Former Gadsden Resident Memorialized in Apalachicola

Dr. Alvin W. Chapman

Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman, who lived in Quincy from around 1835 to 1847, is remembered today in Apalachicola at one of the most beautiful botanical gardens to be found in any small city in the South.

A native of Massachusetts who was educated at Amherst, Dr. Chapman moved South after he graduated college and arrived in Marianna in 1834. He practiced medicine there for one year before moving to Quincy where he opened a medical practice in 1835.

Chapman had always been fascinated with nature, but after arriving in Florida he cultivated the friendship of Hardy Bryan Croom. Croom was the owner of a plantation along the Jackson County side of the Apalachicola River opposite Gadsden County's Aspalaga Bluff (just south of today's I-10 bridge). As he traveled back and forth between his plantation and Tallahassee, Croom noticed groves of a unique type of tree growing at Aspalaga Bluff. He invested further and as a result is credited with "officially" discovering and naming the Florida Torreya tree, one of the rarest trees in the world.

Chapman Botanical Garden

Through his association with Croom, Chapman found his fascination with the plant life of the South growing more and more intense. After Croom's tragic death in a shipwreck, Chapman devoted his life to exploring the flora of the South and became one of America's premier botanists.

He lived in Quincy until 1847 when he relocated to Apalachicola, where he became a friend of Dr. John Gorrie (inventor of a process for artificial refrigeration and making ice). In 1860 he published the first edition of his landmark book, Flora of the Southern States. The book is still a fixture on the shelves of those interested in the rare plants of the South.

Chapman died in 1899 and is buried at Chestnut Cemetery in Apalachicola. Honoring his life and dedication to the unique plants of the South, the city is now home to the Chapman Botanical Garden. Located adjacent to Orman House Historic State Park and Apalachicola's beautiful Three Soldiers Monument, the garden features winding pathways, a butterfly garden, unique plantings, footbridges and more. It is a very nice tribute to the man for whom it is named and is one of the finest botanical gardens to be found in any small city in America.

To learn more about the garden, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/chapmangarden.

Scott's Massacre of 1817 - Part One

In my last post, I discussed the unusual life of Elizabeth Stewart Dill, the only female survivor of the 1817 "Scott's Massacre" in Gadsen County, Florida.

The old print at right is an artist's conception of Scott's Massacre prepared for use as an illustration in an early history of the United States. It is now housed in the collections of the New York Public Library.

A native of Virginia, Richard W. Scott had entered the military service during the War of 1812 when he was commissioned as an Ensign in the 35th U.S. Infantry Regiment.

Scott received his appointment on March 31, 1813, and was promoted to third lieutenant by the end of the year. He was promoted to second lieutenant the following October.

When the size of the army was dramatically reduced following the end of the war, Lieutenant Scott was reassigned to the 7th U.S. Infantry.

Sent to Fort Scott on the Flint River arm of today's Lake Seminole with the First Brigade (4th and 7th Infantry Regiments) in response to growing tensions between U.S. Army officers and Neamathla, chief of the nearby village of Fowltown, Scott was dispatched with 40 men in a flatboat to assist a supply flotilla slowly making its way up the Apalachicola River to the fort.

The series of events that followed rank among the most tragic in the history of Florida. Over coming days, I will post excerpts from the chapter on "Scott's Massacre" in my new book, The Early History of Gadsden County. Please check back later today for more of the story.

Aspalaga Bluff - Gadsden County, Florida

This is a view of Aspalaga Bluff. Fronting the Apalachicola River just south of today's Interstate 10 bridge, the bluff is one of the most significant historic sites in Gadsden County.

In prehistoric times, Native Americans built a ceremonial complex of three mounds here. One of the most important archaeological sites in Florida, the mound complex dates from roughly A.D. 400- 900.

In 1818 the bluff was crossed by General Andrew Jackson's army during the U.S. invasion of Spanish Florida remembered today as the First Seminole War. Jackson's topographer, Captain Hugh Young, described the rocky escarpment where the bluff fell off into the river.

In the years that followed, as early settlers drifted into Gadsden County, Aspalaga became the site of an early settlement. An important riverboat landing, the community boasted a store, houses and a water-powered mill.

It was here that early botanist Hardy Bryan Croom first noticed that an unusal tree grew in large groves. Upon closer examination he realized that the tree, called "stinking cedar" by local residents, had never been classified. He named it the Florida Torreya (torreya taxifolia) after Dr. John Torrey, a prominent 19th century American scientist. Now one of the rarest trees in the world, the Florida Torreya can still be found growing along the Apalachicola River from Aspalaga south to Torreya State Park and the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in neighboring Liberty County.

Aspalaga Bluff was the site of Fort Barbour, a U.S. Army post that guarded the ferry over the Apalachicola River here during the Second Seminole War. During the Civil War, the landing here was visited by the Confederate warship C.S.S. Chattahoochee and Southern soldiers often spent the night here while making their ways up or down the Apalachicola.

The community at Aspalaga eventually faded and died away completely with the end of steamboat traffic during the mid-20th century. The bluff today is protected as a part of Torreya State Park. The adjacent landing area is open to the public.

The Confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers

This early photograph, taken before construction began on the Jim Woodruff Dam during the late 1940s, shows the confluence or "forks" of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers as it appeared before the completion of Lake Seminole.

This was an important intersection on one of the most significant early "super highways" in the United States.

The Chattahoochee, Flint and Apalachicola Rivers provided water access to the modern states of Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Used by Native Americans as well as early Spanish and English explorers, the "Tri-Rivers System" was vital to the history of Gadsden County and tens of thousands of square miles of adjoining country.

This view shows four counties and two states. The left bank of the river is Jackson County, Florida. The point of land visible in the distance between the mouths of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers is Seminole County, Georgia. The right bank includes a small section of Decatur County, Georgia, and Gadsden County, Florida.

The earliest descriptions of the confluence appear in the records of Spanish missionaries and soldiers. Bishop Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon visited this point in 1675. Although he did not mention the Flint, he described both the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers as a single stream - the "Apalachicoli." He officiated at the dedication of a mission called La Encarnacion a la Santa Cruz de Sabacola on the point of land formed by the Chattahoochee (flowing in from the left) and Flint (flowing in from the right).

The area was also described in Spanish reports and journals dating from 1677, 1686 and 1693. In 1716, Lieutenant Diego Pena traveled to the confluence from St. Augustine and visited a village of Apalachicoli (Lower Creek) Indians living on the former site of the Sabacola mission. He described the combined Apalachicola/Chattahoochee Rivers as the Apalachicola and the Flint as the "Pedernales."

If you are interested in learning more, please consider purchasing a copy of The Early History of Gadsden County. The book is available in both paperback and hardcover and profits benefit the West Gadsden Historical Society. For more information, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gadsden.