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Battle of Montmirail [SEP] After Michel counterattacked the Prussians with ten battalions, the Leib Grenadier Battalion and the 1/5th Silesian Landwehr met them. Two battalions of the Leib Infantry Regiment anchored the Prussian right flank while the 1st Brigade reformed on their left. Pirch led a bayonet attack that temporarily stopped the French, but he was badly wounded. He was replaced in command by Colonel Losthin. As Prussian retreat continued, the 13th Silesian Landwehr and the Silesian Grenadier Battalion were assailed in the woods, but managed to drive off their French pursuers.

Battle of Montmirail [SEP] The Prussians ended the day between Fontenelle and Viffort. By evening the Polish Lancers of the Guard fought their way as far west as Viels-Maisons. Sacken was nearly trapped, but Yorck's effort gave the Russians enough time and space to get away. With Vasilshikov's cavalry covering the withdrawal, the Russians headed for the Château-Thierry road as it rained. The Russian retreat through marshes and woods was guided by a line of bonfires.

Battle of Montmirail [SEP] The artillery was saved by detailing 50 cavalrymen to help pull each gun using ropes, though eight disabled pieces were abandoned. After an all-night march, Sacken's troops reached Viffort on the main road and continued marching northward toward Château-Thierry. According to Petre, the French sustained 2,000 casualties while inflicting losses of 2,000 killed and wounded on the Russians while capturing 800 soldiers, six colors and 13 guns. The Prussians suffered an additional 900 casualties.

Battle of Montmirail [SEP] Chandler asserted that the French lost 2,000 men while the Allies lost 4,000. Nafziger noted that the 1st Prussian Brigade lost 877 officers and men while the 7th Brigade's casualties are unknown. He cited various sources that gave Allied losses ranging from a low of 1,500 Russians, 877 Prussians and nine guns to a high of 3,000 killed and wounded plus 708 prisoners, 26 guns and 200 wagons. French losses are consistently reported at 2,000 men with Generals Nansouty, Michel and Boudin de Roville wounded.

Battle of Montmirail [SEP] MacDonald at Meaux was unable to carry out his orders to advance because he had destroyed the Trilport bridge. His subordinate Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta was unable to move because Sacken had broken the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre bridge. MacDonald sent his cavalry under Antoine Louis Decrest de Saint-Germain to join Napoleon via Coulommiers. Napoleon again ordered MacDonald to seize Château-Thierry, so that the Allied retreat would be blocked. He was taking a gamble.

Battle of Montmirail [SEP] Napoleon intended to pursue Sacken and Yorck with maximum forces, hoping to trap them against the Marne. He also needed to consider that Blücher was positioned to the east with 20,000 men and 80 guns. Though the emperor began getting calls for help from Victor, he calculated that the unaggressive Schwarzenberg would move slowly while he dealt with Blücher's army. The Battle of Château-Thierry would be fought on 12 February.

Battle of Pozzolo [SEP] The Battle of Pozzolo (also known as the Battle of the Mincio River, and Monzambano) was fought on 25 December 1800 and resulted the difficult victory of French under General Brune against Austrians under General Bellegarde. Following the armistice agreed after the Battle of Marengo the Austrians had held the line of the Mincio river. The French "Army of Reserve" was now commanded by Brune after Napoleon's departure for Paris. On Christmas Day 1800, he attacked the Austrian positions and broke their line.

Battle of Pozzolo [SEP] The Austrians fell back eastwards over the Adige River. Two days later the armistice was renewed.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The Battle of Mormant (17 February 1814) was fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I and a division of Russians under Count Peter Petrovich Pahlen. Enveloped by cavalry led by François Étienne de Kellermann and Édouard Jean-Baptiste Milhaud and infantry led by Étienne Maurice Gérard, Pahlen's outnumbered force was nearly destroyed, with only about a third of its soldiers escaping.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Later in the day, a French column led by Marshal Claude Perrin Victor encountered an Austrian-Bavarian rearguard under Anton Leonhard von Hardegg and Peter de Lamotte in the Battle of Valjouan. Attacked by French infantry and cavalry, the Allied force was mauled before it withdrew behind the Seine River. The Mormant-Valjouan actions and the Battle of Montereau the following day marked the start of a French counteroffensive intended to drive back Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg's Allied Army of Bohemia.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The town of Mormant is located southeast of Paris. The Allied generals, particularly the Prussians, were exuberant following their victory over Napoleon at the Battle of La Rothière on 1 February 1814. They soon conceived a plan in which the main army under the Austrian Field Marshal Schwarzenberg advanced toward Paris via Troyes. Simultaneously, Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's army took a more northerly route along the Marne River toward Meaux.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] When Napoleon realized that Blücher represented the more serious threat on 6 February, he began to shift his strength northward in order to deal with the Prussian field marshal. Leaving Marshals Victor and Nicolas Oudinot with 34,000 men to hold off Schwarzenberg's much larger army, Napoleon headed north on 9 February with 30,000 troops. Napoleon landed some damaging blows on Blücher's army in the subsequent Six Days' Campaign.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] On 10 February in the Battle of Champaubert, the French army fell on Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev's corps, which numbered only 4,000 infantry and 24 guns. Only 1,700 Russians escaped the disaster and the French made Olsufiev a prisoner. The next day, Napoleon defeated Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken's Russians and Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg's Prussians in the Battle of Montmirail. For the loss of 2,000 killed and wounded, the French inflicted a loss of 3,700 men and 13 guns on the Allies.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] On 12 February, the French beat Sacken and Yorck again in the Battle of Château-Thierry. French losses were 600; the Allies lost 2,750 men and nine guns. Blücher attacked the French on 14 February and was nearly destroyed in the Battle of Vauchamps. The French sustained a loss of 600 men while the Allies lost 6,000 men and 16 guns. Altogether, Blücher's 56,000-man army lost over 16,000 soldiers and 47 guns during the week while Napoleon's losses added up to only 4,000.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] While Napoleon was drubbing Blücher, Schwarzenberg's main army pushed back the forces of Marshals Victor and Oudinot. On the Allied right wing, Peter Wittgenstein's Russian corps advanced toward Nogent-sur-Seine while Karl Philipp von Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps struck toward Bray-sur-Seine. On the Allied left wing, Crown Prince Frederick William of Württemberg's Württemberg corps moved toward Sens with Frederick Bianchi's Austrian corps on his left.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Ignaz Gyulai's Austrian corps supported the left wing while Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly's Allied Reserves supported the right wing. Wrede got across the Seine at Bray, causing the French to abandon Nogent to Wittgenstein. Victor and Oudinot retreated behind the Yerres stream, dangerously close to Paris. When the marshals called for help, Napoleon sent Marshal Jacques MacDonald to Guignes where he arrived on 14 February with a corps that was rebuilt by replacements from Paris.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] A blunder caused the army's wagon train to withdraw across the Marne near Paris, causing panic in the French capital. Leaving Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier to watch Blücher, Napoleon rapidly transferred his strength southward against Schwarzenberg's army. The French emperor arrived at Guignes on the evening of 16 February and planned to launch his offensive the next day. He found the army of Victor and Oudinot in good order and prepared to go over to the offensive. Schwarzenberg had over 100,000 soldiers in his main army.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] A week later, on 23 February, the army counted Moritz von Liechtenstein's 2nd Light Division (4,000), Bianchi's I Corps (13,000), Gyulai's III Corps (11,000), Württemberg's IV Corps (10,000), Wrede's V Corps (21,000), Wittgenstein's VI Corps (15,000) and Barclay's Guard and Reserve Corps (30,000). This reckoning was made after the Battle of Montereau which cost the I Corps 2,000 casualties and the IV Corps 2,844 casualties.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] When Schwarzenberg heard about Blücher's defeats, he ordered his army to pull back behind the Seine. Instead of obeying, Wittgenstein aggressively pushed his corps west beyond Provins toward Nangis while his advanced guard under Pahlen reached Mormant. On 16 February, Wrede's corps was near Donnemarie-Dontilly except for Anton von Hardegg's division which was in Nangis. Württemberg's corps was near Montereau with advance guards near Melun.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Bianchi's corps was south of the Seine between Moret-sur-Loing and Villeneuve-la-Guyard with advance guards farther west in Fontainebleau. Gyulai's corps was in Pont-sur-Yonne, Barclay's Russian Reserves were near Nogent while Liechtenstein's division and the Austrian Reserves were at Sens. Napoleon massed his army near Guinges by the evening of 16 February.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The Imperial Guard forces included Louis Friant's Old Guard division (4,500), Marshal Michel Ney's Young Guard divisions (3,000) and Guard cavalry under Louis Marie Laferrière-Levesque, Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans and Louis Michel Pac (3,000 total).

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The line troops consisted of Victor's II Corps (6,549 men, 40 guns), from Oudinot's VII Corps (7,516 men, 34 guns), from MacDonald's XI Corps (8,797 men, 37 guns), Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud's V Cavalry Corps (4,700) and François Étienne de Kellermann's VI Cavalry Corps (2,788). In addition, there were 4,500 men from Étienne Maurice Gérard's Reserve of Paris.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Farther east near Melun were Henri François Marie Charpentier's Young Guard division (3,500), Michel-Marie Pacthod's National Guards division (5,000) and Pierre Claude Pajol's cavalry division (1,400). On the march to Guignes were Jean François Leval's division (4,500), Joseph Boyer de Rébeval's Young Guard division (3,300) and Antoine-Louis Decrest de Saint-Germain's division (1,300). Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux de Bordesoulle was also on hand with 581 newly recruited horsemen.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] At Mormant, Pahlen became aware that large numbers of French troops were near his position. The Russian placed two battalions in Mormant and massed the rest of his troops on both sides of the highway with his artillery in the center. He was prepared to fight or to retreat. During the night, Wittgenstein received positive orders to withdraw so he marched his corps east toward Provins at dawn. He forwarded the orders to Pahlen but they came too late.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] At daybreak, Pahlen saw that he faced an overwhelming force and began to retreat. The Russian commanded 2,000–2,500-foot soldiers and 1,500–1,800 mounted troops. The infantry consisted of Selenginsk, Reval, Tenguinsk and Estonia Regiments and the 4th and 34th Jäger Regiments. The cavalry were led by Theodor von Rüdiger and included 14 squadrons from the Soumy Hussar, Olviopol Hussar and Tchougoulev Uhlan Regiments plus the Illowaiski XII, Rebrikov III and two unnamed Cossack Regiments. Colonel Rosen's brigade was to the east at Bailly.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Another source stated that the Grodno rather than the Olviopol Hussars were engaged, that the 20th and 21st Jägers were involved and that the Russians had 12 field pieces. At 5:00 a.m. the French infantry advanced with Guillaume Philibert Duhesme's II Corps division on the left, Gérard's Paris Reserve in the center and Louis Huguet-Château's II Corps division on the right. Victor's corps artillery marched in the intervals.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Milhaud's corps included Hippolyte Piré's light cavalry division, André Briche's dragoon division and Samuel-François Lhéritier dragoon division. Kellermann's corps had only Anne-François-Charles Trelliard's dragoon division, fresh from the Spanish theater. Lhéritier was temporarily assigned to Kellermann. Milhaud commanded the left wing cavalry with Piré's horsemen deployed on Duhesme's left and Briche's troopers echeloned to Piré's left rear.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Kellermann commanded the right wing cavalry with Trelliard's dragoons on Huguet-Château's right and Lhéritier's troopers echeloned to Trelliard's right rear. Behind the front-line units marched two VII Corps units on the north side of the highway. Pierre François Xavier Boyer's division was in the lead with Henri Rottembourg's division farther back. The Imperial Guard artillery moved along the main road beside the VII Corps. The remainder of the army followed.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Pahlen ordered the two battalions in Mormant to hold back the French at all cost in order to allow the rest of his command to escape. Four Cossack regiments opposed Kellermann's corps while Rüdiger's regular cavalry faced Milhaud's corps. Jacques Gervais, baron Subervie's brigade of Pire's division turned half-right and swooped down on the Russian skirmishers while the rest of Milhaud's cavalry advanced on Rüdiger's horsemen.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] In the center, Gérard's infantry forced its way into the village of Mormant, flushing its defenders into the open. Pierre Ismert, leading one of Trelliard's brigades, hurled the 4th Dragoons at the fleeing Russians, forcing many to surrender. On the right flank, Lhéritier's first brigade under August Étienne Lamotte dispersed the first two Cossack regiments. When the Illowaiski and Rebrikov Cossacks tried to intervene they were swept away by Lhéritier's second brigade led by Jean Antoine de Collaert.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] As Lhéritier's horsemen galloped after the routed Cossacks, the 16th Dragoons of Trelliard's division charged and broke a Russian square. On the north flank, Rüdiger deployed nine squadrons in the first line and five squadrons in the second line. Against the Russian horsemen, Milhaud had Piré's division (minus Subervie's brigade) in the first line, Gabriel Gaspard Montelégier's brigade in the second and Denis Éloi Ludot's in the third.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Successive charges by Piré and Montelégier broke Rüdiger's squadrons and chased them off the battlefield with the French light cavalry in pursuit. Milhaud directed Montelégier to deal with the Russian infantry while sending Ludot on a sweep to block Pahlen's escape route. Without its supporting cavalry, Pahlen's infantry battalions were compelled to form into a square formation to defend against cavalry. Antoine Drouot aggressively pushed 36 guns from the French Guard artillery into the front line where they pummeled the Russians.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Pahlen sent messengers to Nangis pleading for assistance, but Ignaz Splény de Miháldi's division had already marched off leaving only Anton Leonhard von Hardegg's Austrian division from Wrede's V Corps. Hardegg had some infantry battalions in Nangis and two cavalry regiments in Bailly. The Austrian division commander declined to assist his ally and ordered an immediate retreat. However, before they could get away, the two Austrian cavalry regiments were disordered by the fleeing Cossacks and then scattered by Piré's and August Lamotte's horsemen.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The Russian infantry's withdrawal continued, leaving a trail of casualties from artillery fire. On the outskirts of Grandpuits they were finally brought to halt by Ludot's brigade which was now blocking the Russian line of retreat. Surrounded and hammered by artillery, the Russian battalions were all overrun by cavalry charges. The final square was broken when charged simultaneously by the brigades of Ludot and Ismert. The Russians probably lost one-third of their cavalry and admitted the loss of 2,114-foot soldiers.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The French claimed 9–12 guns and 40 caissons captured while the Russians said they saved two cannons. The French cavalry commanders reported losing 150 horsemen and Gérard reported only 30 casualties. Pahlen's survivors dispersed over the French countryside. Another authority stated that Pahlen lost 2,000 men and 10 guns. The Reval and Selenginsk Regiments lost so many men that they were withdrawn to Plock in Poland to reorganize. At Nangis, Napoleon split his advancing army into three columns. Victor led the right-most column south toward Montereau.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] This force included the II Corps, Paris Reserve, Lhéritier's dragoons and Bordesoulle's recruits. The left-most column under Oudinot, with the VII Corps and Trelliard's dragoons, followed Wittgenstein's retreat east toward Provins. MacDonald's center column consisted of the XI Corps, Piré light horsemen and Briche's dragoons; it headed southeast toward Donnemarie. The French emperor held the Imperial Guard in reserve at Nangis. Wittgenstein retreated rapidly and crossed the Seine at Nogent that evening.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Victor's column departed Nangis at 1:30 p.m. and bumped into enemy resistance at Villeneuve-le-Comte about 3:00 p.m. Tipped off by Hardegg's survivors, Peter de Lamotte deployed the 3rd Bavarian Division on the Valjouan heights, blocking the road. Lamotte posted the 11th Bavarian Line Infantry in an advanced position at Villeneuve and Grand-Maison farm; his cavalry covered both flanks. The divisions of Hardegg and Splény were behind Lamotte; they began withdrawing as soon as the French appeared. The Schwarzenberg Uhlans Nr.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] 1 and Archduke Joseph Hussars Nr. 2, rallied from their earlier mauling by the French cavalry, were positioned to assist the Bavarian cavalry. Gérard, whose troops led the infantry column, decided to attack at once and asked Victor for help from the II Corps. Gérard deployed Lhéritier to the right and Bordesoulle to the left. Supported by 12 cannons, Jacques Félix Jan de La Hamelinaye's brigade stormed Villeneuve and Grand-Maison at 3:30 p.m. Gérard held Georges Joseph Dufour's brigade in reserve.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] As the Bavarian foot soldiers bolted from both positions, they were set upon by Bordesoulle's cavalrymen. When some Allied cavalry tried to rescue the Bavarians, the French horsemen rode into them and chased them away. Next, the Iller Mobile Legion tried to intervene, only to be routed by the French recruits. Altogether, Bordesoulle's half-trained horsemen inflicted about 300 casualties on their foes. They apparently took no prisoners except a wounded Austrian officer who Bordesoulle had to personally save.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Peter de Lamotte formed his division into a square formation and began to retreat, followed by Bordesoulle. At some point during the withdrawal, the two Austrian mounted regiments were attacked by a large force of French cavalry and suffered 200 casualties in the melee. After Lamotte marched about toward Donnemarie, Gérard's infantry burst out of the woods and nearly broke up Lamotte's division. However, the French cavalry was absent this time, allowing the Bavarians to reform their battalions and resume their retreat.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] That evening, Wrede got the V Corps across the Seine at Bray, except for a rearguard at Mouy-sur-Seine. On 17 February, Charpentier's division and a task force under Jacques Alexandre Allix de Vaux advanced south from Melun, driving Ignaz von Hardegg's division (Bianchi's I Corps) from Fontainebleau. Pajol and Pacthod left Saint-Germain-Laxis and headed southeast toward Montereau. They skirmished with Prince Adam of Württemberg's 1,000 infantry and cavalry during the day.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] The Allies had become overextended and Napoleon took advantage of this to strike hard at his enemies. One historian estimated that the French sustained 800 casualties while the Allies lost 3,000 men and 14 guns at Mormant and Valjouan. A second authority gave casualties for the actions as 600 French and 3,114 Allied, with the French seizing nine guns and 40 caissons. Pahlen was credited with 2,500 infantry and 1,800 cavalry of which 1,250 were Russian and 550 were Austrian.

Battle of Mormant [SEP] Though the author listed the Valjouan action, he did not list Bavarian numbers. The French brought 18,000–20,000 men to the battlefield. Napoleon was angry at Victor for not pressing on that evening. He expected Victor to be at Montereau at 6:00 a.m. the next day. When Victor did not arrive before the town until 9:00 a.m., the French emperor replaced him with Gérard. Schwarzenberg ordered the Crown Prince of Württemberg to hold a bridgehead at Montereau for a day. The Battle of Montereau was fought on 18 February.

Battle of Mormant [SEP]

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] The Siege or Battle of Pavia was fought in 773–774 in northern Italy, near Ticinum (modern Pavia), and resulted in the victory of the Franks under Charlemagne against the Lombards under king Desiderius. Charlemagne, "rex Francorum", had succeeded to the throne in 768 jointly with his brother Carloman. At the time there was antagonism between not only the two ruling brothers, but between the king of the Lombards, Desiderius, and the papacy.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] In 772, Pope Hadrian I expelled all the Lombard officials from the papal curia. In response, Desiderius invaded papal territory, even taking Otriculum (modern Otricoli), just a day's march from Rome. Hadrian called Charlemagne for assistance. Charles had produced an alliance with the Lombards by marrying one of Desiderius' daughters, Desiderata; within a year, however, he had changed his mind about the marriage and alliance, and divorced his wife, sending her back to her father.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] This was taken as an insult by the Lombards. Upon the death of Carloman in 771, his own wife, Gerberge fled the kingdom with her children for reasons now unclear (Einhard disingenuously protests that she spurned her husband's brother "for no reason at all") and sought refuge with Desiderius at Pavia. Desiderius now returned the insult to the Franks by giving her asylum, and protesting that her children be allowed their share of the Kingdom of the Franks.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] The relationship between Frank and Lombard now broke down completely and the pope took full advantage. His embassy landed at Marseilles and travelled to Thionville, where they delivered this message: Charlemagne ascertained the truth of Desiderius' aggressions and the threat he posed to his own Frankish realm and marched his troops towards Italy in the early summer of 773.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] Charles' army had 10,000–40,000 troops; he divided it in half, giving command of one half to his uncle, Bernard, son of Charles Martel; and led it through the Alpine passes, he through that of the Dora Susa near Mont Cenis and Bernard through the Great St Bernard Pass. At the foot of the mountains, Charles' army met the fortifications of Desiderius, but scouting forces found an alternate route.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] A cavalcade was sent to attack the defenders from the flank and, with Bernard's forces approaching from the east, the Lombards fled to fortified Pavia. The Frankish troops then marched on to begin the siege of Pavia by September. The entire Frankish army was capable of wholly surrounding the Lombard capital. They had brought no siege engines, however. The Lombards too had failed in their preparations: the city was poorly stocked with food and the surrounding countryside was now in the hands of the Franks.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] Desiderius remained in Pavia, but Adelchis, his son, had left to stronger Verona to guard over the family of Carloman. Charles led a small force to besiege Verona. Adelchis fled in fear to Constantinople and the city and Carloman's family were taken. Charles then began to subdue the whole region around Pavia in the early months of 774. Charles even visited the pope in Rome at Easter. No other Lombard dukes or counts made any attempt at relief and Desiderius made no strong counterattack.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] In the tenth month of the siege, famine was hitting Pavia hard and Desiderius, realising that he was left on his own, opened the gates to Charles and surrendered on some Tuesday in June. The Longobards who managed to leave Pavia crossed the Apennines and settled in present-day Liguria where the Republic of Genoa was born later. After the victory, Charlemagne had himself declared "rex Langobardorum", and from that time onwards he was to be called King of the Franks "and" Lombards.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] This was unique in the history of the Germanic kingdoms of the Dark Ages: a ruler taking the title of the conquered. Charles was forging what could truly be called an "empire". He was also allying himself very closely with the church as its protector. His recognition of temporal papal authority in central Italy laid the foundation for mediaeval Papal power. The decline of the Lombard state had been swift and the changes wrought in Italy by the Frankish conquest were great.

Siege of Pavia (773–74) [SEP] Many Franks entered into positions of power and authority in Italy, though many Lombards, on account of their willingness to make peace with Charles, retained their positions. As Paul K. Davis writes, "The defeat and consequent destruction of the Lombard monarchy rid Rome of its most persistent threat to papal security, laying the groundwork for the Holy Roman Empire."

Alabama [SEP] Alabama () is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the U.S. states. With a total of of inland waterways, Alabama has among the most of any state. Alabama is nicknamed the "Yellowhammer State", after the state bird.

Alabama [SEP] Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie" and the "Cotton State". The state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. Alabama's capital is Montgomery. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city; the largest city by land area is Huntsville. The oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana.

Alabama [SEP] From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U.S., suffered economic hardship, in part because of its continued dependence on agriculture. Similar to other former slave states, Alabamian legislators employed Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise and otherwise discriminate against African Americans from the end of the Reconstruction Era up until at least the 1970s. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature from 1901 to the 1960s.

Alabama [SEP] During this time, urban interests and African Americans were markedly under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the state's economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state's economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, and technology.

Alabama [SEP] The European-American naming of the Alabama River and state was derived from the Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers on the upper reaches of the river. In the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is "Albaamo" (or variously "Albaama" or "Albàamo" in different dialects; the plural form is "Albaamaha"). The suggestion that "Alabama" was borrowed from the Choctaw language is unlikely.

Alabama [SEP] The word's spelling varies significantly among historical sources. The first usage appears in three accounts of the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540: Garcilaso de la Vega used "Alibamo", while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote "Alibamu" and "Limamu", respectively, in transliterations of the term. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the "Alibamon", with French maps identifying the river as "Rivière des Alibamons".

Alabama [SEP] Other spellings of the name have included "Alibamu", "Alabamo", "Albama", "Alebamon", "Alibama", "Alibamou", "Alabamu", "Allibamou". Sources disagree on the word's meaning. Some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw "alba" (meaning "plants" or "weeds") and "amo" (meaning "to cut", "to trim", or "to gather").

Alabama [SEP] The meaning may have been "clearers of the thicket" or "herb gatherers", referring to clearing land for cultivation or collecting medicinal plants. The state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language. An 1842 article in the "Jacksonville Republican" proposed it meant "Here We Rest." This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek.

Alabama [SEP] Experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization. Trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 BC–AD 700) and continued until European contact.

Alabama [SEP] The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, which was the center of the culture. Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC).

Alabama [SEP] Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture, but developed independently. The Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of the Mississippian peoples; it is one of the primary means by which their religion is understood.

Alabama [SEP] Among the historical tribes of Native American people living in present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were the Cherokee, an Iroquoian language people; and the Muskogean-speaking Alabama ("Alibamu"), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Koasati. While part of the same large language family, the Muskogee tribes developed distinct cultures and languages. With exploration in the 16th century, the Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama.

Alabama [SEP] The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through Mabila and other parts of the state in 1540. More than 160 years later, the French founded the region's first European settlement at Old Mobile in 1702. The city was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711. This area was claimed by the French from 1702 to 1763 as part of La Louisiane. After the French lost to the British in the Seven Years' War, it became part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1783.

Alabama [SEP] After the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War, the territory was divided between the United States and Spain. The latter retained control of this western territory from 1783 until the surrender of the Spanish garrison at Mobile to U.S. forces on April 13, 1813. Thomas Bassett, a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era, was one of the earliest white settlers in the state outside Mobile. He settled in the Tombigbee District during the early 1770s.

Alabama [SEP] The district's boundaries were roughly limited to the area within a few miles of the Tombigbee River and included portions of what is today southern Clarke County, northernmost Mobile County, and most of Washington County. What is now the counties of Baldwin and Mobile became part of Spanish West Florida in 1783, part of the independent Republic of West Florida in 1810, and was finally added to the Mississippi Territory in 1812.

Alabama [SEP] Most of what is now the northern two-thirds of Alabama was known as the Yazoo lands beginning during the British colonial period. It was claimed by the Province of Georgia from 1767 onwards. Following the Revolutionary War, it remained a part of Georgia, although heavily disputed. With the exception of the area around Mobile and the Yazoo lands, what is now the lower one-third Alabama was made part of the Mississippi Territory when it was organized in 1798.

Alabama [SEP] The Yazoo lands were added to the territory in 1804, following the Yazoo land scandal. Spain kept a claim on its former Spanish West Florida territory in what would become the coastal counties until the Adams–Onís Treaty officially ceded it to the United States in 1819. Before Mississippi's admission to statehood on December 10, 1817, the more sparsely settled eastern half of the territory was separated and named the Alabama Territory. The United States Congress created the Alabama Territory on March 3, 1817.

Alabama [SEP] St. Stephens, now abandoned, served as the territorial capital from 1817 to 1819. Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819, with Congress selecting Huntsville as the site for the first Constitutional Convention. From July 5 to August 2, 1819, delegates met to prepare the new state constitution. Huntsville served as temporary capital from 1819 to 1820, when the seat of government moved to Cahaba in Dallas County.

Alabama [SEP] Cahaba, now a ghost town, was the first permanent state capital from 1820 to 1825. The Alabama Fever land rush was underway when the state was admitted to the Union, with settlers and land speculators pouring into the state to take advantage of fertile land suitable for cotton cultivation. Part of the frontier in the 1820s and 1830s, its constitution provided for universal suffrage for white men. Southeastern planters and traders from the Upper South brought slaves with them as the cotton plantations in Alabama expanded.

Alabama [SEP] The economy of the central Black Belt (named for its dark, productive soil) was built around large cotton plantations whose owners' wealth grew mainly from slave labor. The area also drew many poor, disfranchised people who became subsistence farmers. Alabama had an estimated population of under 10,000 people in 1810, but it increased to more than 300,000 people by 1830. Most Native American tribes were completely removed from the state within a few years of the passage of the Indian Removal Act by Congress in 1830.

Alabama [SEP] From 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa served as Alabama's capital. On January 30, 1846, the Alabama legislature announced it had voted to move the capital city from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. The first legislative session in the new capital met in December 1847. A new capitol building was erected under the direction of Stephen Decatur Button of Philadelphia. The first structure burned down in 1849, but was rebuilt on the same site in 1851. This second capitol building in Montgomery remains to the present day.

Alabama [SEP] It was designed by Barachias Holt of Exeter, Maine. By 1860, the population had increased to 964,201 people, of which nearly half, 435,080, were enslaved African Americans, and 2,690 were free people of color. On January 11, 1861, Alabama declared its secession from the Union. After remaining an independent republic for a few days, it joined the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy's capital was initially at Montgomery. Alabama was heavily involved in the American Civil War.

Alabama [SEP] Although comparatively few battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the war effort. A company of cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, Alabama, joined Nathan Bedford Forrest's battalion in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The company wore new uniforms with yellow trim on the sleeves, collar and coat tails. This led to them being greeted with "Yellowhammer", and the name later was applied to all Alabama troops in the Confederate Army. Alabama's slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865.

Alabama [SEP] Alabama was under military rule from the end of the war in May 1865 until its official restoration to the Union in 1868. From 1867 to 1874, with most white citizens barred temporarily from voting and freedmen enfranchised, many African Americans emerged as political leaders in the state. Alabama was represented in Congress during this period by three African-American congressmen: Jeremiah Haralson, Benjamin S. Turner, and James T. Rapier. Following the war, the state remained chiefly agricultural, with an economy tied to cotton.

Alabama [SEP] During Reconstruction, state legislators ratified a new state constitution in 1868 that created the state's first public school system and expanded women's rights. Legislators funded numerous public road and railroad projects, although these were plagued with allegations of fraud and misappropriation. Organized insurgent, resistance groups tried to suppress the freedmen and Republicans. Besides the short-lived original Ku Klux Klan, these included the Pale Faces, Knights of the White Camellia, Red Shirts, and the White League.

Alabama [SEP] Reconstruction in Alabama ended in 1874, when the Democrats regained control of the legislature and governor's office through an election dominated by fraud and violence. They wrote another constitution in 1875, and the legislature passed the Blaine Amendment, prohibiting public money from being used to finance religious-affiliated schools. The same year, legislation was approved that called for racially segregated schools. Railroad passenger cars were segregated in 1891.

Alabama [SEP] After disfranchising most African Americans and many poor whites in the 1901 constitution, the Alabama legislature passed more Jim Crow laws at the beginning of the 20th century to impose segregation in everyday life. The new 1901 Constitution of Alabama included provisions for voter registration that effectively disenfranchised large portions of the population, including nearly all African Americans and Native Americans, and tens of thousands of poor whites, through making voter registration difficult, requiring a poll tax and literacy test. The 1901 constitution required racial segregation of public schools.

Alabama [SEP] By 1903, only 2,980 African Americans were registered in Alabama, although at least 74,000 were literate. This compared to more than 181,000 African Americans eligible to vote in 1900. The numbers dropped even more in later decades. The state legislature passed additional racial segregation laws related to public facilities into the 1950s: jails were segregated in 1911; hospitals in 1915; toilets, hotels, and restaurants in 1928; and bus stop waiting rooms in 1945.

Alabama [SEP] While the planter class had persuaded poor whites to vote for this legislative effort to suppress black voting, the new restrictions resulted in their disenfranchisement as well, due mostly to the imposition of a cumulative poll tax. By 1941, whites constituted a slight majority of those disenfranchised by these laws: 600,000 whites vs. 520,000 African-Americans. Nearly all African Americans had lost the ability to vote. Despite numerous legal challenges that succeeded in overturning certain provisions, the state legislature would create new ones to maintain disenfranchisement.

Alabama [SEP] The exclusion of blacks from the political system persisted until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in 1965 to enforce their constitutional rights as citizens. The rural-dominated Alabama legislature consistently underfunded schools and services for the disenfranchised African Americans, but it did not relieve them of paying taxes. Partially as a response to chronic underfunding of education for African Americans in the South, the Rosenwald Fund began funding the construction of what came to be known as Rosenwald Schools.

Alabama [SEP] In Alabama these schools were designed and the construction partially financed with Rosenwald funds, which paid one-third of the construction costs. The fund required the local community and state to raise matching funds to pay the rest. Black residents effectively taxed themselves twice, by raising additional monies to supply matching funds for such schools, which were built in many rural areas. They often donated land and labor as well. Beginning in 1913, the first 80 Rosenwald Schools were built in Alabama for African-American children.

Alabama [SEP] A total of 387 schools, seven teachers' houses, and several vocational buildings were completed by 1937 in the state. Several of the surviving school buildings in the state are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Alabama [SEP] Continued racial discrimination and lynchings, agricultural depression, and the failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation led tens of thousands of African Americans from rural Alabama and other states to seek opportunities in northern and midwestern cities during the early decades of the 20th century as part of the Great Migration out of the South. Reflecting this emigration, the population growth rate in Alabama (see "historical populations" table below) dropped by nearly half from 1910 to 1920.

Alabama [SEP] At the same time, many rural people migrated to the city of Birmingham to work in new industrial jobs. Birmingham experienced such rapid growth that it was called the "Magic City". By 1920, Birmingham was the 36th-largest city in the United States. Heavy industry and mining were the basis of its economy. Its residents were under-represented for decades in the state legislature, which refused to redistrict after each decennial census according to population changes, as it was required by the state constitution.

Alabama [SEP] This did not change until the late 1960s following a lawsuit and court order. Industrial development related to the demands of World War II brought a level of prosperity to the state not seen since before the civil war. Rural workers poured into the largest cities in the state for better jobs and a higher standard of living. One example of this massive influx of workers occurred in Mobile. Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into the city to work for war-related industries.

Alabama [SEP] Cotton and other cash crops faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base. Despite massive population changes in the state from 1901 to 1961, the rural-dominated legislature refused to reapportion House and Senate seats based on population, as required by the state constitution to follow the results of decennial censuses. They held on to old representation to maintain political and economic power in agricultural areas.

Alabama [SEP] One result was that Jefferson County, containing Birmingham's industrial and economic powerhouse, contributed more than one-third of all tax revenue to the state, but did not receive a proportional amount in services. Urban interests were consistently underrepresented in the legislature. A 1960 study noted that because of rural domination, "a minority of about 25 per cent of the total state population is in majority control of the Alabama legislature."

Alabama [SEP] In the United States Supreme Court cases of "Baker v. Carr" (1962) and "Reynolds v. Sims" (1964), the court ruled ruled that the principle of "one man, one vote" needed to be the basis of both houses of state legislatures as well, and that their districts had to be based on population, rather than geographic counties, as Alabama had used for its senate.

Alabama [SEP] In 1972, for the first time since 1901, the legislature completed the congressional redistricting based on the decennial census. This benefited the urban areas that had developed, as well as all in the population who had been underrepresented for more than 60 years. Other changes were made to implement representative state house and senate districts. African Americans continued to press in the 1950s and 1960s to end disenfranchisement and segregation in the state through the civil rights movement, including legal challenges.

Alabama [SEP] In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled in "Brown v. Board of Education" that public schools had to be desegregated, but Alabama was slow to comply. During the 1960s, under Governor George Wallace, Alabama resisted compliance with federal demands for desegregation. The civil rights movement had notable events in Alabama, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56), Freedom Rides in 1961, and 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.

Alabama [SEP] These contributed to Congressional passage and enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 by the U.S. Congress. Legal segregation ended in the states in 1964, but Jim Crow customs often continued until specifically challenged in court. According to "The New York Times", by 2017, many of Alabama's African-Americans were living in Alabama's cities such as Birmingham and Montgomery.

Alabama [SEP] Also, the Black Belt region across central Alabama "is home to largely poor counties that are predominantly African-American. These counties include Dallas, Lowndes, Marengo and Perry." Alabama has made some changes since the late 20th century and has used new types of voting to increase representation. In the 1980s, an omnibus redistricting case, "Dillard v. Crenshaw County", challenged the at-large voting for representative seats of 180 Alabama jurisdictions, including counties and school boards.

Alabama [SEP] At-large voting had diluted the votes of any minority in a county, as the majority tended to take all seats. Despite African Americans making up a significant minority in the state, they had been unable to elect any representatives in most of the at-large jurisdictions. As part of settlement of this case, five Alabama cities and counties, including Chilton County, adopted a system of cumulative voting for election of representatives in multi-seat jurisdictions. This has resulted in more proportional representation for voters.

Alabama [SEP] In another form of proportional representation, 23 jurisdictions use limited voting, as in Conecuh County. In 1982, limited voting was first tested in Conecuh County. Together use of these systems has increased the number of African Americans and women being elected to local offices, resulting in governments that are more representative of their citizens.

Alabama [SEP] Alabama is the thirtieth-largest state in the United States with of total area: 3.2% of the area is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second-largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general descent towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

Alabama [SEP] The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Alabama is bordered by the states of Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the extreme southern edge of the state.