ALABAMA 



131 



ALABAMA 



Even the fertile "cotton belt" land has shown 

 signs of exhaustion, so constant has been the 

 raising of cotton; and alfalfa and cow-peas 

 have been grown of late years over wide areas, 

 to enrich the soil. 



Many of the negroes who are serving long 

 terms in the penitentiary are employed in min- 

 ing coal. 



Montgomery was the first capital of the Con- 

 federate states. 



Alabama was one of the very early states to 

 introduce railways, indeed, it had the first rail- 

 road west of the Alleghanies a forty-mile line 

 connecting the town at either end of the Mus- 

 cle Shoals. To-day this would scarcely be con- 

 sidered worthy the name railroad, as its rails 

 were of bar iron and its trains were drawn by 

 mules. W.F.Z. 



Consult Alabama, in the American Common- 

 wealths Series ; Brown's School History of Ala- 



Rrlated Subject*. The above article confines 

 itself to greneral description. A more detailed 

 knowledge of the geography of Alabama may 

 be gained from a study of the following articles : 



Anniston 



Bessemer 



Birmingham 



Florence 



Gadsden 



Huntsville 



Gulf of Mexico 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Mobile 



Montgomery 



Selma 



Talladega 



Tuscaloosa 



COAST WATERS 



Mobile Bay 



EDUCATION 



Alabama. I'nm-rsity of 



Lree Normal and Industrial Institute 



HISTORY 



Carpetbaggers Local Option 



DeSoto, Fernando Prohibition 



Mims, Massacre of Reconstruction 



< '..a I 



Coke 

 Cotton 



Alabama 



tahoochee 



LEADINO PRODUCTS 

 Iron 

 Lumber 

 Sugar Cane 



M.il.ih- 



T.-nneaaee 

 Tombigbee 



SURFACE FEATURES 



I .uritalns < ;rnborland Mountains 

 Coastal Plain 'Imont RoKi<>n 



ALABAMA, a m.r of Alakuna \\lnch flows 



through the mo<t fertile farm lands ami the 



nrhest forest* of the state. It is formed t>y 



of the Coosa and the Tallapooea 



n six miles north of Montgomery, in the 



central part of the state. From Montgomery 

 it follows a winding southwesterly course to a 

 point about fifty miles north of Mobile, where 

 it unites with the Tombigbee to form the Mo- 

 bile River. It is navigable from its mouth to 

 Montgomery, a distance of 320 miles. In earlier 

 days the river was the chief commerce carrier 

 of the state, a large part of whose products 

 were sent to Mobile for shipment, and in spite 

 of the more Tecent development of railways it 

 still carries extensive traffic in cotton, wheat, 

 oats and other products of the section. 



ALABAMA, THE, the most destructive and 

 consequently the most famous of the Confed- 

 erate privateers which preyed on Federal mer- 

 chant vessels during the War of Secession. 

 The Alabama was built at Birkenhead, Eng- 



_. 



THE FAMOUS "ALABAMA' 



land, in 1862, under circumstances so suspicious 

 that the United States minister, Charles Fran- 

 cis Adams, called the British government's 

 attention to the vessel. Contrary to interna- 

 tional law and Queen Victoria's proclamation 

 of neutrality, it was allowed to sail, and made 

 its way to the Azores Islands, where it took on 

 guns and stores from another vessel. Captain 

 Raphael Semmes, who named the vessel, took 

 command on August 24, 1862, and for two 

 years made his name and the name of his ship 

 the terror of Federal merchantmen. In two 

 years the Alabama captured sixty-five ships, 

 and destroyed property valued at $4,000,000. 

 For two years Federal cruisers sought for the 

 Alabama on all seas, and finally on June 11, 

 ISO I. it waa compelled to take refuge in tin 

 harbor of Cherbourg, France* The United 

 States Kcarsagc, Captain John A. Winslow 

 commanding. 'lie hurbor a few days 



later battle ,n June 19, 1864. Within 



an hour the Alabama was sunk, in sight of 

 hundreds of spectators who crowded the shores. 

 Alabama Claims. During the War of Seces- 

 sion and for several years after its close. 



