Red Eagle's Trail

Click here to view a full map showing the different trail locations across the state.

29. Poarch Creek Indian Thanksgiving Pow Wow
The annual pow wow is held in November on the Poarch Creek Reservation near Atmore. The tribe and its visitors celebrate a cultural tradition of dances in full regalia, a barbecue feast with traditional roasted corn and other events. The Poarch Band of Creeks is a segment of the original Creek Nation and the only tribe in Alabama to currently hold federal recognition.
5811 Jack Springs Road, Atmore
(251) 368-9136

30. Fort Mims State Historic Site NRHP
As tensions mounted in the summer of 1813, white settlers in the 'Bigbee and Tensaw Country hastily erected many stockades for protection against hostile Red Sticks. Near Tensaw Lake in present-day Baldwin County, Samuel Mims constructed a stockade with his family home in the center. The militia was under the command of Major Daniel Beasley when 1,000 Red Stick warriors attacked at noon on August 30. Nearly three-quarters of the 553 people at the fort, including children and pregnant women, were massacred. The Creeks set fire to the fort's buildings and many of the occupants were burned alive.
Baldwin Co. Rd. 80, north of Stockton
(251) 937-9464

31. Red Eagle and Sehoy III Grave Sites
Near the Ft. Mims Historic Site are the graves of Red Eagle, William Weatherford, and his mother, Sehoy III, of the Wind Clan.
North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce
301 McMeans Ave., Bay Minette
(251) 937-5665

32. Alabama River Museum
One of the Monroe County Heritage Museums (mchm), the museum contains exhibits of local Native American life and culture. The exhibit displays tools, projectile points and clothing traditionally used by Native Americans in the area, from pre-history through the Creek removal. The MCHM also publishes a driving tour brochure about sites along the Old Federal Road. Expansion of white settlement down the Federal Road in 1811 was one of the causes of the First Creek Indian War. William Weatherford (Red Eagle) settled in Monroe County after his surrender at Fort Jackson in 1814.
Claiborne Lock and Dam, Finchburg
(251) 282-4206; (251) 575-7433 (MCHM)
www.tokillamockingbird.com

33. Clarke County Museum NRHP
The Native American collection at the museum includes projectile points and tools from the Paleo-Indian and Mississippian Periods, as well as some artifacts from Fort Sinquefield. Nearby historic markers commemorate the massacre at the Kimbell-James cabin and the attack on Fort Sinquefield. At the outbreak of the First Creek Indian War, 14 stockades were constructed in Clarke County for protection against hostile Red Sticks. Some research has placed the 1540 Battle of Mabila in Clarke County near Choctaw Bluff on the Alabama River.
116 Cobb Street, Grove Hill
(251) 275-8684

34. St. Stephens Historical Park NRHP NRHS
St. Stephens was situated on a high bluff the Choctaw called Hobucakintopa. In 1803, the Choctaw Trading House was established at St. Stephens and the Choctaw Agency in 1805. The post was very active in the deerskin trade. St. Stephens became the Alabama Territorial Capital in 1817.
Hwy. 34, St. Stephens
(251) 246-6790; (251) 247-2622

35. MOWA Choctaw Cultural Center
The first treaty made under the provisions of the 1830 Indian Removal Act was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaw that same year. Mass confusion reigned among the Choctaw of southwestern Alabama and Mississippi as they were forced to leave their homes and lands. Cold, cholera, hunger and despair were their constant companions on the trail to Oklahoma. Some Choctaw were able to escape or avoid removal and they formed the nucleus of the tribe today. They adopted the name "MOWA Choctaw Indians" to identify the Indians in Mobile and Washington Counties who are descended from several Indian tribes including Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Mescalero and Apache. The cultural center's museum traces the Choctaw's history and includes the "Geronimo Room" which records the internment of 400 Apaches from Arizona at the Mt. Vernon Barracks from 1887 to 1894. Two pow wows are held on the reservation each year. Call for dates and times.
1080 W. Red Fox Rd., Mt. Vernon
(251) 829-5898

36. Mt. Vernon Barracks Historic Marker
The marker documents the imprisonment of Chiricahua Apaches, including the noted warrior Geronimo, from April of 1887 until May of 1894, at the Mt. Vernon Barracks. Mt. Vernon Hospital, later Searcy Hospital, was established at the site in 1902. It is closed to the public.
MOWA Choctaw Cultural Center (Information)
1080 W. Red Fox Rd., Mt. Vernon
(251) 829-5898

37. The Museum of Mobile
A permanent exhibit outlines the history of Native American cultures in south Alabama and focuses on Bottle Creek, an extensive Mississippian temple mound site on a remote island in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Bottle Creek (A.D. 1100 to 1400) has 18 earthen mounds that served as platforms for houses and temples.
111 South Royal Street, Mobile
(251) 208-7569

38. Historic Magnolia Cemetery
A number of Apache POWs who died during their internment at the Mt. Vernon Barracks are buried in the National Cemetery portion of Magnolia Cemetery. Geronimo's son, Chappo Geronimo, died of tuberculosis at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, and is also buried here.
1202 Virginia Street, Mobile
(251) 208-7307

39. Shell Mound Park
An ancient Indian shell mound is on the island with interpretive information available on Native American customs. Iberville named the island, Massacre Island, in 1699 when he discovered a mound with hundreds of human skulls.
2 N. Iberville St., Dauphin Island
(251) 861-2882

Note:
NRHP - National Register of Historic Places
NRHS - National Register of Historic Sites