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Center Star Skirmish
Confederate Colonel William Johnson’s 4th Alabama Cavalry crossed the Tennessee River and attacked the 7th Illinois infantry encamped near Center Star on May 7, 1864. A six hour battle ensued. The Confederate raid caused 35 casualties and drove the…
Confederate Brigadier General Sterling Wood from Florence
Sterling Wood was a Brigadier General for the Confederate Army from Lauderdale County. Wood passed the bar to become a practicing lawyer in 1845 and joined his brother’s practice in Florence, Alabama. Wood was elected to represent Lauderdale County…
General Hood Liberates of Florence
After Union General Williams T. Sherman captured Atlanta in September of 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood devised a plan to aide General Lee in Virginia by going through Ohio. The plan necessitated a crossing of the Tennessee River. Hood’s…
Four Mile Branch Skirmish
The first skirmish at four mile branch in Lauderdale County during 1864. January 25, Confederate Colonel William A. Johnson’s 4th Alabama Cavalry was dispatched to forage in Lauderdale County by General Philip Roddey from his headquarters at…
General Forrest Hides on Seven Mile Island
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest hid his men on Seven Mile Island in Florence October 5-6, 1864. General Forrest’s cavalry crossed into Lauderdale County at Colbert Shoal and rode down the Huntsville Road toward Athens. After raiding…
Battle at the Peters’ Plantation
The battle at the Peters’ Plantation took place just before daylight on April 12, 1864. The 9th Ohio Cavalry known to the local in North Alabama as “The White Horse Company” had been foraging the local area from their base camp at the plantation of…
Florence Bridge Burned
The oldest river bridge in Alabama connected Florence to Sheffield for more than one hundred and fifty years. The Florence Bridge Company was authorized by the Alabama legislature in 1832. It was founded for the purpose of realizing a dream for the…
Gunwaleford Road
Gunwaleford Road earned its name because of a Confederate gunboat becoming lodged in between sand bars on Cypress Creek. After the fall of Fort Henry at the mouth of the Tennessee River, Union gunboats under the command of Commander Andrew H. Foote…
Colonel Pickett Place
Colonel Pickett Place, Home of Richard Oric Pickett a Colonel of the 10th Alabama Infantry under the “Defender of North Alabama” Confederate General Philip Roddey. The house is a “double-pile cottage” and rare example of Tidewater architecture in…
Old Confederate Fort in Florence
The Old Confederate fort in Florence was constructed by Confederate forces under General Daniel Ruggles in 1862. General Ruggles was born in Massachusetts and graduated from West Point married into a wealthy Virginia family. After the fall of Fort…
Waterloo Shelled by Union Gunboats
The city of Waterloo was shelled by Union gunboats in July 1862. Near the end of July 1862, older men from the town of Waterloo fired on the USS Cottage a transport vessel. The escorting gunboats returned fire, shelling the town. Union soldiers…
Wilson's 1865 Raid stages at Gravely Springs.
Gravely Springs near Oakland in Lauderdale County was the site of Union General James H. Wilson’s headquarters and camp in the winter of 1865. The final Union raid into Alabama was staged in this camp in the early spring of 1865. In January of 1865,…
Hood's Narrow Escape Across the Tennessee
The Bainbridge Ferry was the sight that Confederate General Hood’s Army of the Tennessee used to escape from the Union forces of General George Thomas who was pursuing them from Nashville. General Hood’s forces left Pulaski for Bainbridge to cross…
Skirmish at Lamb's Ferry
Lamb’s Ferry was one of the oldest ferries crossing the Tennessee River in Lauderdale County. The ferry was built by John Lamb from Giles County Tennessee in 1809 four miles south of where the town of Rogersville is now located. The traffic involved…
Civil War and Jackson’s Military Road
Jackson’s Military Road was constructed from 1816 to 1820 under the direction of Andrew Jackson. The original purpose of the road was to serve as a conduit for military supplies in the southeast. The mail route from New Orleans to Nashville was…
Burning of the Globe Cotton Mills
A Union force of 1380 men under the command of Colonel Florence M. Cornyn left Corinth, Mississippi on May 26, 1863. Colonel Cornyn’s mission was to destroy the industrial capacity of Lauderdale County. The county was a leading producer of cotton and…
Locust Hill
Locust Hill, a historic home located in Tuscumbia, Alabama on the corner of Seventh and Cave streets, was built in 1823 by Col. William Winters. The large 14 room mansion stretches across nearly three-fourths of a city block and features striking…
O'Neal Hall, University of North Alabama
O’Neal Hall was the “The Dormitory for Women” at the Florence State College, known now as the University of North Alabama. Completed and occupied by September 1st, 1913, the total cost of the building was $91,000. At its time, it was one of the best…
2310 Taylor Street
A small one-story building that resides in downtown Guntersville, Alabama at 2310 Taylor Street. The original construction of the building dates back to the 1920s. It is a small, simple building with a stucco façade. The addition of the stucco…
Florence Ice and Coal Company/Central Ice Company
Two separate ice and coal companies merged to create the Florence Ice and Coal Company. The first company was Chapin Ice and Coal Company. The second company was H.J. Moore Coal Company. Chapin, before the merger, boasted that the company could…
Florence Gas Light and Fuel Company/Florence Gas Works
This company was the leader in fuel production for the people of Florence. The old Florence Gas Light and Fuel Company/Florence Gas Works operated on Old Huntsville Road, west of the Florence Steam Laundry in Sweetwater. The main office of the…
F.H. Foster Manufacturing Company
F.H. Foster Manufacturing served a multitude of roles in manufacturing in the Florence area. The F.H. Foster complex was built in between Sweetwater Creek and the Tennessee River along the Louisville and Nashville railroad tracks that ran through…
Florence Machine Works/Company
This company was founded in the East Florence area of Sweetwater. The initial founders of the company were R.M. Martin, President, Colonel Noel F. Cherry, Vice-President (and founder of the Mountain Mills and Cherry Cotton Mill), and S.S. Broadus,…
Florence Lumber Company
The Florence Lumber Company was established in the early 1910s. Today, Florence Lumber Company is located on East Tennessee Street in downtown Florence. The company has been a mainstay in Florence for around a century and is one of the earliest…
Cypress Mill
The Cypress Mill was located on Cypress Creek in Florence. The Cypress Mill was rebuilt from the old skeletal remains of the pre-Civil War cotton mill known as the Globe Factory. After Union Colonel Florence M. Cornyn of the 10th Missouri Calvary…
Coca-Cola Bottling Plant/Pratt Bottling Company
In 1907, two men named Russell and Arthur Pratt of Huntsville, Alabama moved a Coca-Cola bottling facility from Sheffield to downtown Florence. The Pratt Bottling Company bottled Coca-Cola in addition to creating and manufacturing their own soft…
Cherry Cotton Mill
The Cherry Cotton Mill was one of the largest cotton mills in Lauderdale County at the turn of the twentieth century. Cherry Cotton Mill has an industrial genealogy in Lauderdale County that is traceable to before the Civil War. Cypress Mills…
Florence Cotton Oil Company/Ashcraft Cotton Mill/Florence Cotton Mill
The Ashcraft Cotton Mill began not as a cotton mill for the weaving of textiles, but as a refinery for cotton oil. In the spring of 1898, C.W. and Erister Ashcraft founded and incorporated the Florence Cotton Oil Company. The distance of other…
Bellamy Planning Mill Company/Acme Lumber Company
The Bellamy Planning Mills of the East Florence area of Sweetwater was incorporated on May 1st, 1901. The founders chose to situate Bellamy Planning Mills near Sweetwater Creek on present day Veterans Drive. The founders of the Bellamy Planning…
Florence Wagon Works
Before the city of Florence, Alabama gained renown for its world famous Florence Wagon Works, the wagon company operated in the area of Atlanta, Georgia. One reason why the company moved to Florence was the infrastructure of industry within the…
2324 Taylor Street
Compared to the other buildings located on Taylor Street in downtown Guntersville, Alabama, this is a relatively new building. Constructed in the early 1950s with brick and concrete blocks, the building is easily twenty to thirty years newer than…
2320 Taylor Street
A two-story brick building located in downtown Guntersville, Alabama that was utilized as a retail establishment, but now looks unused. The building is the largest located on Taylor Street. The construction of the building dates to the early 1930s…
2316 Taylor Street
A commercial building located in downtown Guntersville, Alabama, 2316 Taylor Street is a brick building with two stories and a flat roof. The original construction of the building dates to the mid-1930s as a one-story commercial building. The…
2312 Taylor Street
Located right next door to 2310 Taylor Street, 2312 Taylor Street is a one-story stucco façade building located in the heart of downtown Guntersville, Alabama. This building is more rectangular in shape on the façade, whereas, 2310 Taylor was…
2005.36.106: Mary to Elizabeth Caroline Young
Letter from Mary to her sister, Elizabeth Caroline Young. Mary inquires about Elizabeth's health, noted it as poor. Mary also mentions a proposed family visit, and reminisces about memories between the two sisters.
2005.36.186: Mary Thompson to Caroline Young, Unknown November 18
4 handwritten pages and an envelope.
Interview with Mary Kitts
An oral history with Mary Kitts, a graduate student of Auburn University, concerning her participation in the Women's March on Washington that occurred on January 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C. Her testimony provides context for those women graduate…
2005.36.166: Mary (Jones) Thompson to Pierce M.B. Young, 1857 May 13
A letter of encouragement from Aunt Mary to Pierce. She offered admonishment and advice to Pierce as he embarked on his commission to attend West Point. She shared news of Uncle Butler being very ill with mumps, and of Miss Thompson, a beautiful…
2005.36.121: Mary (Jones) Thompson to Louisa Young, Unknown March 29
News on family health and well-being along with advice and encouragement on making courtship and marriage decisions. Requests that the family make a trip to SC for a visit. Includes a warning to Robert M. Young, Sr. to be watchful for a fugitive…
2005.36.396: Sister Mary to Sister, Unknown April 3
4 handwritten pages.
War Eagle 1913
Article defending original origins of "War Eagle" belonging to Auburn
Current WESC
Photo of bar inside the new WESC
UNA Lion Habitat
On October 7, 2002, University of North Alabama had the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony for the brand new lion habitat. The habitat was named after a long time contributor to the university, George H. Carroll. After the death of the previous…