Riverton

Riverton has a very rich history. I have attempted to put a timeline of some of the major events that happen in Riverton and surrounding area. This information was gathered from Freda Daily’s books and others written about the history of Colbert County, which is the county that Riverton is located. It is important to note that the land originally belonged to the Chickasaw Nation. Riverton had three names through history. 1846-1851 Riverton was called Port Smith. 1851–1890 Riverton was called Chickasaw. 1890 it was given the official name of Riverton. Today it is just part of the town of Cherokee. This page is more of a timeline of events. There are some interesting history documents in the documents section of this website. Please contact me if you have any great stories you would like to share about Riverton and I will post them here.

1715 – The French had a post at Muscle Shoals.

1740 – James Logan Colbert, a scotch youth from Carolina stopped in Muscle Shoals and married a Chickasaw wife. They gave birth to George Colbert about 1764.

1765 – Chickasaws began building villages along big bear creek.

1780 – Oka Kapassa (Cold Water – Chickasaw name) was established on Spring Creek in modern day Tuscumbia.

1780 – John Donelson and Rachel Donelson (eventually the wife of Andrew Jackson) traveled through the Shoals on the Tennessee River on their way to Nashville. They were the first reported white people in the Shoals.

1790 – Major John Doughty was ambushed by a party of Creek and Shawnee warriors at the mouth of Bear Creek in present day Riverton. Major Doughty was on his way to convey a message to the Indians from the President.

1791 – Secretary of War proposed an establishment of a military post at the mouth of Bear Creek. The four Indian nations (Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw) objected the idea because they held a common trading post on the west bank were present day Eastport resides.

1801 – Treaty between the U.S. and Chickasaw was signed to open the Natchez Trace road between Nashville and Natchez. It had just been a trail before.

1817 – Andrew Jackson and John Coffee camped out at Yorks Bluff (present day Sheffield) that night Andrew Jackson bought up all the land between Yorks Bluff and Coldwater. President Jackson said that Yorks Bluff should be the capitol of the U.S.

1819 – Alabama became the 22nd state. The area in Riverton still belonged to the Chickasaw tribe.

1822 – Coldwater was renamed to Tuscumbia “the warrior who kills” after Chief Tuscumbia.

1825 – A Indian school is located in present day Riverton.

1829 – LaGrange (outside of Muscle Shoals) opened as the first college in Alabama. It opened four months before the University of Alabama. LaGrange was known as the West Point of the south. A lot of the Civil War leaders were educated there.

1832 – Chief Colbert and Chief Tishomingo signed the treaty giving over the Chickasaw land to the U.S. The treaty was signed at Pontotoc Creek. 

1836 – The President approved Pamela Reynolds as the owner of the area covering Riverton as reservation #539.

1840 – The Chickasaw was removed from the land and sent to the land purchased from the Choctaw in Oklahoma.

1846 – Henry D. Smith bought the land where Riverton was later located. The village was called Point Smith. The first United States Post Office was established at Point Smith. Oliver E. Spencer was the first Post Master. Farmers from great distances brought their cotton and other produce over roads and trails to Point Smith to be shipped to New Orleans for sale.

1847 – The first official recorded settler arrived and open a business. His name was Thomas F. Buchanan and came from Tyrone County, Ireland.

1850 – Chickasaw Land Company was formed. Isaac Lane was one of the four owners who bought large holdings of land from George Colbert, the McWhorters, and the Blanton’s, who were early settlers of the region. Lane built his plantation home at Lane Springs.

1850 – The first Methodist Church was established in Riverton and was made out of logs. It was relocated in 1892.

1851 – The post office name was officially changed from Point Smith to Chickasaw.

1846 – 1851 – Riverton was called Port Smith. 

1851 – 1890 – Riverton was called Chickasaw. 

1856 – Cherokee was founded on the railway.

1857 – The last rail and silver spike driven in the railroad in Iuka Mississippi for the Memphis to Charleston railroad. This would later set the stage for downfall of river towns. Because it was easier to ship goods from New Orleans by rail instead of boat.

1860 – The Baptist Church was established in Riverton. It stood at the water’s edge at the present day Pickwick Lake. A new Baptist Church was built in front of the Riverton Cemetery when they flooded the lake.

1860 – William A. Johnson moved to Chickasaw and invested in and steamboats. He was also the most illustrious Civil War hero from Colbert County and the wealthiest residents in Chickasaw. Colonel Johnson commanded the Fourth Alabama Brigade of Forrest’s Cavalry. A commission of Major General had been prepared for him by the Confederate command just before the end of the war, but it was never delivered.

1861 – Confederate President Davis ordered the establishment of a gun factory in preparation for the war. Tuscumbia Attorney, O.O. Nelson and a prominent planter and land owner established Nelson Gun Factory at Buzzard Roost. The factory was later moved to Dalton Georgia because of the threat of Northern Forces in the area. 

1862 – March – a Confederate two-gun battery was placed on an old Indian mound overlooking the river at present day Riverton. There were three Indian mounds in the area similar to the one in Florence. One of them can still be seen under the water during low winter lake levels.

1862 – March 15th – General C.F. Smith sent General W.T. Sherman upriver from Fort Henry to Eastport to destroy communications and cut the Memphis and Charleston railroad. Sherman found Eastport and Chickasaw fortified and dropped back to Pittsburg Landing as the river was rising quickly because of rainy weather.

1862 – March 17th – General Grant received word from a scout that Confederate forces was strong from Chickasaw to Corinth.

1862 – April 2nd – General Grant order General Sherman to head up the river with two steamers and three gunboats and begin shelling. They began shelling in Indian Creek all the way to Chickasaw were the batteries were located. General Sherman personally landed at Chickasaw and saw that the batteries had been moved to higher ground at Eastport. Sherman stayed for several hours before going back to Shiloh to report that the river was clear all the way to Chickasaw. That night Confederate general Johnston at Corinth decided to move against Grant at Pittsburg Landing and the stage was set for the Battle of Shiloh. 

1862 – April 6th-7th – Battle of Shiloh.

1862 – Federal Gunboat sunk at Eastport Mississippii by Nathan Bedford Forest fighting preacher, Kelly. Kelly did not have the right size cannon ball so he took off his vest and wrapped it around the ball and sunk the gun boat with one shot.

1863 – April 17th – Confederate General Roddy won the battle at Barton against Federal General Dodge. Dodge had to retreat to Corinth to wait reinforcement from Federal Colonel A.D. Streight.

1863 – April 19th – Federal Colonel Streight landed in Eastport with 2000 men and 1,000 mules. Confederate General Roddy encampment was in the area and could hear the braying of the mules. General Roddy’s men snuck into the federal camp that night and stampeded 400 of the mules. Streights men spent the next two days trying to round up the mules. They only recovered 200 of them and the locals could hear the braying mules in the hills for months later. The two day delay allowed Nathan Forrest to get south of Tennessee and overtake and capture Streight. This prevented Streight from taking the railroad and the gun factory in Dalton Georgia.

1867 – Colbert County was formed and named for the Chickasaw Chief, George Colbert. Colbert was an operator of an Inn and Ferry were the present day Natchez Trace Bridge is located. George’s brother Levi Colbert ran an Inn at Buzzard Roost Spring.

1870 – Cherokee made a bid for County Seat but barely lost to Tuscumbia. Cherokee was a busy place because of all the railroad trade.

1878 – 79 – Yellow Fever swept through Colbert County killing hundreds. 

1887 – Captain A.H. Keller got advice from Professor Alexander Graham Bell to obtain teacher Miss Annie Sullivan to teach Helen Keller to communicate.

1890 – The Colbert Shoals Canal was approved in Congress. George W. Goethals, who graduated from West Point was sent to Riverton to design the Riverton Lock. Goethals designed a 26 foot single-lift lock. The highest in the U.S. History. The blocks used to construct the lock were Limestone and came from the T.L. Fossicks quarry located between Margerum and Cherokee. The lock was a huge success and Goethals was chosen to design the Panama Canal based on the Riverton lock success. The lock was completed in 1911.

1890 – Mr. Alfred Parrish from Philadelphia tried to buy Sheffield for $600,000 and consolidate all the Kilns in the area. They refused the purchase. Mr. Parrish decided to build a rival city and bought up all the land in Chickasaw and renamed it to Riverton. Mr. Parrish had big plans to make Riverton a major industrial city. He built the train track that ran from Riverton to the Charleston Memphis railroad in Margerum. The train was called the “doodle-bug”. His plan was to continue the train to Birmingham and Paducah. Mr. Parrish owned ore mines in Russellville and was going to make the steel in Riverton. Unfortunately, his plans never came to fruition. His ore mines did not produce as much ore as originally plan and the recession of 1891 caused him to go to have to sell much of the land and all the barges and ships he purchased. This was the major setback that Riverton never recovered from.

1892 – Mr. Parish donated land and on which a white frame church was built. The bell in it came from England. The bell was later moved in 1951 to the white brick church that stands today.

1919 – Spring Park was established.

1921 – Henry Ford tried to buy the Wilson Dam to build the Ford Motor Company. The bid was turned down in order to supply power to the Nitrate plant that was making munitions for the armed forces.

1938 – February – The Pickwick dam is completed and the gates closed. The river began to rise. It was a sad day for many in Riverton. TVA had already bought up most of the land and destroyed all the hotels, stores, houses, and even the lock and canal. The only thing that can still be seen is the lower end of the lock wall sticking out of the water today. People began to seek employment in the Tri-Cities and moved away. The Riverton school was torn down and the kids bused to the new school in Cherokee.