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Mobile - Alabama - History |
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Trouble in Europe and Indian wars in America finally resulted in France ceding Mobile and the territory east of the
Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763. The British improved Fort Conde and named it Fort Charlotte in honor of England's young Queen. In 1779,
Spain captured Mobile and controlled the city for twenty-one years. In 1800, Napoleon forced Spain to cede to France the province of Louisiana,
and then in 1803, Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, purchased Louisiana from France. The treaties were not clear and although
the United Stated from then on claimed Mobile, Spanish officers remained in authority. Although the Government was still Spanish, after the signing of the purchase treaties, the Americans began to move into the
Mobile territory and soon outnumbered the Spanish. The War of 1812 broke out and the city became American in 1813, and was incorporated on
January 20, 1814. Mobile played an active part in campaigns of General Andrew Jackson, who made this his headquarters when operating in this
section against the British. In 1861, Alabama was known as the Republic of Alabama, and until it became a part of the Confederacy which lasted until
1865. Mobile was one of the most important Confederate ports and did not surrender until the last days of the Civil War. The first submarine
actually used in warfare was built in Mobile during the Civil War. The famous Battle of Mobile Bay was fought off Cedar. A Spanish Fort, seven
miles east of Mobile, held by the Confederates, was captured by a Federal Army in one of the last important battles of the Civil War. In August,
1864, the port of Mobile closed when Admiral Farragut sailed into Mobile Bay and won the Battle of Mobile Bay which caused Mobile to lose access
to the Gulf of Mexico. Nine months later Mobile capitulated after the Battle of Spanish Fort. Mobile was very active and important to the
Nation's Great War programs during World War I and II. Ships were built and repaired in Mobile's shipyards and the port was very active in
shipping supplies to the fighting forces all over the world. Mobile was named for the Maubilla Indians who were found within the area of Mobile.
Maubilla means, "paddling Indians". |
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Twenty-seven
years after Columbus sighted America, a Spanish expedition under the command of admiral Alvarez do Pineda sailed into Mobile in 1519. Nearly two
hundred years later, in 1702, that the great Frenchman Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur do Bienville, built Fort Louis do la Mobile on Twenty Seven
Mile Bluff directly north of the present City of Mobile. This French Capitol of Louisiana was moved in 1711 to the site where the City of Mobile
now stands. The French in 1717 built Fort Conde, which was of impressive brick construction. 
