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History is not formed from a single person, or a single event. Human beings naturally tend to emplace and embrace real and imagined high water marks, and make suppositions pertaining to their importance. The truth is that all history is built from the works and events surrounding many people. Occasionally, these converge and surface in the form of extraordinary consequences -- ranging from very good to very bad. The method by which is revealed the history of the world, a nation, a region, a state, or a local community does not differ. Only relative significance to the Whole varies.
But we digress -- back to our microcosm at hand...
Pond Spring was a thriving hub around the local farm communities, towns and small cities of North Alabama throughout the 19th and much of the 20th centuries. Furthermore, many of the residents were leading citizens in local, as well as state and national circles. History did not begin, nor did it end with the Pond Spring community. This section of the website has been created for the purpose of illuminating other influential people and events that wove the fabric of the history of this and surrounding areas.
The Red Rovers
The Red Rovers
Red Rovers Flag
The year of 1835 was a pivotal time in our nation's history, as well as that of
Texas. The quest by Texans for their independence was reaching fever level, not only
for them, but for others in the United States as well. In answer, the people of
nearby Courtland (~ 2 miles west of Pond Spring), and the surrounding area formed a
company of Volunteers for the purpose of contributing to the fight for Texas
independence. In the end, only nine of the 60 men forming the local company would
survive the epic. Mr. James Noles, Jr. has authored an excellent
article describing these events, and has graciously allowed Pond Spring and the General
Joe Wheeler home permission to present this on our website.
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The Riverboat "Joe Wheeler"
Nice photograph of the Joe Wheeler packet (Courtesy of Mrs.Lorene Jones). The Joe Wheeler was launched in 1898, and decommissioned in 1919. Mrs. Jones related to us that the picture was taken at the Walnut Street wharf at Chattanooga. Author, John Lewis, presents an excellent description of the Joe Wheeler:
"This boat was built in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1898, was a 155.8 ft. long x 33.5 ft wide sternwheeler, drawing a draft of only 3.5 feet of water, making it easy for her to navigate in the most shallow waters along the Tennessee River. She had a wooden hull, and her engines were 13's with a 4.5 ft stroke. She had two boilers, each boiler 38" long x 20" in diameter. This vessel was owned and operated by the Tennessee River Navigation Company of Chattanooga, with W.C. Wilkes the Manager of the Company. She ran from Joppa, Illinois to Chattanooga until 1907, then Chattanooga to Kingston. She made one trip to Knoxville, taking Government officials. Her machinery came from the J.C. Warner. She carried passengers as well as freight until June of 1918, when the cabin was cut down. After that time she served as a towboat. If you notice the front of the boat, she has the towing bulk heads in this picture. The Joe Wheeler was dismantled in 1919, and the machinery was sold to a Captain Lyerly."
Credit: "The Steamboat Era of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, Alabama and Steamboatin' on the Tennessee," Mr. John Lewis. [Entire Article: http://www.bridgeportal.org/bridgeport's_history.htm]
