1540—July 2. The territory of what is now the State
of Alabama entered by DeSoto, the Spanish adventurer, while searching
for gold.
1540—October 18. DeSoto fought the great battle
of Maubila, or Mauvtta, with the tribe of Indians subsequently known as
the Mobilians.
1540—November 29. DeSoto passed out of Alabama
into Mississippi, where is now the county of Lowndes,
Mississippi.
1699—January 31. The French, under Iberville and
Bienville, while sailing in search of the mouth of the Mississippi
river, discover Massacre, afterwards Dauphin
Island.
1702—January. Bienville established a settlement
on Massacre island.
1702—January. Bienville established the original
site of Mobile, on Mobile Bay, at the mouth of Dog river, and built
there Fort St. Louis de la Mobile.
1711—March. Bienville established the present
site of the city of Mobile.
1711—October. A pirate ship fiom Jamaica
debarked on Massacre island, and plundered its inhabitants.
1714—June. Fort Toulouse, afterwards Fort
Jackson, built by Bienville, four miles south of Wetumpka.
1719— August 19. A Spanish squadron bombarded
the French on Massacre island, but were repulsed.
1720— December. The capital of the Louisiana
colony transferred from Mobile to Biloxi, Miss.
1721— March 17. First African slaves landed at
Mobile.
1735— Fort Tombecbe established by Bienville on
the little Tombigbee river, at what is now Jones'
Bluff.
1743—May. Bienville, who, for more than
forty-six years had been Governor of the Louisiana colony, resigned and
returned to France.
1763—February 18. France ceded to England all
the soil of the Louisiana colony east of the Mississippi, and embracing
the settlement at Mobile.
1780—March 14. Fort Charlotte — originally Fort
Conde and the Mobile settlement taken from the English by Don Galvez,
the Spanish commander.
1782—November 30. On the treaty of peace between
England and the United States, the former relinquished to the latter her
claim to the soil east of the Mississippi and north of latitude 31
°.
1795—October 27. Spain relinquished to the
United States her claim to the territory east of the Mississippi and
north of latitude 31°.
1799—September. Captain Ellicott, an English
engineer officer, completed the running of his famous boundary line
along the thirty-first parallel of north latitude from the Mississippi
to the Chattahoochee river.
1802—April 24. Georgia relinquished to the
United States her claim to the control of the country out of which
ultimately grew the States of Alabama and Mississippi.
1807—February 19. Aaron Burr arrested in what is
now Washington county, Alabama.
1807—December. St. Stephens laid off in town
lots, and a road cut irom there to Natchez, Miss.
1813—April. The settlement at Mobile and the
part of Alabama south of latitude 31°, relinquished by Spain to the
United States.
1813—July. Bloody war commenced between the
Creek Indians and the white settlers of Georgia and what is now
Alabama.
1813—July 27. Battle of Burnt Corn
fought.
1813—August 30. Fort Mims massacre.
1813—October. General Andrew Jackson marched
from Tennessee into what is now Alabama, with 2,000 Tennesseeans, to
avenge the massacre at Fort Mims.
1813 — November. Jackson routed the Creeks with
great slaughter, at the battle of Talladega.
1813— November 12. Celebrated canoe fight on the
Alabama river, near Claiborne.
1814— March 27. Jackson drove the Creeks from
their fortifications on the Horse Shoe bend of the Tallapoosa river, in
the now county of Tallapoosa, Alabama, killing a great number, and
virtually ending the war.
1814—April. Fort Jackson established by Gen.
Jackson on the site of Bienville's old Fort Toulouse.
1814—August 19. Treaty of peace concluded at
Fort Jackson betwen Gen. Jackson and the Creeks.
1814— September 15. British sea and land attack
on Fort Bowyer repulsed by a portion of Jackson's command.
1815— February 13. Fort Bowyer surrendered to
the British.
1815—April 1. The British evacuate Mobile Point
and Dauphin Island, pursuant to the treaty of
Ghent.
1817— March 1. Alabama territory carved out of
Mississippi territory, with St. Stephens as the seat of government, and
Wm. W. Bibb, Territorial Governor.
1818— January 19. First Alabama Territorial
Legislature convened at St. Stephens.
1818—July. French refugees found
Demopolis.
1818— November. Second and last Territorial
Legislature assembled at St. Stephens.
1819— March 2. Congress authorized the people of
Alabama Territory to form a State government.
1819—May 3. Election for delegates to frame a
Constitution for the State of Alabama.
1819—July 5. Convention to frame a Constitution
for the State of Alabama, assembled at Huntsville.
1819—August 2. Constitutional Convention
concluded its labors and adjourned.
1819—September 20. First general election in
Alabama under the new Constitution, for Governor and members of the
Legislature.
1819—October 25. First State Legislature
assembled at Huntsville.
1819-November 9. Wm. W. Bibb inaugurated first
Governor of the State of Alabama.
1819— December 14. Joint resolution of Congress
admitting the State of Alabama into the Union.
1820— May 8. First term of the supreme court of
the State of Alabama held at Cahaba.
1820—October 23. Second State Legislature
assembled at Cahaba.
1820—December 18. Act of the General Assembly
approved, to establish the University of Alabama.
1820—December 21. State Bank chartered and
located at Cahaba, the seat of government. Capital
$2,000,000.
1821—December 18.
Supplementary University Act approved.
1825—April 3. General La Fayette visited
Montgomery.
1826—State Capital and archives removed from
Cahaba to Tuskaloosa.
1828—Work on the original University buildings
begun at Marr's Spring, one and a quarter miles east of Tuskaloosa
courthouse.
1831— April 17. University of Alabama opened to
students.
1832— January 13. Tuscumbia, Courtland, and
Decatur Railroad incorporated; the first constructed in the
State.
1832—January 14. Act of the General Assembly
approved, organizing the supreme court of Alabama as now
constituted.
1832—January '21. Montgomery branch of the State
bank incorporated with a capital of $800,000.
1832—November 16. Decatur branch of the State
bank incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000.
1832—December 14. Mobile branch of the State
bank incorporated with a capital of $2,000,000.
1837—Great financial revulsion in Alabama, and
in the United States, generally.
1839—January 26. Alabama Penitentiary
incorporated.
1839—August. Great drouth throughout Alabama and
the entire South, beginning about the first of this month and continuing
until the end of January of the next year.
1842—February 8. Alabama Penitentiary opened for
the reception of convicts, and the penal code adapted to penitentiary
punishments became operative.
1846—January 28. General Assembly, by joint
vote, selected Montgomery as the future site of the State
Capital.
1846—February 4. Act of the General Assembly
approved, placing the State bank and its branches in process of
liquidation.
1847— November 2. Original capitol building at
Montgomery completed and turned over to commissioners appointed by the
State to receive it.
1847—December 6. General Assembly for the first
time met in the new capitol at Montgomery.
1849—December 14. Capitol at Montgomery
destroyed by fire.
1849— December 17. Governor Collier inaugurated
in the Montgomery Methodist Church, the capitol having been burned three
days before.
1850— January. The work of rebuilding the
capitol at Montgomery commenced.
1851— November. Present capitol at Montgomery
completed.
1852— February 6. Alabama Insane Hospital
incorporated.
1854—February 17. First legislative enactment
establishing a system of free public schools in Alabama.
1856—February 18. Important supplementary act to
establish free schools in Alabama.
I860—January 27. The State Institution at
Talladega, for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, and the blind,
incorporated.
1860—February 24. General Assembly adopted a
joint resolution requiring the Governor to order a general election for
delegates to a State Convention in the event of the elevation of Abraham
Lincoln to the presidency of the United States.
1860— December 24. General election for
delegates to a State Convention under the call of Governor Moore,
pursuant to the above joint resolution.
1861— January 7. State Convention assembled at
Montgomery to take action in view of the election of Abraham
Lincoln.
1861—January 11. Ordinance of Secession
adopted.
1861—January 12. Alabama Senators and
Representatives in Congress withdraw in a body on hearing of the
adoption of the Ordinance of Secession.
1861—February 4. Delegates from six seceding
States, comprising a Provisional Congress, assembled at Montgomery to
organize the government of the Confederate States.
1861—February 18. Jefferson Davis inaugurated,
at Montgomery, first President of the confederate States.
1861—March 21. State Convention adjourned, first
having ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States, which had
been submitted for such action.
1861—April 15. First patient admitted to the
Alabama Insane Hospital.
1864 —August 5. Farragut's fleet entered Mobile
bay and encountered the Confederate war vessels.
1864—August 7. Fort Gaines capitulated to
Farragut.
1864— August 23. Fort Morgan capitulated to
Farragut.
1865— April 2. Selma stormed and captured by
Wilson.
1865—April 4. University buildings at Tuskaloosa
burned by Croxton.
1865—April 8. Spanish Fort abandoned to
Canby.
1865—April 9. Confederate defenses at Blakely
stormed and taken by Canby.
1865—April 12. Mobile occupied by Federal
troops.
1865—April 12. Montgomery occupied by
Wilson.
1865—May 25. Disastrous powder explosion at
Mobile.
1865—June 21. President Johnson, by
proclamation, appointed Lewis E. Parsons provisional Governor of
Alabama.
1865—July 20. Governor Parsons, by proclamation,
ordered a general election throughout Alabama, for delegates to
a State convention, called by
him to assemble at Montgomery, September 12, 1865.
1865—August 31. General election for delegates,
pursuant to Governor Parsons' proclamation.
1865— September 12. Constitutional Convention
assembled at Montgomery.
1865—September 30. Constitutional Convention
adjourned.
1865—November 6. Election for State officers and
members of the General Assembly—first after the war.
1865—November 20. General Assembly convened at
Montgomery—first after the war.
1865—December 13. Governor Patton
inaugurated.
1865—December 20. State government turned over
to Governor Patton by Governor Parsons.
1867—January. New University buildings begun at
Tuskaloosa.
1867—March 2. Congress passed the Reconstruction
Act, remanding the State to a semi-territorial condition and subjecting
it to military rule.
1867—March 23. Supplementary Act of Congress
passed, prescribing the method by which the State might frame a new
Constitution and apply for admission into the Union.
1867— November 5. Reconstruction Convention
assembled at Montgomery.
1868— February 4. Question of the adoption of
the Constitution framed by the Reconstruction Convention, voted on by
the people.
1868—July 13. William H. Smith, first Governor
of the reconstructed State, inaugurated.
1868— July. New University buildings at
Tuskaloosa completed.
1869— April. New University buildings opened to
students.
1870—Novembei 8. Robert B. Lindsey elected
Governor of Alabama.
1870—November 26. Governor Lindsey
inaugurated.
1874— November 24. George S. Houston inaugurated
Governor of Alabama.
1875— March 19. Act of the General Assembly
approved, calling a convention to revise and remodel the Constitution of
the State.
1875—August 3. General election for delegates to
the State Convention of this year.
1875—September 6. State Convention assembled at
Montgomery.
1875—October 2. State Convention adjourned,
after adopting the present Constitution of Alabama and submitting it to
the people for ratification or rejection.
1875—November 16. The Constitution of 1875
ratified by the people at a general election held on this
day.
1875— December 6. The Constitution of 1875
became operative.
1876— April 3. Great rain and wind storm
throughout Alabama. This storm came from the east, and lasted nineteen
hours without intermission, and was accompanied by unusually heavy
thunder and continuous rain and lightning. The rain was considered the
heaviest that ever fell in Alabama.
1876, Oct. —. Alabama and Chattanooga Rail road
sold at public outcry.
1876—Ten electoral votes cast for Samuel J.
Tildcn and Thomas A. Hendricks.
1878—Violent yellow fever epidemic.
1879, Jan. 15—State Bar Association
organized.
1880—The Greenback party, in active opposition
to Democrats.
1880—Ten electoral votes cast for Winfield S.
Hancock, and William H. English,
democrat.
1880, Nov. 23—Alice furnace No. 1. in
Birmingham, went into blast.
1881, Feb. 10—Industrial and normal school for
negroes established at Tuskegee.
1881, Feb. 26—State railroad commission
established.
1882—Alabama State Teachers' Association
formed.
1882—State normal school established at
Jacksonville.
1882—East and west railroad linked Cartcrsvillc,
Georgia, and Pell City. Alabama.
1883, Jan. —Defalcation of State Treasurer Isaac
II. Vincent discovered.
1883—Anniston and Sheffield founded.
1883, Feb. 23—State Department of Agriculture
created.
1884—Birmingham Mineral Railroad opened to
traffic.
1884—Ten electoral votes cast for Grover
Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks.
1885, Sept. 30—Confederate Monument Association
incorporated.
1886—Immense freshets in spring ami
summer.
1887, April 12—Bessemer founded.
1887—The following railroads opened to travel:
Alabama Midland, Birmingham and Atlantic, Kansas
City, Memphis
and Birmingham, Mobile and Birmingham.
1888—Yellow fever in Decatur.
1888—Ten electoral votes cast for Grover
Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman,
1888—Savannah and Western (Central of
Georgia) Railway opened to Birmingham.
1880, Feb. 28—Legislature pensions named
Confederate soldiers and the widows of Confederate
soldiers.
1880, Dee. 8—Hawea' riot at Birmingham. Thirteen
persons killed by posse under sheriff Joseph B.
Smith, to protect from mob violence Kichard 11 awes,
who ha*I murdered his wife ami two
daughters.
1890—East Lake Atheneum established.
1892—Co-education inaugurated at Alabama
Polytechnic Institute.
1892—Eleven electoral votes cast for (J rover
Cleveland and Adlai E. Stevenson.
1893—Hon. Hilarv A. Herbert appointed Secretary
of the Navy by President Grover
Cleveland.
1893—Financial panic.
1894, June-Sept.—Strike by coal miners of North
Alabama; ten men killed.
1890, Oct. 12—Alabama Girls' Industrial School
at Montevallo opened to students.
1890, July-Dec.—Seventy-five thousand tons of
iron shipped from Alabama to foreign ports. This initiated export of
iron from Alabama.
1890—Eleven electoral votes cast for William
Jennings Bryan and Arthur Sewcll.
1897, Feb. 3—General Assembly established office
of State Tax Commissioner.
1897, Feb. 10—General Assembly appointed chief
mine inspector, requested examination of mine bosses, standard scales,
safety-lamps, ventilation, maps, and care of those injured by
accidents.
1897, July 24—Birmingham rolling mills make
successful experiment in manufacture of
steel.
1897, Dec. 27—Cahawba bridge disaster: train
went through bridge and twenty-seven people were
killed.
1897—Alabama shipped 223,000 tons of Iron to
foreign ports.
1898, Apr. 28—Governor Johnston called for
volunteers for the Spanish American war.
1898—Low price of cotton caused widespread
distress and discontent.
1898, Dec. 7—Confederate Monument on Capitol
Hill unveiled.
1898, Dec. 16—General Assembly voted to hold a
Constitutional convention.
1898, Dee. 17—Governor Johnston approved the act
for a Constitutional convention.
1899, Feb. 23—Legislature voted $3000 to
buy land and erect buildings for a Boys' Industrial
School.
1899, Mar. 18—Primaries for delegates to
Constitutional convention.
1899—Governor Johnston called special session of
the General Assembly, and secured repeal of bill for
Constitutional convention on May 10.
1900, Nov—General Assembly voted for to submit
Constitutional convention to the people.
1900—Eleven electoral votes cast for William
Jennings Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson.
1901, Mar. 25—About in 10 a. m.
fearful tornado in Birmingham.
1901, May 21-Sept. 3—Constitutional convention
in session in Montgomery.
1901, June 11—Governor William J. Samford died
in Tuskaloosa; William Dorsey Jelks succeeded to office of
governor.
Sources: Hand-book of Alabama, Authors: Berney &
Saffold, 1892 & Sketches of Alabama History, Author:
Joel Campbell Du Bose, MA, 1900 - Transcribed by C.
Anthony.
