History , Talladega Ct.
THE MAIN ROUTES: There was a small settlement at Talladega by the time the Battle of Talladega was fought with the Indians on Nov 9, 1813. 17 white settlers along with some friendly Indians "forted" at the home of Alexander Leslie, sometimes spelled Leshley a half breed Indian whose home was on the outskirts of the present Talladega. It had been fortified with a high surrounding fence with lookout posts offering added protection. It was from there that a friendly Indian eluded other Indians to slip through the forests and summon Andrew Jackson from Ft. Strother to come to the rescue of the white persons at Leslie's home. The first inn or accommodation house along the Indian routes used by the early settlers into the area was owned by a Thomas Rowland. His inn was located on the McIntosh Trail leading from near Wetumpka to Augusta, Georgia about where Oak Hill Cemetery is now. There were no doubt other small settlements along the Socopatoy Trial leading form Wetumpka to Kelley's Spring (now Curry station) about six miles east of Talladega where it joined the McIntosh Trial; on the McIntosh Trail; and on the Jackson Trace which ran from Ft. Strother to Ft. Jackson at Wetumpka. These three trails were the main routes used by early settlers into what is now Clay and Talladega counties. Shorter routes at some locations connected with these trails and with the well-known Creek Path which led from Hickory ground near Wetumpka northward to Coosa Town near Childersburg and on into north Alabama and Tennessee.
CHAPMAN ROAD: Late 1813 or early 1814 the Chapman Road was cut through the wilderness along the best available route from Ft. Williams on the Coosa River to Horseshoe Bend in what is now Tallapoosa Counties under the supervision of Simeon Chapman, who was on the staff of General Andrew Jackson, the commanding offer of U.S. forces in Alabama at that time. This route was used by General Jackson to move his troops from Ft. Williams on the Coosa River to confront the Indians at the Battle of horseshoe Bend on March 14, 1814. This road with minor changes is still identified as the Chapman Road and passes through the Brownville community in the southern portion of Clay Co. about 4 miles north of Goodwater.
TREATY: After the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, a treaty with the Creeks was signed at Ft. Jackson on August 9, 1814, ceding territory west of the Coosa River, and on September 14, 1816, the Cherokees ceded additional land. In spite of the hardships, our pioneering ancestors ventured into the frontier to join those who had come earlier, and by March 3, 1817, the population was judged sufficient to set the Territory of Alabama apart from the Territory of Mississippi, of which it had been a part since April 3, 1798. In two year's time enough people wee living in the Territory to warrant its being made a state, and on Dec 14, 1819, Alabama was admitted to the union as the 22nd state.