History - Fort Payne's Fort of DeKalb County, Alabama 888-805-4740

Historic marker about Fort Payne's "Fort" stands in Union Park

DeKalb County Tourist Association
1503 Glenn Blvd. SW
P.O. Box 681165
Fort Payne, AL 35968
888-805-4740
256-845-3957
info@tourdekalb.com

The Fort at Fort Payne

The Fort, which gave Fort Payne, its name was still standing in 1946 but was in such poor condition that the owner had it torn down and hauled away. Landmarks members may groan at the realization that the Fort, a historic structure erected over 165 years ago, was not saved. Pictures were once furnished by Mrs. Polly Sherman Glidden. She lived and played next to the Fort as a child. Mrs. Glidden’s grandfather, Curran Mitchell and his wife, former Julia Morrison, came to help build the DeKalb Hotel. They bought the Fort property in 1888 from a Mr. Campbell.

Already connected by a dogtrot was another cabin, formerly used as a saloon in south Fort Payne and was moved during the 1870’s. Mrs. Glidden was born next door in a house her grandfather had built in 1930. It was in May, 1838, that General Winfield Scott issued orders for all Cherokees still remaining in what was formerly the Cherokee Nation to be rounded up and placed in stockades until they were moved west. Captain John G. Payne, commissioned on October 21, 1836 in the 3^rd Division, 6^th Brigade and 64^th Alabama Regiment was appointed as an agent for removal of the Cherokee Indians in 1838. Captain John Payne reportedly came to Willstown and commanded a fort be built, a large one-room building of rough hewn logs. It had a large fireplace where food for the soldiers could be cooked in Dutch ovens. A hatch, located in front of the fireplace, led to a circular cellar. Built to hold Indians, this cellar had no windows and no passageways for air. A stockade was constructed next to the big ditch, where a larger number of Indians could be kept before being marched westward. None of the stockade was still standing during Mrs. Glidden’s memory but she often heard the older people use the expression "down by the stockade."

After buying the Fort, Mitchell, who was a carpenter, built walls and made four rooms in the Fort. The round excavation was used as a fruit cellar. Years later, after the Mitchell’s had moved next door, the old vacant building began to fall apart and the roof fell in. Then Fort Payne’s historical Fort was termite infested and unceremoniously hauled away to be burned. From the Mitchell family their descendents included three children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and at last count, 26 great, great grandchildren.