Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798-1826 by Mike Bunn

Abstract

Reviewed by: Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798-1826 by Mike Bunn Alex Colvin Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798-1826. By Mike Bunn. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2019. 184 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-8173-5928-7. To commemorate Alabama's bicentennial in 2019, around twenty authors produced books on Alabama culture, geography, and history. Combining history with a travel guide, Mike Bunn's Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798–1826 provides readers with a succinct historical overview of the territorial and statehood years of Alabama and a detailed guide to the time period's buildings and places they can still visit today. Bunn outlines the book's intention as an "introduction to the people, places, and events" of early Alabama through "a fast-paced, overview-fashion narrative" (2). He argues that this period, from 1798 to 1826, witnessed a pattern of development in the economy and politics that would influence future generations of Alabamians. Early Alabama is divided into six chapters covering the region's history from the formation of the Mississippi Territory in 1798 to the state capital's move from from Cahaba (then known as Cahawba) to Tuscaloosa in 1826. The first two chapters cover the two decades before Alabama became a state in 1819. In the first chapter, Bunn writes "Alabama's road toward statehood began in 1798 with the formation of the Mississippi Territory" (5). This statement is problematic as it foresees Alabama's formation as inevitable, as if the events from 1798 to 1814 are a precursor to the main story. This underlying sentiment remains throughout the first two chapters, even as Bunn explains that colonial, and later U.S., power in the region remained peripheral as the Creek and other Native American tribes maintained control over the land. Nevertheless, these chapters provide a good [End Page 182] overview of the events and political tensions in the Mississippi Territory and during the Creek War of 1813–14. Where this book really excels is in its storytelling. The use of individual stories to explain larger movements allows readers to connect to the past in a personal way. Instead of merely stating that the early territorial years were dangerous, for example, Bunn tells of Richard Breckenridge, a traveler who cut his foot in the woods and had to travel for five days with an infected wound, until he found the young settlement of Jones Valley near present-day Birmingham. Throughout the monograph, there are dozens of these stories that bring this time period to life, making the distant past feel relatable. The last four chapters deal with the expansion of the Mississippi Territory, the creation of the separate Alabama Territory in 1817, the formation of the state of Alabama in 1819, and the first years of statehood. Early Alabama takes these complex years and provides a concise summary of the political, economic, and cultural shifts of the time. For example, Bunn examines the rise of cotton production and its inextricable connection to the institution of slavery. As plantations shifted focus from corn to cotton production, their enslaved populations increased, but Bunn demonstrates that the roots of the antebellum plantation system began in the territorial period. In reference to politics, he deals with the controversy surrounding the location of the capital, the constitutional convention, and the tenuous place of Native Americans, who still resided in the region, in this new reality. Overall, in its brief narrative Early Alabama provides a great overview for those interested in learning about the region's history from 1798 to 1826. While readers will not find every detail of the period in these pages, they will leave with a solid timeline of events, insight into the problems of the era, and an appreciation of the region's history. The final forty pages of Early Alabama are a travel guide to places in Mississippi and Alabama that defined this time period. Organized by city, the historic sites include homes, parks, museums, cemeteries, and important locations of events that happened in this era. A map of each region shows where the cities and towns are in location to...