Fort Crawford (Alabama)

Fort Crawford was a fort that once provided defense for settlers in what is today East Brewton, Alabama.

This article is about the fort in Alabama. For other locations, see Fort Crawford (disambiguation).
Fort Crawford
Location of Fort Crawford in Alabama
LocationEast Brewton, Alabama
Coordinates31°06′03″N 87°02′44″W
Built1816

After the Creek War, General Andrew Jackson ordered Major General Edmund P. Gaines and the 7th Infantry Regiment to construct a fort to protect settlers in the area from hostile Red Sticks.[1] General Gaines instructed Major David E. Twiggs to set out from Fort Montgomery and establish a new post.[2] The fort was placed at the border of the newly-formed Alabama Territory and Spanish West Florida on the bank of Murder Creek and named for 2nd Lieutenant Joel Crawford.[3] Major John M. Davis described the fort as having two blockhouses located diagonally from each other, with the walls of the fort being made from multiple buildings.[4] The fort also contained a medical building, artificer shop, and guard house.[2] During the First Seminole War, Fort Crawford served as a base of operations for raids against Red Sticks in the Florida Panhandle.[4] After the Butler Massacre, soldiers and Choctaw under the command of Major Youngs were sent from Fort Crawford to Fort Dale to assist in the pursuit of the Red Sticks.[5]

Supplies were sent to Fort Crawford from Fort Montgomery but delays were common. General Gaines wrote to Jose Masot, the governor of West Florida, to ask permission for supplies to be sent up the Conecuh River from Pensacola. Masot allowed three different ships to supply Fort Crawford via Pensacola, but never permitted regular supply lines via Pensacola.[2]

After the Adams–Onís Treaty took effect in 1821, Florida was ceded to the United States and Fort Crawford was no longer needed for its original use.[4]

Fort Crawford was connected to Fort Gaines via a road built in 1817.[6]

The site is marked on maps from the 1800s, but archaeological investigations have been unable to identify the original site of the fort.[7]

References
  1. Harris, W. Stuart (1977). Dead Towns of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-8173-1125-4.
  2. Waters, Annie. "A Documentary History of Fort Crawford". City of East Brewton. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  3. Lyn Wilkerson (10 January 2010). Slow Travels-Alabama. Lulu.com. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-557-14055-8.
  4. Cox, Dale. "Fort Crawford". Explore Southern History. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  5. Pickett, Albert James (1878). History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period. Tuscaloosa, AL: Willo Publishing Company. p. 621.
  6. Eddie Wayne Shell (2013). Evolution of the Alabama Agroecosystem: Always Keeping Up, but Never Catching Up. NewSouth Books. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-60306-203-9.
  7. Grimes, Lydia; Bean, Kerry (22 February 2009). "Digging in the past: Historians seek Fort Crawford". Brewton Standard. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
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