{{Short description|United States historic site in Alabama}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox military installation | name = Fort Bainbridge | location = Boromville, Alabama | nearest_town = <!-- used in military test site infobox --> | country = United States | image = Fort_Bainbridge.jpg | caption = | type = Earthen fort | coordinates = {{coord|32|19|08|N|85|26|06|W|display=inline,title}} | gridref = | image_map = | image_mapsize = | image_map_alt = | image_map_caption = | pushpin_map = USA Alabama #USA | pushpin_mapsize = 220 | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mark = | pushpin_marksize = | built = March 1814 | used = 1814 | builder = North Carolina militia |demolished= |condition= |ownership= Private |open_to_public= No |controlledby= Private |garrison= |current_commander= |commanders= |occupants= |battles= Creek War |events= }} '''Fort Bainbridge''' was an earthen fort located along the Federal Road on what is today the county line between Macon and Russell counties in Alabama.{{sfn|Harris|1977|pp=36}} Fort Bainbridge was located twenty-five miles west of Fort Mitchell.{{sfn|Jackson|1927|pp=23}}
==History== ===Creek War=== Fort Bainbridge was named in honor of naval captain William Bainbridge.{{sfn|Bunn|Williams|2008|pp=42}}<ref name="Brannon"/> Fort Bainbridge was built in the style of a bastion fort with eight outcroppings. The bastions were surrounded by a ditch that was filled with pickets and the fort was entered by a drawbridge.{{sfn|Waselkov|Christopher|2012|pp=42}} It was constructed in March 1814 by North Carolina militia under the command of General Joseph Graham in an effort to protect the supply route from Fort Hull to Fort Mitchell.{{sfn|Waselkov|Christopher|2012|pp=222}} Captain Jett Thomas directed the fort's construction.<ref name=Brannon>{{cite news |last=Brannon |first=Peter A. |date=April 17, 1932 |title=Fort Bainbridge, In Russell |url=https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/voices/id/6796/rec/1 |work=The Montgomery Advertiser |location=Montgomery, Alabama |access-date=September 4, 2021}}</ref> Fort Bainbridge allowed supply wagons to travel between Fort Mitchell and Hull in one-day intervals and was garrisoned by 100 to 300 troops.{{sfn|Owsley|2008|pp=60}} Fort Bainbridge was garrisoned by Tennessee militia until July 31, 1814.{{sfn|Jackson|1927|pp=23}}
===Postwar=== In 1820 on his North American tour, Adam Hodgson described Fort Bainbridge as being a "small stockaded mound".<ref name=Brannon/> Captain Kendall Lewis (who commanded Benjamin Hawkins' scouts), along with his Creek chief father-in law, Big Warrior, operated a tavern as a stagecoach stop about 400 yards west of Fort Bainbridge, which stayed open under the care of Lewis' widow until at least 1836.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genealogytrails.com/ala/taverns.html#Lewis |title=Stage Stops and Taverns of Early Alabama Prior to 1840 |publisher=Genealogy Trails |access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref> During his return tour, the Marquis de Lafayette stayed at the Lewis Tavern for his first night in Alabama.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alabamapioneers.com/alabama-threw-many-parties-gen-lafayette/ |title=Alabama threw parties for Lafayette [photographs] and Selma played a prank on the citizens of their town |publisher=Alabama Pioneers |date=3 May 2016 |access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref> Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach stayed at the Lewis Tavern on his 1826 travels through North America.{{sfn|Waselkov|Christopher|2012|pp=204}} The site of the fort also lies along naturalist William Bartram's four-year journey through the Southern United States, during which he documented the flora, fauna and Native Americans of the area.{{sfn|Bartram Trail Conference|1979|pp=134}} The fort site was later used as a plantation.{{sfn|Braund|Waselkov|Christopher|2019|pp=100}} [[File:Fort Bainbridge and Decatur.jpg|thumb|Fort Bainbridge (located in the center) as portrayed in Henry Schenck Tanner's 1830 ''The Traveler's Pocket Map of Alabama''.]]
===Present=== Today, it remains unmarked and its legacy lies in a small unincorporated community, Boromville, that developed from it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digtheridge.com/ |title=Highlights |publisher=The Ridge Macon County Archaeology Project |access-date=2 May 2021}}</ref> Though unmarked, the location is known and the area has been damaged by relic hunters.{{sfn|Braund|2012|pp=249}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Bartram Trail Conference |date=1979 |title=A Study of the Life of William Bartram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YgYrifxa5_oC&q=fort+bainbridge+alabama&pg=PA134 |location=Montgomery, Alabama |publisher=The Bartram Trail Conference |page=}} * {{cite book |last1=Braund |first1=Kathryn |last2=Waselkov |first2=Gregory |last3=Christopher |first3=Raven |title=The Old Federal Road in Alabama |date=2019 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-8173-5930-0 |page=}} * {{cite book |title=Tohopeka: Rethinking the Creek War & the War of 1812 |last=Braund |first=Kathryn E. Holland |year=2012 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |page= |isbn=978-0-8173-5711-5 }} * {{cite book|last1=Bunn |first1=Mike |last2=Williams |first2=Clay |title=Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dF2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT40|date=2008|publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=978-1-62584-381-4|pages=}} * {{cite book |title=Dead Towns of Alabama |last=Harris |first=W. Stuart |year=1977 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |page= |isbn=0-8173-1125-4 }} * {{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Andrew |editor-last=Bassett |editor-first=John Spencer |editor-link=John Spencer Bassett |title=Correspondence of Andrew Jackson |year=1927 |orig-date=Composed 31 July 1814|publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington |location=Washington, D.C. |volume=2 |page=}} * {{cite book|last=Owsley |first=Frank Lawrence |title=Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands|url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00061390/00001|date=2008|publisher=Library Press@UF |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=978-1-947372-34-4|pages=}} * {{cite tech report |last1=Waselkov |first1=Gregory |last2=Christopher |first2=Raven |title=Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama |number= |institution=Alabama Department of Transportation |date=April 2012 |location=Montgomery, Alabama |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259398790_Archaeological_Survey_of_the_Old_Federal_Road_in_Alabama_Public_Version_-_Site_Locations_Redacted |quote=Submitted by the Center for Archaeological Studies University of South Alabama. |year=}}
==External links== *[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/17-Sketch-of-Fort-Bainbridge-from-General-Joseph-Graham-papers-courtesy-of-the-North_fig154_259398790 Detailed sketch of Fort Bainbridge from General Joseph Graham Papers]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Bainbridge}} Bainbridge Bainbridge Category:Creek War Category:Pre-statehood history of Alabama Category:Buildings and structures in Macon County, Alabama Bainbridge Bainbridge Category:Military installations closed in 1814