1541 Alabamo Battle
De Soto and his Spaniards left Chicacilla (q. v.), in Pontotoc county, April
26th, 1541, and took up his march in search of the wealthy province of his
dreams. On Thursday they came to a savanna and found their way barred by a force
of Indians under the command of Alabamo, or Alimamu, or Limamu, who had
constructed a very strong fort of palisades, which was located on the bank of a
small river, near a ford. The Spaniards stormed and carried this fort at the
cost of seven or eight lives, and twenty-five or six wounded, and the Indians
were driven across the river. This fort and ford are believed to have been on
the Tallahatchie river, possibly in the neighborhood of New Albany, in Union
county.
According to Prof. T. H. Lewis, the word "Alibamo" was the name of a chief and a
town (known otherwise as Taliepatica) located one day's journey north of
Chicacilla. There is no connection with the tribe of the same name, located on
the upper waters of the Alabama river.
Back to: Mississippi History
Source: Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, by Dunbar Rowland.
