Alan J. Pitts
I'd be surprised...
Thu May 24 11:01:10 2001


In April of 1862 the Confederate government established two camps of instruction in Alabama. These were Camp Watts at Notasulga (Camp of Instruction No. 1) and Camp Buckner at Talladega (Camp of Instruction No. 2).

Other camps were used on a temporary basis as collection points for recruits on the way to Camp of Instruction, or to assembling companies intending to join a front-line unit. One such site was Camp Marie near Montgomery, where Hilliard's Legion collected and drilled during its early days. A short list of towns which hosted one of these larger camps would include Hunstville, Tuscumbia, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Selma, Demopolis, Greenville, Troy, Eufaula and Mobile. All of these were larger towns having the advantage of established transportation and communication facilities, being situated on rivers, rail lines and major road intersections.

To my limited knowledge, Blount County, especially that part later taken to form Cullman County, was a relatively unpopulated, uncultivated area at the time of the war. There were no towns or communities of any size in the area. Falkville, Summit, Blountsville and Arkadelphia are the only ones I can list, and only the latter was inside the current boundaries of Cullman County. It wouldn't serve any purpose to have established a Confederate military facility in such an area, since there were no good routes in or out of the area, no easy way to communicate with it and no ready sources of sustinance nearby. The only reason I can produce to be there would be to disappear!

The name is a bit curious also. Usually camps were named for some prominent Confederate leader, often someone from Alabama. Of course the were exceptions (Camp Marie?), but I have to ask, for whom was this site named? In addition, forts were sites constructed for defensive purposes by military engineers. If there was a significant fortification in Cullman County, there should be some earthwork remains on the site to indicate its existence. Is that the case?

Last question: where is Providence? It does not appear on a detailed modern map of Cullman County.