nation. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#29 FORT ROSALIE PLACE
named for Fort Rosalie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rosalie , now the city of Natchez, a French fort on the Mississippi River built by Bienville in 1715 and named in honor of the wife of Pontchartrain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Ph%C3%A9lypeaux . This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#30 FORT STODDERT
named for Fort Stoddert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stoddert built on Mobile River just above Ellicott's Stone (near Mount Vernon, Alabama) as a stronghold for the United States as this country watched the Spaniards who then held Mobile. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#31 FORT TENSAS PLACE (pronounced Tensaw)
named for the fortifications on Tensas River which for many years was the most important navigable stream leading to Mobile Bay from the inland areas.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#32 FORT TOMBECBE PLACE
named for Fort Tombecbe http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3080 which was built by Bienville in 1735 on the Tombigbee River.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#33 GENERAL ANDERSON PLACE
named for General Charles D. Anderson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_DeWitt_Anderson , commander of Fort Gaines at the time it was lost to the Federal forces in battles preliminary to the capture of Mobile near the end of the Civil War. This west to east dead end street begins on its western end at its intersection with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42498696
#34 GENERAL GAINES PLACE(ed. note: Of all the mistakes in this listing of Dauphin Island street names, THIS IS THE WORST! Corrections to the original text will follow.)
named for General George S. Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1476 who operated a large Trading House at St. Stephens, an important outpost in the young United States, while Mobile was still held by the Spanish during the early days on the nineteenth century. As a trader, General Gaines was one of the first business men to see the need of the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway as he in 1810 was barging supplies down the Ohio River from Pittsburg, then up the Tennessee River to Calbert's [sic-ed. note: Colbert's] Ferry from where his goods were carried overland to the Tombigbee River (history of Cotton Gin Port, Ms.http://files.usgwarchives.net/ms/monroe/history/cottongp.txt ) and then barged on downstream to St. Stephens. (ed. note: The biographical information on George S. Gaines is correct, howeveer, Gaines was never a general and he is not the namesake for Fort Gaines. That honor goes to his brother, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3063 .
This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive.
Find-A-Grave link for General E.P. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10656863 Find-A-Grave link for his brother, George S. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26236017
#35 GENERAL GORGAS DRIVE
named for General William Crawford Gorgas http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1048 , the only native Alabamian to be placed in the American Hall of Fame, a Mobilian who destroyed yellow fever in the Canal Zone, thereby making possible the completion of the Panama Canal. This north to south street begins on the north at its intersection with Fort Charlotte Avenue and dead ends just beyond its intersection with General Wilkinson Place. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6843719&page=gr
#36 GENERAL LEDBETTER PLACE [sic- ed. note, should read "LEADBETTER"]
named for General Danville Ledbetter http://www.geni.com/people/Brig-General-Danville-Leadbetter-CSA/6000000012567400042 , a West Point graduate who superintended Fort Morgan repairs and the building of Fort Gaines, who was in charge of building of the Mobile Custom House (now a municipally owned building housing the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and other important organizations and institutions[ed. note:demolished in 1963 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Campbell_United_States_Courthouse#/media/File:Custom_House_in_Mobile_1894.jpg ] ), and who later became a general in the Confederate Army. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11008
#37 GENERAL PAGE PLACE
named for General R.L. Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lucian_Page , heroic commander of Fort Morgan at the time of its surrender to Federal troops during the Civil War. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11042
#38 GENERAL WILKINSON PLACE
named for General James Wilkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilkinson who occupied Mobile, seizing it from the Spanish during the War of 1812 because of Spain's alliance with England. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14093089 (ed. note: The estate of General Wilkinson made a claim to having been deeded Dauphin Island during the Spanish regime but it was denied by the Private Land Claims Commission of Alabama in about 1838)
#39 GORDON PERSONS OVERSEAS HIGHWAY
named for Gordon Persons who was Governor of Alabama when the Dauphin Island Bridge was built. (Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
#40 GRANT STREET
named for John Grant who in 1839 secured permission from the Alabama legislature to dredge the "Cedar Point Channel" and operate it as a toll passage. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KNIPPERS-CLARENCE/2006-11/1164033069 This north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. This street begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay at Carolyn Circle and ends on the south at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=28227297
#41 HAMILTON PLACE
named for Peter Joseph Hamilton, a great student of Mobile history, author of "Colonial Mobile," one of the best known books on historic Mobile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Hamilton This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94069092
#42 HERMES PLACE (pronounced Her-mees)
named for the British warship "Hermes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(1811) destroyed in an attack on Fort Bowyer (where Fort Morgan now stands) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bowyer
when a British fleet of thirty-eight warships attacked Dauphin Island and the fort after the Battle of New Orleans in the "War of 1812." There have been seven other warships in the British Navy carrying this renowned name since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes (ed. note: Here's another place where D.I.'s "Founding Fathers" "flubbed the dub." The Hermes was not part of the large British fleet that attacked Fort Bowyer during THE SECOND BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in February of 1815. The "Hermes" sank during the FIRST BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in September of 1814 http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3582 ) This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#43 HERNANDO STREET
named for Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer who set out to conquer and colonize Florida for Spain, but who instead won fame by the discovery of the Mississippi River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard and ends at its intersection with Hernando Place on the south near the shore of Pelican Bay. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#44 HITCHCOCK PLACE
named for Judge Henry Hitchcock, secretary of the Alabama Territory and acting governor who did much of the work on the first Alabama constitution and was elected its first attorney general, later becoming U.S. attorney for the southern district of Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hitchcock This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49077311
#45 HOUSTON PLACE
named for General Samuel Houston, one of the greatest men in Texas history and a distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=510
#46 HUBERT STREET (pronounced Hu-bare)
named for Marc Antoine Hubert, the commissary-general of Louisiana from 1716-1720, who lived on Dauphin Island from 1716 to 1718. https://books.google.com/books?id=0S6n0VOSXE8C&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=%22marc+antoine+hubert%22+1717&source=bl&ots=tGxi3okg2i&sig=4ACcvc92Xt2KaZ90PhmnufMb320&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwA2oVChMIvsGlxICYyQIVTHs-Ch3elQmQ#v=onepage&q=%22marc%20antoine%20hubert%22%201717&f=false This short north to south street is located NE of the 3-way stop. Its north end begins near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and ends on the south at its intersection with Cadillac Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Hubert was not found.
#47 HUITRES PLACE (pronounced Wee-tre)
named for Pointe-aux-Huitres, meaning Oyster Point because of the great abundance of oysters found there by the French, and now called Cedar Point. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/fleur/fleur9-11.pdf This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#48 HUNLEY PLACE
named for Horace L. Hunley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Lawson_Hunley , the financier for "THE HUNLEY" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine), a submarine built in Mobile and the first one credited with sinking a warship. This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10886
#49 IBERVILLE DRIVE
named for Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Le_Moyne_d%27Iberville , chosen by the French king https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France to carry out LaSalle's dream of establishing a French colony on the Gulf Coast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas , who persuaded the French king to let him establish his colony on Mobile Bay at Isle Dauphine and on Mobile River at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site . As French Commander for the New World, he sent his young twenty-one year old brother, Bienville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville , to establish the fort at Mobile and the base at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. This street begins at its intersection with Alabama Avenue and ends south of its intersection with Itasca Place near the Isle Dauphine Golf Course. Find-A-Grave link for Iberville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149735676 Find-A-Grave link for Bienville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#50 INDIAN PLACE
named for the twenty-four Indian tribes which lived peacefully near Mobile and which maintained close friendship with the French in Mobile. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at its intersection with Hernando Street and goes west to a dead end past its intersection with Iberville Drive. Penicaut's https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpe23 commentary from page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET: "These savages are named the Chaqtos, the Taouachas, the Apalaches, the Tinssas, the Mobilians, the Tomez, the Gensdes Fourches [McWilliams' footnote 13: The first seven tribes named are small tribes living near Fort Louis de la Mobile. The Naniabas, who lived at The Forks (FOURCHES) of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, are omitted from this list. Surely they come to sing the calumet to the new governor and share in French largess. The deduction is that Gens des Fourches were the Naniabas) the Chactas, the Pascagoulas, the Passacolas, the Capinans, the Colapissas, the Bayagoulas, the Oumas, the Tonicas, the Chaouchas, the Natchez, the Chicachas, the Nassitoches, the Yatacez, the Alabamons, the Canapouces, and others [McWilliams' footnote 14: I have twenty-two tribes listed. But I had to supply Chactas, Pascagoulas and Passacolas from Spofford, p. 372. Margry has nineteen in his list (DECOUVERTES, V, 547) Several of these tribes had come from a great distance: the Chicachas from north Mississippi and Tennessee; the Nassitoches and Yatacez from the Red River; the Canapouces(Catawba) from Carolina. But French presents no doubt paid them well for the effort.]
These calumets of peace lasted more than two months because the savages, being too badly separated one from another, could not all be there at the same time. They were all well received by M. de l'Epinet, who sent them back home with presents." Link to page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=%22fleur+de+lys+and+calumet%22+%22fourches%22&source=bl&ots=y6rlv0sliT&sig=TVCCNZF7p5wLf2H3GVzils0ajiM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIhrbHuvKcyQIVSxo-Ch3h6Q3H#v=onepage&q=%22fleur%20de%20lys%20and%20calumet%22%20%22fourches%22&f=false
#51 INEZ PLACE
named for the book "Inez: A Tale of The Alamo," (link to the novel's text https://archive.org/details/ineztaleofalamo00evaniala link to Encyclopedia of Alabama entry http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-2187 ) written by Mobile's famous writer, Augusta Evans Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Jane_Evans . This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link for Augusta Evans Wilson http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=30565410
#53 INFANTA PLACE
named for the "heir apparent" to the French throne when Isle Dauphine was first settled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Dauphin. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Link to the burial place of Louis, the Grand Dauphin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St_Denis
#54 INGRAHAM PLACE
named for Joseph Holt Ingraham https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Holt_Ingraham , rector of St. John's Church in Mobile http://www.stjohnsmobile.org/history_info around the year 1800[ed. note: this date is a mistake. Ingraham came to Mobile in 1855 at age 46 to become rector of St. Johns.], and who wrote three successful religious novels. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12212059
#55 IROQUOIS PLACE
named for the Iroquois Indianshttp://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Rene_R._de_La_Salle , the French name for a once powerful Confederacy of six North American Indian Tribes that came into early conflict with the French and were a barrier to their southward advance from Canada. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#56 IRVING PLACE
named for Washington Irving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving , distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=531
#57 ISABELLA POINT
named for Isabella de Bobadilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In%C3%A9s_de_Bobadilla , the wife of Hernando DeSoto, Isabella is said to have waited in vain at Dauphin Island for the return of DeSoto who was killed while on one of his extensive exploration trips through the Mississippi Valley. Isabella had been escorted to the Mobile Bay area by Captain Maldonado, the Spanish fleet commander in support of DeSoto. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=151099253 (ed. note: Isabella Point was enlarged to build Dauphin Island's JEREMIAH A. DENTON AIRPORT.)#
#58 ITASCA PLACE
named for the U.S. ship "Itasca" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Itasca_(1861) of four guns which was among the fleet of wooden ships blockading Mobile Bay in the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#59 JEFFERIES BEACH
named for A. Beverly Jefferies who was Chairman of the Mobile County Board of Revenue and Road Commissioners when plans were formulated for building the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66928804 (ed. note: At present, the original location of Jefferies Beach is unknown to this writer."Beverly Jefferies Highway" is located east of Citronelle.)
#60 KEY STREET
named for Francis Scott Key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key , author of "The Star Spangled Banner," who was a goodwill ambassador from the United States government to Alabama when President Jackson had enraged the Alabama governor by sending Federal troops to enforce an Indian treaty(link to the story of Key's visit to Alabama http://alabamapioneers.com/francis-scott-key-close-friendship-alabama-governor-gayles-wife-daughter/#sthash.QKr5jQXs.dpbs ). Most of this north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=578
#61 LACKLAND STREET
named for Samuel Houston Lackland, one of the founders of Mobile's Azalea Trail http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310summer07/hinds/history.htmland a staunch supporter of Dauphin Island for many years. Most of this north to south street in NW of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link >http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105033426
Thursday, November 5, 2015
DAUPHIN ISLAND RELATED IMAGES FROM WASHINGTON,D.C. including The Washington Navy Yard (The Nation's Oldest Military Installation) and the Congressional Cemetery (The Nation's Only National Cemetery Before the Civil War)
"Torpedoes? DAMN! Full speed ahead!"
Located near the White House on 17th Street NW, this monument was the first ever erected in D.C. in honor of a naval hero. The statue and four howitzers were cast from bronze which came from the propeller of the USS HARTFORD. The monument was dedicated in 1881 during a ceremony attended by President James Garfield. Wikipedia link to a history of this monument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_David_G._Farragut
This 7 inch double banded Brooke rifle was produced at the Selma Naval Gun Foundry. It was one of four Brookes which armed the CSS Tennessee during the Battle of Mobile Bay. The four guns were kept as trophies by the U.S. Navy and are on display in front of the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.
6.4 inch Double Banded Brookes taken from the CSS Tennessee.https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/guns-of-the-css-tennessee/ 
The first thing one sees as you approach the sidewalk in front of the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard is the anchor of the USS Hartford. A second anchor from the Hartford is located inside Ft. Gaines on Dauphin Island.
The anchor of the USS Hartford is on the left at the front of the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard
An entire section at the front of the Navy Museum is dedicated to Admiral Raphael Semmes, the CSS Alabama, the CSS Tennessee and the Battle of Mobile Bay.
The wheel of the USS Hartford
Visitors to the Navy Museum are allowed to hold the wheel of the USS Hartford.
A model of the CSS Tennessee at the Navy Museum. The Captain of the CSS Tennessee, Franklin Buchanan, commanded the Washington Navy Yard before resigning to join the Confederate Navy.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Buchanan
A model depicting how a ten man crew manned a naval gun on the USS Hartford.
The USS Tecumseh which now rests on the bottom of Mobile Bay between Dauphin Island and Ft. Morgan is recognized at the Navy Museum with this nameplate.
A painting of the sinking of the USS Tecumseh at the Union fleet approached Fort Morgan.
The section of the Navy Museum dedicated to the USS Hartford.
The Confederate commander of Ft. Gaines' letter of surrender
Admiral Farragut's sword
Close-up of Farragut's sword
A model of the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) which was commanded by Catesby ap Roger Jones, later superintendent of the Selma Naval Foundry which built the CSS Tennessee and some of its Brooke guns. Admiral Buchanan, commander of the CSS Tennessee, had commanded the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) at the Battle of Hampton Roads(the U.S. Navy's greatest defeat prior to Pearl Harbor) where he was shot. While recovering, command of the ship was turned over to Catesby ap Roger Jones.
The bell of the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac), commanded by Catesby ap Roger Jones.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catesby_ap_Roger_Jones
Pushmataha is the namesake for Dauphin Island's Pushmataha Court.
Alexander Dallas Bache placed granite survey markers for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey on Dauphin Island in 1847. Beach erosion destroyed the site of one of the markers and it was moved inside Ft. Gaines. It now stands there as the oldest such marker on the entire Gulf Coast.
The man who designed the Bache monument in the Congressional Cemetery is considered one of "TRINITY OF AMERICA ARCHITECTS."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hobson_Richardson
Commodore Daniel Patterson commanded the U.S. Navy's New Orleans station during the War of 1812. During the summer of 1814, Patterson visited Dauphin Island to investigate a grounded ship while large numbers of British ships patrolled the Gulf and Dauphin Island was already being used as part of the supply chain for the Royal Navy.
Even Commodore Patterson's wife has a Dauphin Island connection. Her great uncle, Oliver Pollock, was the agent for the Continental Congress in New Orleans during the American Revolution. Oliver Pollock financed the outfitting of the USS West Florida which was the only Continental Navy vessel to participate in the Spanish Navy's 1780 Siege of Mobile which was part of the Galvez campaign to conquer British West Florida.
One of John Quincy Adams' greatest achievements was negotiating the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819. Under Article 2 of that treaty, Spain finally relinquished all its claims to Dauphin Island and what had been Spanish West Florida.
Friday, October 30, 2015
The next time you take the Ft. Morgan ferry, please keep in mind that somewhere on the bottom of the bay between Dauphin Island and the Ft. Morgan Peninsula rests the prototype for the first successful combat submarine in all human history, AMERICAN DIVER. The life the man who designed and supervised the construction of that submarine along with the HUNLEY in a machine shop which still stands on Water Street, Mobilian James McClintock, is one of the most amazing stories of all the extraordinary tales associated with the mouth of the bay over the past three centuries. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amazing-if-true-story-submarine-mechanic-who-blew-himself-then-surfaced-secret-agent-queen-victoria-180951905/?no-ist
MASONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUNLEY
http://www.knightstemplar.org/KnightTemplar/articles/20141127.htm
AMERICAN DIVER
http://www.hunley.org/main_index.asp?CONTENT=DIVER
HISTORY OF THE HUNLEY
http://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/h-l-hunley/the-h-l-hunley-in-historical-context.html
Here's a link to the 1876 British Consul's report on commerce through the Port of Mobile. It includes details about lighterage expenses and breakwater construction at the lower anchorage at Navy Cove. Consul Cridland describes plans to dredge the Dog River Bar and to extend a thirteen foot ship channel from the city wharves to the lower anchorage. In addition to lighterage expenses, costs of pilotage, towage, stowage, tonnage dues, harbor dues and ballast discharge expenses are included. Of the 232 ships arriving at Mobile that year, 38 were British. Statistics are included which show a 15% increase in cotton exports along with statistics pertaining to 8 other commodities being exported from Alabama at that time. Statistics for the 27 different commodities imported into Alabama include everything from bacon to whiskey. Consul Cridland's report includes a detailed description of Alabama's post-Reconstruction economy along with plans to exploit the coal fields at Tuscaloosa.
https://books.google.com/books?id=xcTNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA370&dq=breakwater+%22navy+cove%22+%22lower+anchorage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAGoVChMIpvWu5rnqyAIVRTo-Ch1wBws4#v=onepage&q=breakwater%20%22navy%20cove%22%20%22lower%20anchorage%22&f=false
British Consul Cridland's 1878 Report for the Port of Mobile
https://books.google.com/books?id=8MbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA693&lpg=PA693&dq=%22mobile%22+%22consul+cridland%22+1876&source=bl&ots=wkfyo8wyuc&sig=M4nPDbiCHT_j3-JA7SybmQdt-yY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAmoVChMIyamfx7fqyAIVhFQ-Ch3MbQsO#v=onepage&q=%22mobile%22%20%22consul%20cridland%22%201876&f=false
British Consul Cridland's 1880 Report for the Port of Mobile
https://books.google.com/books?id=2j9EAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA602&dq=%22mobile+bay%22+%22consul+cridland%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAWoVChMI56yOqLDqyAIVRnQ-Ch1AOAOz#v=onepage&q=%22mobile%20bay%22%20%22consul%20cridland%22&f=false
Consul Cridland's 1863 appointment as British consul at Mobile after Consul Magee was caught smuggling money out of Mobile on a British man-of-war. https://books.google.com/books?id=07QKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA268&lpg=PA268&dq=british+consul+cridland&source=bl&ots=JlwP8faIVH&sig=UZrRSsqMmL5rQNU9Sx-lKvFCy9I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIu8fljL7qyAIVAzU-Ch2zIwbS#v=onepage&q=british%20consul%20cridland&f=false
The oldest U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey marker on the Gulf Coast (1847) is inside Ft. Gaines. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/brs/cgind19.htm
MASONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUNLEY
http://www.knightstemplar.org/KnightTemplar/articles/20141127.htm
AMERICAN DIVER
http://www.hunley.org/main_index.asp?CONTENT=DIVER
HISTORY OF THE HUNLEY
http://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/h-l-hunley/the-h-l-hunley-in-historical-context.html
Here's a link to the 1876 British Consul's report on commerce through the Port of Mobile. It includes details about lighterage expenses and breakwater construction at the lower anchorage at Navy Cove. Consul Cridland describes plans to dredge the Dog River Bar and to extend a thirteen foot ship channel from the city wharves to the lower anchorage. In addition to lighterage expenses, costs of pilotage, towage, stowage, tonnage dues, harbor dues and ballast discharge expenses are included. Of the 232 ships arriving at Mobile that year, 38 were British. Statistics are included which show a 15% increase in cotton exports along with statistics pertaining to 8 other commodities being exported from Alabama at that time. Statistics for the 27 different commodities imported into Alabama include everything from bacon to whiskey. Consul Cridland's report includes a detailed description of Alabama's post-Reconstruction economy along with plans to exploit the coal fields at Tuscaloosa.
https://books.google.com/books?id=xcTNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA370&dq=breakwater+%22navy+cove%22+%22lower+anchorage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAGoVChMIpvWu5rnqyAIVRTo-Ch1wBws4#v=onepage&q=breakwater%20%22navy%20cove%22%20%22lower%20anchorage%22&f=false
British Consul Cridland's 1878 Report for the Port of Mobile
https://books.google.com/books?id=8MbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA693&lpg=PA693&dq=%22mobile%22+%22consul+cridland%22+1876&source=bl&ots=wkfyo8wyuc&sig=M4nPDbiCHT_j3-JA7SybmQdt-yY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAmoVChMIyamfx7fqyAIVhFQ-Ch3MbQsO#v=onepage&q=%22mobile%22%20%22consul%20cridland%22%201876&f=false
British Consul Cridland's 1880 Report for the Port of Mobile
https://books.google.com/books?id=2j9EAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA602&dq=%22mobile+bay%22+%22consul+cridland%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAWoVChMI56yOqLDqyAIVRnQ-Ch1AOAOz#v=onepage&q=%22mobile%20bay%22%20%22consul%20cridland%22&f=false
Consul Cridland's 1863 appointment as British consul at Mobile after Consul Magee was caught smuggling money out of Mobile on a British man-of-war. https://books.google.com/books?id=07QKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA268&lpg=PA268&dq=british+consul+cridland&source=bl&ots=JlwP8faIVH&sig=UZrRSsqMmL5rQNU9Sx-lKvFCy9I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIu8fljL7qyAIVAzU-Ch2zIwbS#v=onepage&q=british%20consul%20cridland&f=false
The oldest U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey marker on the Gulf Coast (1847) is inside Ft. Gaines. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/brs/cgind19.htm
Monday, October 26, 2015
The entrance to Mobile Bay has seen its share of tragedies but probably none as horrific as what occurred after July 11, 1853 when the barque MILTIADES sailed into the bay and anchored off the Dog River Bar. The bilge water inside this ship contained the mosquito wigglers of the species which carries yellow fever and by the time the frost of November killed off these mosquitos, 1331 Alabamians rested in their graves. http://alabamapioneers.com/yellow-fever-mobile-alabama/#sthash.EIAxlfYu.dpbs
DAUPHIN ISLAND DURING WWII: The entrance to Mobile Bay acted as a safe haven for Allied convoys sailing through the German submarine infested waters of the Gulf of Mexico during WWII. The following quote comes from a speech made by Lieutenant Commander Harry L. Hargrove, U.S.C.G. Temporary Reserve and President of the Mobile Bay Bar Pilots Association. The occasion for the speech was the decommissioning ceremonies for the Mobile Bar Pilot vessels which had served the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII.
"Our pilots have magnificently performed their arduous duties and have shared substantially in achieving victory. They have done their full share in that enormous nationwide job, handling, during 1944, 120,000 assignments to bring our ships safely into dock and guide them out to sea again, under the most adverse conditions. During the height of the submarine menace in 1942 and 1943, the channel lights were dimmed and other wartime precautions—common to all ports-were observed in Mobile. This meant a double load of risk and responsibility for our pilots. Our harbor, with its narrow channel, is becoming more crowded with returning ships each day. Our great and steadily increasing problem is what to do with the ships. We are often at a loss to find docking space for the big vessels that continue to arrive at this port since the end of the war, at a rapid rate."
One of these Mobile bay pilot boats which served as a U.S. Coast Guard ship during WWII, the 90 foot 2-masted schooner ALABAMA, still sails out of the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_(schooner)
Anyone interested in understanding the incredible historical significance of Dauphin Island must read this important document prepared for the Historic American Engineering Record to describe the story of the Mobile Bar Pilots' Vessel ALABAMA. This paper includes the 300 year history of the extremely dangerous job performed by the pilots of Mobile Bay along with the story of many of pilot vessels those men have owned. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ma/ma1300/ma1326/data/ma1326data.pdf
The Mobile Bay Bar Pilots' vessel ALABAMA (1926-1966) still sails out of the harbor of Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. www.theblackdogtallships.com
DAUPHIN ISLAND DURING WWII: The entrance to Mobile Bay acted as a safe haven for Allied convoys sailing through the German submarine infested waters of the Gulf of Mexico during WWII. The following quote comes from a speech made by Lieutenant Commander Harry L. Hargrove, U.S.C.G. Temporary Reserve and President of the Mobile Bay Bar Pilots Association. The occasion for the speech was the decommissioning ceremonies for the Mobile Bar Pilot vessels which had served the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII.
"Our pilots have magnificently performed their arduous duties and have shared substantially in achieving victory. They have done their full share in that enormous nationwide job, handling, during 1944, 120,000 assignments to bring our ships safely into dock and guide them out to sea again, under the most adverse conditions. During the height of the submarine menace in 1942 and 1943, the channel lights were dimmed and other wartime precautions—common to all ports-were observed in Mobile. This meant a double load of risk and responsibility for our pilots. Our harbor, with its narrow channel, is becoming more crowded with returning ships each day. Our great and steadily increasing problem is what to do with the ships. We are often at a loss to find docking space for the big vessels that continue to arrive at this port since the end of the war, at a rapid rate."
One of these Mobile bay pilot boats which served as a U.S. Coast Guard ship during WWII, the 90 foot 2-masted schooner ALABAMA, still sails out of the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_(schooner)
Anyone interested in understanding the incredible historical significance of Dauphin Island must read this important document prepared for the Historic American Engineering Record to describe the story of the Mobile Bar Pilots' Vessel ALABAMA. This paper includes the 300 year history of the extremely dangerous job performed by the pilots of Mobile Bay along with the story of many of pilot vessels those men have owned. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ma/ma1300/ma1326/data/ma1326data.pdf
The Mobile Bay Bar Pilots' vessel ALABAMA (1926-1966) still sails out of the harbor of Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. www.theblackdogtallships.com
Saturday, August 22, 2015
MONDAY, MAY 1, 1769: THE NINTH ARMED AMPHIBIOUS INVASION OF DAUPHIN ISLAND
On Monday afternoon, May 1, 1769, the ninth of Dauphin Island's nineteen armed amphibious invasions occurred with the violent eviction of West Florida Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne's 4 employees from the island by two boatloads of men consisting of six British Mobilians and a slave led by Major Robert Farmar. Nobody was shot or killed but Browne's laborer, William Kimbe, was injured in the lower back by Major Farmar's "stout stick" and Browne's overseer, Richard Hartley, cut his cheek and tore his jacket when he attempted to come to Kimbe's aid plus both of them "were thrown bodily out of the house"; then had loaded muskets stuck in their faces and were threatened with being thrown into jail. This was but one episode in a seventy five year long legal struggle waged by Major Farmar and the heirs of his estate to lay claim to Dauphin Island. It is entirely possible that an entire forest of trees was consumed to produce all the paper necessary to print the efforts made by Major Farmar and his descendents to recover their claim to the island. For that reason this writer has found it impossible to write a brief description doing justice to the complexity of Major Robert Farmar's claim to ownership of Dauphin Island. It is therefore necessary to give the reader some background information.
Speculation in West Florida land offered a lucrative opportunity at the time of the advent of the Union Jack on Dauphin Island in 1763. Not only did Major Robert Farmar evict every French government official and French soldier from his new colony of West Florida but for over a year he was the head of the government and a willing customer for any emigrating Frenchman who might not be quite ready to pledge his allegiance to King George III and maybe have a little land to sell. Farmar claimed he never mixed public fundswith his private fortune(acquired as prize money for his participation in the British conquest of Havana),however, he was forced to face a court martial that accused him of misuse of the British government's money and resources including embezzlement, profiting from public service and overcharging for profit. By the time Farmar had settled into retirement at his home near present-day Stockton in the late 1770s, he had accumulated land title to over 10,000 acres of West Florida with the location of the parcels ranging from Natchez all the way to present-day Baldwin County. Some of the acreage to which Farmar contended he possessed clear title included most of Dauphin Island and three-eighths of Horn Island but as the reader will soon find out, Major Farmar's title to Dauphin Island was doubtful even during his lifetime. Those doubts certainly did not matter to the descendants of Major Robert Farmar and when the United States finally raised its flag over Mobile Bay in the spring of 1813, the U.S. commissioners charged with resolving private land claims found that many Farmar descendants had returned to Mobile and were prepared to argue that they possessed a clear title to Dauphin Island, Horn Island as well as the remainder of the land composing Major Farmar's 10,000+ acre estate.
When Major Robert Farmar arrived on Dauphin Island in the fall of 1763 he began to mix his private business with his military service as the military head of the new British colony of West Florida which at that time included all the land south of the 31st parallel (a part of which now serves as our Alabama-Florida linefrom Flomaton to the Chattahoochee River) between the east bank of the Mississippi River and the Chattahoochee/Apalachicola River. Major Farmar set his eyes on Dauphin Island because of its abundant fresh drinking water, its strategic importance at the mouth of Mobile Bay and also for its potential as a cattle pen protected from raiding Indians by the water surrounding it. Up until that time, the area around Mobile Bay had never produced any form of cash crop for export other than the furs and skins traded from the Indians. The most valuable commodities from West Florida were live cattle (salt beef, tallow, hides) and lumber (tar, pitch, turpentine). Dauphin Island produced both commodities and had a harbor where these products could be readied for transportation to other ports. Dauphin Island was also an important "lightering" port for not only Mobile but for the entire coasting trade. Prior to the dredging of the ship channel, ocean going ships could not make it to Mobile or any other port on the Mississippi Sound. Ships drawing more than 13 feet of water could not cross the Sand Island bar and only very shallow draft boats could make it all the way to the wharf in Mobile. Cargo had to be transferred to shallow draft vessels around Dauphin Island in order for it to be delivered to the inland ports. In addition to that, Dauphin Island was the home of the harbor pilots who could safely guide ocean going ships across the bar and into the harbors of Mobile Point and Dauphin Island so that their cargoes could be transferred to the shallow draft vessels.
Very soon after his arrival in West Florida, Major Farmar showed his interest in Dauphin Island when he immediately assigned a corporal and six men to a station on the island to assist the French pilot who was the only resident. He also succeeded in obtaining bills of sale for most of the island from Frenchmen living in Mobile and also bought all the livestock on the island which included seventy-six cattle and three pigs. He had this livestock exchanged for two male slaves named Peter and Prince. At about the same time, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of West Florida, Montfort Browne, had selected Dauphin Island as the location of the royal grant of acreage he'd received forthe settlement of English and Irish emigrants he planned to recruit to sail to West Florida. On February 5, 1765, Major Farmar went before the Governor of West Florida Johnstone's council and challenged Lieutenant Governor Browne's royal order for acreage that Browne wanted to be located on Dauphin Island. Farmar had a chance to present his proof of purchase including his bills of sale and a petition for a formal grant of the island. The council rejected Major Farmar's evidence and ordered that Browne's petition to be granted Dauphin Island be accepted but they gave no reason for making their decision.
If you look at George Gauld's 1768 Dauphin Island map, you'll see a spot marked at about thelocation of the Indian Mounds which is labeled "Lt.Gov. Browne". This was probably the location of the house occupied by Browne's overseer, Richard Hartley.
Lieutenant Governor Browne moved very quickly to occupy the island. He ordered a corporal's guard to the island and seized about 100 head of cattle grazing there.
Major Farmar never accepted Governor Johnstone's decision against his ownership of the island but he was too busy to do anything about it. He was tied up during most of 1766 leading a military expedition up the Mississippi River to the Illinois country. When he returned, he was facing the court martial related to his alleged financial malfeasance during his tenure as military governor of West Florida in 1763-64.
King George III removed Governor Johnstone from office in 1767 and even though Lieutenant Governor Browne took Johnstone's place at the West Florida capital of Pensacola, Farmar was finally able to direct more attention to his Dauphin Island interests after he was acquitted of all his court martial charges on April 20, 1768. Farmar was elected to represent Mobile in Pensacola's colonial assembly in January of 1769 and by the beginning of April of that year, West Florida had a new governor in John Eliot. Governor Eliot immediately ordered an investigation of Lieutenant Governor Browne's administration and that was all Farmar needed to justify his forced eviction of Browne's men from Dauphin Island. Little did Farmer know when he set sail for the island from Mobile on May 1, that his new ally, West Florida Governor John Eliot, would commit suicide the next day.
Auburn professor Robert Rea in his book, MAJOR ROBERT FARMAR OF MOBILE, includes an excellent, detailed description of the violent eviction Major Farmar led to get the "trespassers" off of "his" island.
"On Monday, May 1, 1769, having returned to Mobile from Pensacola, Farmar gathered several determined friends aboard two boats and sailed down to Dauphin Island. His own party consisted of Dougal Campbell, now a Mobile merchant but formerly commissary at Mobile and one of Farmar's witnesses in the late court martial; Henry Litto or Latto, formerly skipper of the sloop JAMES, and much indebted to Farmar for employment; William Harris; and a Negro servant. On Dauphin Island were Richard Hartley, Browne's resident manager; William Kimbe, a laborer; Hartley's servant Robert Love; and a female housekeeper. At about two o'clock these men were seated at dinner in Hartley's house when they heard distant musket fire. Hartley dispatched Love to see if the shots might indicate the presence of a band of Indians, but the servant returned to report the approach of a boat. Hartley and Kimbe went down to the shore to meet their visitors and invited them to the house. Campbell told Hartley that they had come for oysters, and both parties began to walk up the beach to Hartley's house, formerly the residence of the harbor pilot. Shortly after leaving the beach, Hartley and Kimbe saw a second party of armed men who had apparently landed elsewhere. These were James Waugh, George Martin, and Thomas Gronow, good Mobilians who were no friends of Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne. Martin and Gronow reached the house ahead of the others, forcibly ejected Deborah Coughlin, the housekeeper, from the house and began to throw furniture out the door. Litto and Harris rushed to join their confederates and slammed the door against the confused pair of Browne's men.
"Turning to Farmar, Hartley asked if they had come to rob him, to which the major replied that the island was his. Together they entered the house, Hartley protesting and Farmar proclaiming his right to everything in sight. As kitchen furniture and utensils were rapidly disappearing out the window, Hartley ordered Kimbe to recover them, but Farmar and his friends seized Kimbe, and the major forcefully applied the end of his stout stick to the small of Kimbe's back (causing considerable pain, according to Kimbe's later account). Hartley grabbed at Farmar, but the others roughly seized him, tearing his jacket and cutting his cheek. Both of Browne's men were thrown bodily out of the house. George Martin then kept them at bay with his leveled musket. Hartley demanded to see Farmar's authority for such highhanded action, but the major refused him any satisfaction and threatened to lay Hartley by the heals and send him to jail. Nor would Farmar even allow Hartley to leave his bed and chest in the house, safe from rain, though the poor fellow was permitted to deposit them in an open shed. Hartley and Kimbe soon withdrew from the scene, though they did not leave the island until Sunday, May 28. Some of Farmar's party remained at the overseer's house throughout the month."
When Brown got the news of Farmar's actions, he contacted his attorney general and depositions were taken on June 12 with a grand jury being impaneled in Pensacola to inquire into the Dauphin Island affair on Friday, June 30. The jury heard witnesses and found "the Entry and Detainer to be forcible." On July 12, Chief Justice William Clifton ordered the restoration of Montfort Browne's property on Dauphin Island.
It appears that Major Farmar finally accepted the fact that Dauphin Island was not to be his but that did not stop his daughter from investigating the chances of recovering the island from the Spanish in 1800 and later "the heirs of Major Robert Farmar" to attempt on multiple occasions from 1813 until 1834 to attempt to secure private land claims for Dauphin Island from the land commissioners of the U.S. Congress. Finally on January 1, 1834, Commissioner William Crawford reported to Congress that the Farmar heirs had forfeited their claim to Dauphin Island and "do not appear to be entitled to confirmation under any law of the United States."
Speculation in West Florida land offered a lucrative opportunity at the time of the advent of the Union Jack on Dauphin Island in 1763. Not only did Major Robert Farmar evict every French government official and French soldier from his new colony of West Florida but for over a year he was the head of the government and a willing customer for any emigrating Frenchman who might not be quite ready to pledge his allegiance to King George III and maybe have a little land to sell. Farmar claimed he never mixed public funds
When Major Robert Farmar arrived on Dauphin Island in the fall of 1763 he began to mix his private business with his military service as the military head of the new British colony of West Florida which at that time included all the land south of the 31st parallel (a part of which now serves as our Alabama-Florida line
Very soon after his arrival in West Florida, Major Farmar showed his interest in Dauphin Island when he immediately assigned a corporal and six men to a station on the island to assist the French pilot who was the only resident. He also succeeded in obtaining bills of sale for most of the island from Frenchmen living in Mobile and also bought all the livestock on the island which included seventy-six cattle and three pigs. He had this livestock exchanged for two male slaves named Peter and Prince. At about the same time, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of West Florida, Montfort Browne, had selected Dauphin Island as the location of the royal grant of acreage he'd received for
If you look at George Gauld's 1768 Dauphin Island map, you'll see a spot marked at about the
Lieutenant Governor Browne moved very quickly to occupy the island. He ordered a corporal's guard to the island and seized about 100 head of cattle grazing there.
Major Farmar never accepted Governor Johnstone's decision against his ownership of the island but he was too busy to do anything about it. He was tied up during most of 1766 leading a military expedition up the Mississippi River to the Illinois country. When he returned, he was facing the court martial related to his alleged financial malfeasance during his tenure as military governor of West Florida in 1763-64.
King George III removed Governor Johnstone from office in 1767 and even though Lieutenant Governor Browne took Johnstone's place at the West Florida capital of Pensacola, Farmar was finally able to direct more attention to his Dauphin Island interests after he was acquitted of all his court martial charges on April 20, 1768. Farmar was elected to represent Mobile in Pensacola's colonial assembly in January of 1769 and by the beginning of April of that year, West Florida had a new governor in John Eliot. Governor Eliot immediately ordered an investigation of Lieutenant Governor Browne's administration and that was all Farmar needed to justify his forced eviction of Browne's men from Dauphin Island. Little did Farmer know when he set sail for the island from Mobile on May 1, that his new ally, West Florida Governor John Eliot, would commit suicide the next day.
Auburn professor Robert Rea in his book, MAJOR ROBERT FARMAR OF MOBILE, includes an excellent, detailed description of the violent eviction Major Farmar led to get the "trespassers" off of "his" island.
"On Monday, May 1, 1769, having returned to Mobile from Pensacola, Farmar gathered several determined friends aboard two boats and sailed down to Dauphin Island. His own party consisted of Dougal Campbell, now a Mobile merchant but formerly commissary at Mobile and one of Farmar's witnesses in the late court martial; Henry Litto or Latto, formerly skipper of the sloop JAMES, and much indebted to Farmar for employment; William Harris; and a Negro servant. On Dauphin Island were Richard Hartley, Browne's resident manager; William Kimbe, a laborer; Hartley's servant Robert Love; and a female housekeeper. At about two o'clock these men were seated at dinner in Hartley's house when they heard distant musket fire. Hartley dispatched Love to see if the shots might indicate the presence of a band of Indians, but the servant returned to report the approach of a boat. Hartley and Kimbe went down to the shore to meet their visitors and invited them to the house. Campbell told Hartley that they had come for oysters, and both parties began to walk up the beach to Hartley's house, formerly the residence of the harbor pilot. Shortly after leaving the beach, Hartley and Kimbe saw a second party of armed men who had apparently landed elsewhere. These were James Waugh, George Martin, and Thomas Gronow, good Mobilians who were no friends of Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne. Martin and Gronow reached the house ahead of the others, forcibly ejected Deborah Coughlin, the housekeeper, from the house and began to throw furniture out the door. Litto and Harris rushed to join their confederates and slammed the door against the confused pair of Browne's men.
"Turning to Farmar, Hartley asked if they had come to rob him, to which the major replied that the island was his. Together they entered the house, Hartley protesting and Farmar proclaiming his right to everything in sight. As kitchen furniture and utensils were rapidly disappearing out the window, Hartley ordered Kimbe to recover them, but Farmar and his friends seized Kimbe, and the major forcefully applied the end of his stout stick to the small of Kimbe's back (causing considerable pain, according to Kimbe's later account). Hartley grabbed at Farmar, but the others roughly seized him, tearing his jacket and cutting his cheek. Both of Browne's men were thrown bodily out of the house. George Martin then kept them at bay with his leveled musket. Hartley demanded to see Farmar's authority for such highhanded action, but the major refused him any satisfaction and threatened to lay Hartley by the heals and send him to jail. Nor would Farmar even allow Hartley to leave his bed and chest in the house, safe from rain, though the poor fellow was permitted to deposit them in an open shed. Hartley and Kimbe soon withdrew from the scene, though they did not leave the island until Sunday, May 28. Some of Farmar's party remained at the overseer's house throughout the month."
When Brown got the news of Farmar's actions, he contacted his attorney general and depositions were taken on June 12 with a grand jury being impaneled in Pensacola to inquire into the Dauphin Island affair on Friday, June 30. The jury heard witnesses and found "the Entry and Detainer to be forcible." On July 12, Chief Justice William Clifton ordered the restoration of Montfort Browne's property on Dauphin Island.
It appears that Major Farmar finally accepted the fact that Dauphin Island was not to be his but that did not stop his daughter from investigating the chances of recovering the island from the Spanish in 1800 and later "the heirs of Major Robert Farmar" to attempt on multiple occasions from 1813 until 1834 to attempt to secure private land claims for Dauphin Island from the land commissioners of the U.S. Congress. Finally on January 1, 1834, Commissioner William Crawford reported to Congress that the Farmar heirs had forfeited their claim to Dauphin Island and "do not appear to be entitled to confirmation under any law of the United States."
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