Publisher’s Note: This article, originally published in Tap Roots by the Genealogical Society of East Alabama, is being presented as a four-part series because of its length and the number of local Revolutionary War patriots included. Part 1 will appear in both The Observer and The LaFayette Sun. Part 2 will focus on Chambers County and appear in The LaFayette Sun, while Part 3 will focus on Lee and surrounding counties and appear in The Observer. The final installment will return to both newspapers and focus on the continuing effort to locate, preserve and properly mark the graves of East Alabama’s Revolutionary War patriots.
Revolutionary War patriots found new homes on Alabama frontier
BY SID HARDEN
REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION
EAST ALABAMA — Many people have heard the phrase “Stars Fell on Alabama,” but few know the remarkable event behind those famous words.
On the night of Nov. 12, 1833, one of the greatest meteor showers in recorded history illuminated the skies above Alabama. The annual Leonid meteor shower reached extraordinary intensity, producing what observers described as a continuous cascade of fire across the heavens.
Historians estimate that more than 100,000 meteors per hour streaked across the sky from late evening until dawn on Nov. 13. The spectacle amazed and frightened Alabama residents, many of whom believed they were witnessing signs of the end of the world.
To observers, it seemed as though the stars themselves were falling from heaven.
Another “shower of stars” would become part of Alabama history in the decades following the American Revolution.
Hundreds of veterans and supporters of the Patriot cause eventually migrated southward into Alabama seeking opportunities on the expanding frontier. Historians estimate that more than 1,200 Revolutionary War patriots ultimately settled within the state.
They included soldiers, civic supporters, women who aided the war effort and free men of color. Some fought in well-known battles. Others served in local militias, supplied provisions, took loyalty oaths or supported the Revolutionary cause in noncombat roles.
Their contributions differed, but each played a part in securing American independence.
Although Alabama did not become a state until 1819, Revolutionary War veterans began arriving in the region in the decades after the war ended in 1783.
Migration accelerated following the Creek War of 1813-1814, when large areas of land became available for settlement. The movement became known as “Alabama Fever,” as settlers left older states along the Atlantic seaboard in search of fertile land and new opportunities.
They traveled into Alabama along several major routes.
One of the best known was the Federal Road, which began as a postal route and was later widened as travel into the southern frontier increased. Others traveled along the Natchez Trace or Jackson’s Military Road.
Alabama’s rivers also served as important transportation corridors. River travel could be cheaper, safer and more dependable than difficult overland routes.
The settlement pattern helps explain why East Alabama has fewer known Revolutionary War patriot graves than some other areas of the state.
Much of East Alabama remained under the control of Native American tribes, particularly the Creek Nation, until the 1830s. While other areas of Alabama were developing settlements and towns, much of eastern Alabama was still considered frontier territory.
As a result, many Revolutionary War veterans who eventually settled in East Alabama arrived late in life, often accompanying children or grandchildren into newly opened territory.
A number of those patriots settled in the region that now includes Chambers, Lee, Macon, Russell and Tallapoosa counties.
Records maintained by the Alabama Society of the Sons of the American Revolution suggest that as many as 25 Revolutionary War patriots are buried within those five counties.
Only a handful of those gravesites have been positively identified, and fewer have been properly marked and commemorated.
Some patriots lie in small family cemeteries overtaken by decades of forest growth and neglect. The locations of others disappeared as generations passed and knowledge of their burial places was lost.
Their stories survive through pension files, wills, land records, church minutes, newspaper references and the work of historians and genealogists.
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence, their stories offer another connection between the American Revolution and the communities of East Alabama.
The patriots who eventually came to this region helped shape the communities that became Chambers, Lee, Macon, Russell and Tallapoosa counties.
Some of their graves are marked.
Others are known but unmarked.
And some remain missing entirely.
In the coming weeks, this series will look more closely at the Revolutionary War patriots who made East Alabama their home — and the continuing effort to make sure those “fallen stars” are not forgotten.
