On July 11, 1811, Brigadier General Wade Hampton was directed
to immediately begin construction of three wagon roads through
the Creek Nation the second of these roads became known
as the Federal Road.
With construction at last beginning in 1811, the "Federal
Road (later the "Old" Federal Road) was built
from west to east connecting Fort Stoddert, Alabama, to Fort
Wilkinson, Georgia. (Several spelling variations include Stoddert,
Stoddart, etc.). Constructed in 1799, Fort Stoddert was named
for the Acting Secretary of War Benjamin Stoddert. Fort Stoddert
was located at the Mount Vernon Landing on the Mobile River in
Mobile County east of current day Mount Vernon. Located at the
Federal Road's other end, Fort Wilkinson was near Milledgeville
on the Oconee River in Baldwin County, Georgia. At that time,
Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia.
The Old Federal Road successfully connected Fort Stoddert
to the Chattahoochee River. At that point, the Federal Road merged
with the earlier postal riders horse path that linked Athens,
Georgia, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Unlike the old horse path,
the Federal Road went eastward making a connection with lands
ripe for the recruitment of soldiers and obtaining supplies for
the military. This path quickly became a major travel route for
pioneers to the area once known as the Old Southwest.
From its start as a narrow horse path used to carry the
mails, the Old Federal Road underwent great development and became
a major military road connecting early American forts in the
Creek Lands and the Mississippi Territory. Acting as the interstate
highway of its day, when Alabama Fever raged through
the Carolinas and Georgia, the Old Federal Road carried thousands
of pioneers to the Old Southwest. As such, the Federal Road directly
contributed to the dramatic increase in Alabamas population
between 1810 and 1820 with Alabamas population growing
far faster than that of either Mississippi or Louisiana during
this time. Alabama continued out-distancing both Mississippi
and Louisiana in population growth through 1850.
The Federal Road became a well traveled stagecoach route for
those going through Alabama. In 1824, Adam Hodgson wrote Letters
from North America Written During a Tour in the United States
and Canada wherein he described his 1820 travel along the Federal
Road from Chattahoochee to Mobile. Hodgson found adequate overnight
lodgings and described one stop as having three beds in a log
building with a clay floor. Noting the ground formed a perpetual
undulation, Hodgson concluded that [t]he road, which
is called the Federal Road, though tolerable for horses, would
be considered impossible for wheels.
Nearly two centuries later, the Federal Road remains visible.
For those interested in making a modern day trip along this important
historical path, the Monroe County Heritage Museums has marked
the portion of the Federal Road through Monroe County with eight
monuments along its route from Prices Hotel near the Monroe
and Butler County lines through MacDavids Hotel where the
Federal Road continues through Escambia County, |