It would be difficult to name a place in North Alabama that is
richer in Native American history than the area around Waterloo.
Archaeological surveys of the Pickwick basin, made in the late
1930*s, indicate that this place must have been a metropolis for
peoples during the Mississippian and the earlier Woodland Periods.
Evidence of the presence of the Copena Culture was also found.
This prime river site was sought after by eager land
speculators of the early 1800's. One of the first to become
interested in Waterloo was Dr. Edward Gabriel Bumpass,
physician, postmaster, author, and investor. It is said that he had
his eye on this place as early as 1807.90 It is fitting and proper for
Gabriel Bumpass to be called the father of Waterloo. It was under
his guidance that the Articles of Agreement to establish the town
was signed at Pulaski, Tennessee, in March, 1819. He became
one of Waterloo's first citizens. Beautiful Bumpass Creek bears his
name.
Dr. Bumpass was born in Person County, North Carolina,
about the year 1770. He and his brother, James, also a physician,
headed a colony of fifty or more immigrants out of South Carolina.
These people became the first settlers of Giles County, Tennessee,
although they were delayed about a year in Nashville waiting for the
Indians to cede their lands in that part of the state. Finally, around
1810, they began the task of cutting a road through the wilderness.
This highway from Columbia to Pulaski became known as the
Bumpass Trail.
When the Huntsville Land Office opened in 1818, Dr.
Bumpass began investing in hundreds of acres of land in
Lauderdale County. He was a large man weighing more than 300
pounds, but quite agile. He was also rather eccentric. Many
stories have been told about his long life at Waterloo. One was
about a man caught stealing corn from the Doctor's cribs. Upon
learning that the poor man and his family were without food, Dr.
Bumpass invited him to a hearty breakfast, filled his sack with grain,
and told him to come back at any time to get more. During his
advanced years he lived with his daughter, Camilla, and her
husband, Captain John Till. It was said that every morning after
breakfast, he could be seen sitting on the porch of the town's hotel
reading one of his many books until time to walk back home for
supper. Bumpass was one of the leaders in the early Republican
Church near Florence - a forerunner of the historic Stony Point
Church of Christ. He died sometime after 1870, and was buried in
the Witherspoon Cemetery located near the confluence of
Bumpass and Second Creeks. In 1937, the Tennessee Valley
Authority relocated his grave to the Richardson Cemetery so as to
make way for the backwaters behind Pickwick Dam. One of his
daughters. Elvira, was married to William Witherspoon, a brother to
Major James Witherspoon.
Another daughter, Martha, was married to Ross Houston,
brother to George S. Houston, Alabama's 25lh Governor. One son,
Robert Weakley Bumpass, was a state senator in Tennessee.
The other founders of Waterloo were Tyree Rodes,
Maximilian H. Buchanan, German Lester, and John McCracken, all
of Giles County, Tennessee. There were fifty-one original
shareholders, including Alexander McDonald, John Webb, Thomas
B. Haynes, Micajah Ellis, and Charles Parker. There were 100
shares of two acres each; fifty of these were allotted to Dr.
Bumpass. Each original share was to be divided, making a total of
400 shares. Bumpass employed Bib Cooperman as the town
surveyor. The total land sales in 1819 amounted to $9,525.50.
The background for the naming of the town has been lost in
the archives of time. Some have pointed out that it was
established about four years following the famous Battle of
Waterloo in Belgium and, probably, this was the source of its name.
A romantic notion is that Waterloo's founding fathers may have
been influenced by the mighty river at its door, as well as the
nearby scenic creeks, streams, and springs, as a poetic meaning
for the name of Waterloo. Actually, the town was first laid out in the
lowland at the riverbank, a site which is now under the backwaters
of Pickwick Dam. In the beginning Waterloo was referred to as
"The Landing." It was incorporated in 1832, making it among the
oldest towns in Alabama to establish its legal entity.
Because of its early location alongside the river, Waterloo
was threatened by floods almost every spring season. A big one
came in 1847. Thirty-five houses as well as warehouses and boats
were either swept away or destroyed. Most of the families and
businesses moved to where the present town is, although it was
known then as the plateau. Yet, a few determined souls remained
at the old site. For the next twenty years there were two sections of
town - the old one near the river and the new town on the plateau
above the river. The next big flood hit in 1867 at which time all that
remained in the old town was washed away. The choice lots on the
plateau were owned by Dr. Bumpass who was then nearing his
eightieth birthday. These prime pieces of property on today's Main
Street were purchased by James Humphrey. Elijah Chandler, and
Major Witherspoon. It was thirty years later - March, 1897 - when
the worst of all previously recorded floods swept over the
Tennessee Valley. At this time the high water mark exceeded the
1867 disaster at Waterloo by some twenty inches. Fortunately, its
people by then had moved to higher ground.
One source says that although land was granted to the
trustees of the town in 1819. the first settlers did not arrive until
1824.91 Another reference states that John Webb and Jack Briscoe
arrived around 1816. and were followed by Dr. Bumpass. and
James and William Witherspoon. A little later two men, Hussey and
Limerick, settled here, although not much is known about them.92
The former is believed to have been George Hussey. native of
North Carolina, who later moved to Green Hill. A shoemaker by
trade, he was born in 1805. Yet another source indicates that by
1832 there was little if any development of the town proper. In that
year a boatman described it as "a town without houses at the foot
of the Muscle Shoals.
Major James H. Witherspoon was said to have established
the first merchandise business here in 1824. A native of North
Carolina, Witherspoon from the beginning was the leading
merchant in Waterloo. Soon he was boasting a merchant house
made of bricks which were molded by slaves from the red clay. He
built a cotton gin, gristmill, and saw mill on Second Creek.
Witherspoon was also a Methodist minister who was credited with
organizing the church in Waterloo which is one of the earliest
Methodist congregations in the county. Witherspoon's home was a
landmark for more than a hundred years. It was a large two-story
log house, later covered with clapboards, with both upper and lower
porches in front. Major Witherspoon was born in 1808 and died in
1883. His wife, Jane, who was born in Ireland, preceded him in
death by eight years. Their graves were relocated to the
Richardson Cemetery in the late 1930's.
Not long after Witherspoon built the first business, another
merchant, James Johnson, formed a hotel, general store, and a
cotton gin here. James R. Humphrey, son of a veteran of the Battle
of New Orleans, arrived around 1829. A native of Kentucky,
Humphrey lived at Huntsville before coming here. As a man of
some means - and with a belief in the future of this river town - he
made rather extensive investments. He purchased a line of
keelboats from a man named Drum. These vessels operated
between Waterloo. Eastport, Southport. Tuscumbia. and Florence.
He built a hotel, storehouses, warehouses, and one of the most
prosperous tan yards in the area. His son, John Thomas, and his
grandsons, James B. and Thomas W.. all became leading citizens
of the town.
Soon after 1850 James Lathem, native of South Carolina,
became a town merchant. About the same time. Thomas T.
McCorkle came with his father, James, from York District. South
Carolina, and opened his combination merchandise and drug store,
a business that survived in this family for more than one hundred
years. The elder McCorkle was born in 1770 and died in 1866.
The McCorkles were excellent record keepers. Their store ledgers
and papers reveal an interesting story of life in early Waterloo.
Other early settlers at Waterloo included E. T. Chandler, R.
H. Rawiings, P. H. Cunningham, John Hinderman, George Waters,
and Bill Petus. Among those who invested in land prior to 1825
were: Dabney Morriss, Anthony and John Winston, William Berry,
Samuel White, Jesse Evans, Stephen Hightower. Richard Baugh.
William S. Barton, Thomas Kirkman, James Jackson, Charles N.
Baucher, Samuel Hazard, John Webb, Tyree Rodes, Eli Kerr.
Phillip J. Irion, William Parker, and James Madison.
Alexander Higgins was a pioneer gunsmith at Waterloo. He
first settled near Green Hill about 1818, coming from the Old
Ninety-Sixth District, South, Carolina. He established his
blacksmith and gun shop on Bumpass Creek Road east of the
town. Here he made and sold the Higgins Long Rifle. This
accurate and well-made gun had been introduced by the Higgins
Clan of Laurens County, South Carolina, and later manufactured in
Butts County, Georgia, and Chambers County, Alabama. Josiah
Higging, born in 1811 in Laurens County, South Carolina,
purchased a farm near Wrights Crossroads on Brush Creek in
1836. In 1848 he began acquiring tracts of rich bottom land on the
west bank of Second Creek where he built his large home which
was completely encircled by a porch. Josiah was married to a full
blood Chickasaw Indian named Chealty (pronounced as "Che-aul-
tie") Smith on January 1. 1830. The ceremony was performed by
Alexander H. McDougal near Green Hill. Many of Josiah's and
Chealty's descendants continue to live around Waterloo. Michael
Higging, who was also a gunsmith, moved to Mississippi.
Alexander as well as Josiah. Chealty, and their daughters, Martha
Jane Lindsey and Ellender Elizabeth Tune, are buried in the
Simpson/Whitten Cemetery overlooking Second Creek.
Around 1850. Jesse Lucy operated a general merchandise
at the foot of Lucy Hill, which later became known as Town Hill.
Lucy's business included a saloon where men could drink and
gamble. Joel Childress was murdered here one winter evening
while playing a game of "Seven-Up." He had accused his partner
of cheating.
Joseph Bishop's blacksmith shop was at the top of Lucy Hill
where Richardson Cemetery is now located. There was a large
distillery at Boatman Spring where both whiskey and brandy were
made from com. apples, and peaches. Other merchandise houses
during this period were listed as: Hargrave Barsew; Carter Madry;
James Humphrey; West and Jones; and Witherspoon and Harrison.
The post office at Waterloo dates back to April 1827 when
Thomas Pate was appointed as its first postmaster. Sixteen
months later it was moved to Barton, a community now known as
Gravelly Springs. However, it was re-established at Waterloo in
1828 with Edmund F. Wills as postmaster. In the early days the
mail arrived by boat. Later, a horse-drawn vehicle was dispatched
from Waterloo to Florence to pick up the mail. One of the last of
these carriers was Green Berry Lindsey, Senior. He would go to
Florence one day and return with the mail the next. In addition to
his mail delivery, Lindsey sought passengers who wished to ride to
and from the county seat. His father, Sylvester B. Lindsey,
preceded him in this business. His newspaper advertisements ran
as follows: "Attention Travelers! During low water in the river, I will
The Haynes family was involved in both building and
repairing steamboats. Weathersby Haynes, native of North
Carolina where he was born in 1850, was a tar maker. Henry
Harvey Haynes, a Tennessean who was born in 1822, was a
cooper by trade. His wife, Nancy Turpin, was a native of Kentucky.
Years later, their son. Robert Henry Haynes, cut crossttes that were
shipped from Waterloo by steamboats.
Around the turn of the century, the timber industry became a
big economic factor for Waterloo and the surrounding area. In
1897. within a twelve-mile radius there were seven saw and planing
mills owned by A. V. Bevis, John Sheppard. Kinney Crow, R. H.
Haynes, L. A. Ranson, Keel and Haynes. and Sheppard and
Franklin. These mills turned out vast quantities of lumber annually
for markets in St. Louis. Missouri, Evansville, Indiana, and East
Florence. Crossties were big items. In 1897, their average market
price amounted to $20.00 per hundred. A total of 121,550 ties were
cut and shipped that year from around Waterloo.
Waterloo has been a river crossing point from early times.
The first commercial ferry was established here about 1798 by
Chief George Colbert. This was the original crossing of the
Natchez Trace prior to being moved upriver to the present General
John Coffee Bridge on the Natchez Trace Parkway. In 1832, Dr.
Gabriel Bumpass was granted ferry rights which he held for many
years. A newspaper advertisement in 1851 heralded the ferry at
East Port, Mississippi, that crossed to Waterloo as "The nearest
and best way from Middle Tennessee to North Mississippi."99
Large holding pens for cattle and hogs were located at both ends of
the ferry crossing. As late as the 1920's the Methodist ministers at
Waterloo used the ferry on Sundays to hold services in the Riverton
Church.
An early school at Waterloo was taught by Carrie Sullivan,
daughter of Dr. 0. B. Sullivan. There is an existing early document
called "Article of Agreement" between this teacher and her patrons
in the town "to teach a subscription school at Waterloo, Alabama"
for the term of five months for the sum of $1.25 per month "for each
subscribed pupil."'01 In the late 1890's, this young lady crossed the
area. This unit, commanded by Captain George Robinson, was a
part of Brigadier General Eli Long's Second Division which was
encamped at Gravelly Springs. One historian wrote that, although
Wilson had been ordered to bum Waterloo, "he succumbed to the
charm of the Southern ladies and spared the town."105
Bumpass Creek Road was said to have been one of the
main routes used by Confederate bushwhacker Bert Hayes.106
According to legend, Hayes was responsible for the deaths of a
number of people in this area, although this has never been
documented.
The advent of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act in 1933
became a mixed blessing to the people at Waterloo. They soon
learned that the proposed Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee River
near Savannah, Tennessee, would form a lake to cover all the rich
river bottom farms in and around this area of Lauderdale County.
Some of these farmers who lost their land moved to Mississippi and
to other places such as Indiana. Others merely relocated to higher
ground. James "Jimmy" Haynes was one of the larger planters.
After Pickwick Dam was completed, he turned his porch chair
around to face the front of his store so he wouldn't have to look at
the lake that covered former fields of bountiful corn.107
There are a number of success stories told about young
people who left Waterloo for other places. One of these involves
Ezra Lee Culver who migrated to the North a good many years
before there was a Tennessee Valley Authority. After establishing
his own enterprise, he built a number of notable landmarks, such as
the Lincoln Tunnel, Yankee Stadium, and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
in New York, the state capitol buildings in Charleston. West
Virginia, and the Florida Key bridges. Culver is a son of George
Washington Culver, Junior, and his wife. Virginia Haynes Culver.
She was a daughter of Robert Henry Haynes and his wife, Jane
Barrier Haynes. An ancestor. John Culver, served in the
Revolutionary War under General Washington. The first Culver in
America arrived in 1635. Mrs. E. L. Culver donated the historic
Newman House to Waterloo a few years prior to her death.
Excerpt from "A Walk Through The Past" by William Lindsey McDonald 2003
