The annotated Pickett's history of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period

Pickett, Albert James, 1810-1858 (author.). Pate, James P., (editor.).

Summary:

"Albert James Pickett's two-volume History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period first appeared in September 1851. Demand for the $3 set caused Charleston publisher Walker and James to issue a second and third edition before year's end. William Gilmore Simms, the South's most prolific writer, called it 'one of the prettiest specimens of book making ever done in America.' Newspapers and literary journals commended Pickett's 'absolutely enchanting' fresh style and 'his important service to his state.' Volume one covered De Soto's explorations from Florida to Arkansas, encounters with native people, and discovery of the Mississippi River. The narrative shifts from the early chiefdoms of the protohistoric period to the Natchez and smaller tribes in the coastal plain and then to the major Indian nations of the interior into the late eighteenth century. While the struggles of French Louisiana with the Natchez dominate the first volume, Pickett establishes the English presence with the founding of Oglethorpe's Georgia colony and ends with the surrender of the French forts Tombecbé and Toulouse. In volume two, Pickett follows the English into present-day Alabama and Mississippi and the Revolutionary War era, the Spanish occupation of East and West Florida, the intrigues of Alexander McGillivray and William Bowles, and Georgia's Yazoo land sales. He devotes several chapters to the Mississippi Territory, Aaron Burr, and the Indian unrest that led to the massacre at Fort Mims, the Creek War of 1813-14, and Andrew Jackson's campaigns to destroy the Red Sticks and defeat the British. Pickett concentrates his final chapters on the emergence of Alabama as a territory and state, including biographical sketches of early state leaders, the state constitutional convention, and Alabama's first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, who died in 1820. Pickett's History continues to be a relevant study of the state's protohistory, colonial, territorial, and early foundations. His work and his papers in the state archives are cited by all serious scholars who study Alabama's colonial and territorial eras. While he sought all the available printed primary sources and manuscripts for volume one, his second volume was principally informed by the memoirs, reminiscences, letters, and oral interviews of the participants in the events that shaped the development of Alabama from the pre-Revolutionary era through the 1840s. This new edition is the first to provide general readers and scholars with a readily available hardbound, fully indexed, and annotated version of Pickett's History."-- From publisher's description.

Record details

ISBN: 9781588380326 (hardcover)
ISBN: 1588380327 (hardcover)
Physical Description: xxxviii, 647 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Publisher: Montgomery : Newsouth Books, 2018.
Copyright: ©2018

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 595-601) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction to the annotated edition -- Preface to the 1851 edition -- Volume I. Expedition of De Soto through Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, A.D. 1539, 1540 and 1541 -- Aborigines of Alabama and the surrounding states, A.D. 1540, 1564 -- The modern Indians of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, beginning with the Creeks or Muscogees -- The Mobilians, Chatots, Thomez and Tensaws -- The Choctaws and the Chickasaws -- The Cherokees -- Ancient mounds and fortifications in Alabama -- The French in Alabama and Mississippi -- Alabama and Mississippi granted by the King of France to the rich Parisian merchant, Crozat -- Alabama and Mississippi surrendered by Crozat to the King of France, who grants them to the French India or Mississippi Company -- Terrible massacre of the French at Natchez -- The colonization of Georgia by the English -- French Jesuit priests or missionaries of Alabama and Mississippi -- The French battles upon the Tombigby -- Bienville leaves the colony -- his character -- Horrible death of Beaurot and the Swiss soldiers -- Bossu's visit to the French forts upon the Alabama and Tombigby Rivers -- Volume II. The occupation of Alabama and Mississippi by the English -- Hardships of the early emigrants -- Journey of Bertram through Alabama -- An account of the McGillivray Family -- The Revolutionary War -- Extreme perils and sufferings of the Natchez refugees -- The Spaniards in Alabama and Mississippi -- Bloody scenes in Alabama and Georgia -- The deep intrigues of McGillivray -- The first Yazoo sale -- Bowles, the freebooter -- Singular inhabitants of Alabama -- Death of McGillivray -- Bloody scenes -- The French minister, Genet -- His designs upon the South-West -- The second Yazoo sale -- The Americans in Alabama and Mississippi -- Governor Troup, or the McIntosh Family -- Incidents in the Mississippi Territory -- The arrest of Aaron Burr, in Alabama -- St. Stephens -- Huntsville -- Indian commerce -- Kemper Expeditions -- Tecumseh -- Civil war among the Creeks -- Battle of Burnt Corn -- Arrival of General Claibourne's army -- Terrible massacre at Fort Mims -- Daring of Heaton -- Bloody scenes -- Gaines and the Choctaws -- Battles of Tallashatche, Talledega and Auttose -- Remarkable canoe fight -- Battle of Holy Ground -- March to Cahawba Old Town -- Battles of Emuckfau, Enitachopco and Calabee -- Battle of the Horse-Shoe -- Weatherford surrenders himself at Fort Jackson -- Treaty of Fort Jackson -- Attack upon Mobile Point -- March upon Pensacola -- The British take Mobile Point -- Peace declared -- The Alabama Territory -- Modern French colony in Alabama, or the Vines and Olive Company -- Last Territorial Legislature -- State Convention -- The first Legislature of the State of Alabama -- Governor Bibb.