Eufaula, Alabama

Very little is known about the history of Eufaula during the American Civil War because very few contemporary records or newspapers survive.[5]^: 10 Alabama seceded from the United States on January 11, 1861. By the end of the month a military encampment was founded at Eufaula with soldiers ready to decamp to Fort Pickens or elsewhere as needed at the onset of hostilities.[14] Ultimately six companies of the Confederate States Army (CSA) were raised at Eufaula and Barbour County. One of these was the Eufaula Zouaves, one of dozens of military units on both sides that adopted that name, patterning their uniforms and order of battle after the French light infantry units on which they were modeled.[15]

The CSA operated a military hospital in Eufaula during the conflict.[16] Eufaula's strategic position on the Chattahoochee river involved it in the naval component of the Confederate war effort, and at least one ironclad warship was constructed in the city.[17] By April 1865, the Union Army had occupied Selma, Alabama, and plans were made to move the Alabama state government to Eufaula should Montgomery fall to Federal troops.[18]

Montgomery was captured on April 12 and governor Thomas H. Watts, with other state officials, fled to Eufaula,[19] establishing what the New York Daily Tribune called "the fugitive seat of Government of Alabama".[20] On April 29, 1865, Union general Benjamin Grierson had reached Clayton, Alabama, and word had finally made it to Eufaula that the war was over.[6]^: 183 The mayor of Eufaula and some members of the city council rode over to Clayton to escort Grierson into Eufaula, thus ensuring a generally peaceful transition to Federal control of the city.[6]^: 183

Eufaula was the site of what may have been the last battle of the Civil War. On May 19, 1865, at Hobdy's Bridge near Eufaula a Confederate detachment attacked a 44-man detachment from companies C and F of the Union's 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment, resulting in one soldier killed and three wounded.[21]

By May 1865 the Daily Intelligencer of Atlanta reported that 10,000 Union troops had occupied Eufaula.[22] In the immediate aftermath of the occupation there was a food riot and an "attempt to illegally distribute the public stores".[23] By the end of May Eufaula was sufficiently pacified that a special agent of the United States Post Office was able to deliver mail from Providence, Rhode Island, to the town via Macon, Georgia, without need for any of the twenty-five armed guards he had brought with him to defend him with violence.[24]

By August 1865 cotton shipping out of Eufaula was increasing again, mostly in barter for household goods, which were arriving by ship in increasing quantities.[25] However, the quantity of cotton being shipped out was nowhere near antebellum levels, and ships bound for Apalachicola were far below capacity.[26] In November 1865 the Federal garrison that had been occupying Eufaula was relieved of duty by two companies of the 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, whose commander, John Bell, assured the citizens that they would not "be disturbed in their lawful business."[27]

In March 1867, the United States Congress passed the first of four Reconstruction Acts and the Reconstruction Era began in earnest. Alabama, and therefore Eufaula, was placed in the Third Military District under the command of General John Pope. By the time the first elections were held under the new regime, in October 1867, Barbour County had about 5,000 registered voters, with about 1,500 white and 3,500 black.[28]

Municipal elections were held in March 1870 and white candidates won all offices except for the two fourth (of four) ward positions as aldermen, which were won by black candidates Washington Burke and Melvin Patterson.[29] Election officials set aside Burke's and Patterson's victories for election fraud and replaced them with their white competitors R. A. Solo and T. E. Morgan as fourth ward aldermen.[30] In the same election a radical republican candidate named Keills won the post of City Court Judge.[31] According to the Mobile Register, Keills's "election turned upon sectional differences. The negroes made their usual noisy demonstrations, marching in from the country with fife and drum."[31]

On November 3, 1874, members of the White League instigated the Election Riot of 1874 in Eufaula on election day, massacring at least 7 black Republicans, shooting at least 70 more, and preventing over 1,000 others from voting. They hijacked the vote count, fraudulently electing white candidates by excluding votes cast by blacks. Federal officials attempted to hold the white mob members accountable, but police falsely charged and convicted a witness with perjury, intimidating other witnesses. By 1876, with Reconstruction ended and black voters intimidated with lynching, there were just 10 black voters in the city, compared to 1,200 in February 1874.[32]

By 1866 there was a general movement of black Baptists to separate from the white churches and form their own congregations. Black Baptists applied for permission to separate in May 1866. The permission was granted, and, after negotiations, the black Baptists were allowed to purchase an old church building to house their own congregation.[33] This congregation formed the basis of the Eufaula Association, one of two black Baptist associations formed in Alabama prior to the founding of the state association of black Baptist churches in 1868.[34] By 1869 the site for the new white First Baptist Church of Eufaula had been purchased and $16,000 out of an estimated $25,000 necessary for its construction had been raised.[35]

For a number of years after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson by declaring racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, the schools in Eufaula remained unintegrated.[36] In 1955 the Eufaula Housing Authority sought to use eminent domain to condemn land on which a number of black families had lived since emancipation in order to build public housing, a park, and an expansion of the white high school.[37] The residents of the neighborhood, surrounded on all sides by white areas, thought that the city's motive was actually to keep their children out of a newly built high school once the now-inevitable racial integration occurred.[36]

In 1958 civil rights attorneys Fred Gray and Constance Baker Motley filed a suit in the U.S. District court claiming that their clients' constitutional rights were being violated by the plan.[36] The federal case was dismissed, but Gray (now appearing without Motley)[36] appealed to the Alabama Circuit Court, where the case was heard by then-judge George Wallace.[38] As before, Gray claimed that since the new development would allow white residents only, their civil rights were being violated by the City.[38] Although his appeal of the constitutional issue was unsuccessful, Gray also appealed the city's valuations of his clients' properties and, arguing before all-white juries in Wallace's court, managed in most of the cases to win much higher prices.[36]

After the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the United States Department of Justice sent federal observers into 24 southern counties to enforce its provisions regarding voter registration for the Fall 1965 elections. Many of these counties saw a significant increase in black registration, but Eufaula, not having federal supervision, had comparatively low rates. For instance, on August 16, 1965, 600 black citizens waited in line at the County courthouse in Eufaula to register, but by the time the office closed, only 265 had managed to fill out the paperwork.[39]

In 1966 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) responded by appointing a local Eufaulan, Daddy Bone, to organize voter registration drives in Eufaula. Bone initiated a series of nonviolent protests and boycotts of local stores that refused to hire blacks which attracted SNCC supporters from around the Southeastern United States. The city of Eufaula, under some pressure from the businessmen whose stores were targeted, passed anti-picketing laws and began arresting demonstrators en masse for violating them. Bone brought in civil rights lawyer S. S. Seay to defend the protestors, who were mostly convicted, and in such numbers as to overwhelm the county jail.[40]

In July 1968 the United States Department of Justice filed suit against 76 Alabama school districts, including that of Eufaula, in an attempt to bring them into compliance with Brown v. Board of Education.[41]

Schools in Eufaula remained segregated by race until the fall of 1966 and the first blacks graduated with the senior class of 1967.[42] After integration began the school stopped sponsoring social events, such as proms[42] although unofficial segregated events were still held. By 1990, students at Eufaula High School had begun pressuring school officials to allow them to hold integrated proms, and the first such was held in 1991 without incident.[42]

In 1963, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created Walter F. George Lake (unofficially named Lake Eufaula) behind the lock and dam of Fort Gaines, Georgia, once again assuring Eufaula's importance as an inland port.

In the early 1960s, the United States Coast Guard set up an Aids to Navigation Team in Eufaula that is still active today servicing from Columbus, Georgia, to Apalachicola, Florida, and the Flint River.

In 1964, the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge was established along Lake Walter F. George to serve and protect many endangered and threatened species such as the American bald eagle, the American alligator, the wood stork and the peregrine falcon. The refuge is a major tourist attraction for visitors from around the country.

On March 3, 2019, a tornado hit the city as part of a larger tornado outbreak.[43] On March 31, 2020, another tornado struck the city. There were no reports of fatalities or injuries.[44]

Eufaula has never had an African American mayor. Jack Tibbs Jr. won his third term as mayor in 2020.[45]

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 12,882 people, 4,969 households, and 3,215 families residing in the city.

As of the census[52] of 2010, there were 13,137 people, 5,237 households, and 3,630 families residing in the city. There were 5,829 housing units at an average density of 79.3 per square mile (30.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 51.0% White, 44.6% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.2% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. 4.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 5,237 households, out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 22.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.7% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the city, the population's age was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,025, and the median income for a family was $44,234. Males had a median income of $37,985 versus $23,890 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,515. About 18.0% of families and 23.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.8% of those under age 18 and 20.7% of those age 65 or over.

Many of Eufaula's historic buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[53] Other historic buildings include the Eufaula First United Methodist Church and the First Baptist Church of Eufaula. The Seth Lore and Irwinton Historic District, with 667 contributing properties, is the second-largest historic district in Alabama.[53][54]

The Shorter Mansion was built in 1884 by Eli Shorter and is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The bottom floor is often host to many receptions and events, while the second floor serves as a museum honoring the six Alabama governors from Barbour County, as well as Admiral Thomas Moorer, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[53][55]

The Holleman-Foy House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[53]and stands in 215 W Broad St. The building was designed by George Franklin Barber and built in 1907 for Judge Henry Holleman. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination the house was published in the 5th edition of Modern Dwellings (1905) under the title "An Ideal Home". In 1909 the house was sold to William Foy.

Fendall Hall, built from 1856 to 1860, is an Italianate-style historic house museum owned and operated by the Alabama Historical Commission.[53][56]

Lake Eufaula is known as the "Big Bass Capital of the World".[57]

Eufaula was home to a minor league baseball team, the Eufaula Millers, in 1952 and 1953.

In the 2002 film Sweet Home Alabama, the historic homes shown in Melanie's (Reese Witherspoon) return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula.

The Tree That Owns Itself is an oak tree in Eufaula that has been replaced several times. It was given the ownership of its land by the governor in 1936, with each of the two replacements receiving the ownership to the land too. Confederate soldier Captain John A. Walker previously owned the land.[58][59]