The French (Pages 46-47) In 1702 the Le Moyne brothers (Iberville and Bienville) established a French fort and settlement called Fort Louis. The village outside the fort was called La Mobile. It was located on a bluff twenty-seven miles up the Mobile River from Mobile Bay.
The French (Pages 46-47) This placed the French closer to the Indians so that they could trade knives, tools, beads, and cotton cloth for fur pelts and deerskins.
Iberville and Bienville
Cassette Girls (Page 48) In 1704 Iberville asked the French government to send young available women to come to the Louisiana colony to marry the colonist. They brought their clothes in little trunks called “cassettes” and were called “The Cassette Girls.”
Cassette Girls (Page 48) The young ladies did not like the living conditions and were tired of eating cornbread in the colony and they rebelled. This rebellion is called the Petticoat Insurrection.
Cassette Girls (Page 48)
French Forts in Alabama (Pages 49-50) In 1711 Mobile was moved from Twenty-seven Mile Bluff to a permanent site at the mouth of the Mobile River. It was also called Fort Louis. Later a brick fort was built and named Fort Conde. In 1717 Fort Toulouse, located on the Coosa River, was constructed to trade with the Indians and as a military outpost against the English.
French Forts in Alabama (Page 50) In 1736 the French constructed Fort Tombecbe on the Tombigbee River. This fort was to be a forward French outpost for a war against the Chickasaw.
French soldiers (Pages 50-51) French soldiers prepared the cannons used to protect the fort.
Fort Toulouse (Pages 50-51) Fort Toulouse was a trading fort for the Indians. They would camp outside the fort when they came to trade.
End of the French Control (Pages 50-51) From 1688-1782 wars occurred that involved France, England, and Spain. In 1763 England won the French and Indian War. France gave up all of the land it controlled east of the Mississippi River which included Alabama. Mobile was now controlled by England.
Geography and History (Pages 52-53) The French used the rivers as highways into Alabama. The confluence of two rivers, or the place where they flow together, was a good place for a fort or town. What fort was built in such a place?
Geography and History (Pages 52-53) Native Americans learned that the Fall line was another good place to build a town. At the fall line the land becomes hilly, and rocks, shoals, and shallow water keep boats from traveling up river. What 3 Alabama towns are located on the fall line?
The English in Alabama (Pages 54-55) The English also wanted to trade goods for deerskins and animal furs. They established a colony north of Fort Toulouse called Fort Okfuskee. The English had an advantage over the French because Great Britain had more factories. They could manufacture more and better trade goods.
The English in Alabama (Pages 54-55) Lachlan McGillivray was a trader from Scotland. He came to Alabama to trade with the Indians. He met an Indian girl, married her, and built his home and a trading post at Little Tallassee on the Coosa River. Later they had a son, Alexander McGillivray, who became in important leader of the Creek Indians.