Baldwin County’s rich delta region has been inhabited for thousands of years. The Native American mounds at Bottle Creek in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta were begun around 1200, almost 300 years before Columbus arrived in the Americas. The site, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, can still be viewed today. The Bottle Creek site, on an island in the Delta, was a major cultural center for about 300 years until the arrival of Europeans.
The first Europeans known to have arrived in what is now Alabama came into Mobile Bay in 1519. Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda named the bay Bahia de Espiritu Sanctu, which means Bay of the Holy Spirit.
The French, who would colonize the Mobile Bay region, arrived in 1699, landing at what is now Fort Morgan. The first settlements were founded along Mobile Bay. In 1763, the English took possession of the region and continued expanding new settlements and homes in the delta and along the bay and rivers.
Since then, Baldwin County has been the site of many battles that helped shape regional and national history. During the American Revolution, British and Spanish forces fought on the Eastern Shore. The battle led to the site being named Spanish Fort.
In 1813, Creek forces under William Weatherford, also known as Red Eagle, overwhelmed the settlers at Fort Mims in northern Baldwin County. After the battle, Andrew Jackson and his volunteers marched through the region on their way to attack British Pensacola.
Also, during the War of 1812, the British twice attacked Fort Bowyer at the present site of Fort Morgan. The first attack was driven off with the British losing the HMS Hermes. The British took the fort on their second attack in February 1815 in the last battle of the War of 1812. Soon after the battle, word arrived that the war had been over since December, and the British left.
During the Civil War, Fort Morgan was the focus of the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. During the battle, the Union ironclad Tecumseh was sunk by an underwater mine off Fort Morgan. The ship and most of its crew remain entombed at the site at the entrance to Mobile Bay.
In April 1865, Union forces closing on Mobile Bay battled with defenders at Spanish Fort and Blakeley. On April 9, Union forces attacked the fortifications at Blakeley. Losses in the attack were estimated at 4,475 soldiers killed or wounded. The attack, which took place after Robert E. Lee surrendered in Virginia, has been called the last major battle of the Civil War.
Baldwin County continued to grow with settlers contributing to its diverse heritage. Residents from France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, many African nations and other regions of the world have contributed to the area’s rich cultural heritage.
This melting pot of people built the county’s agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, tourism and fishing industries and made the county prosper and persevere even during severe economic depressions. Today, Baldwin County is the fastest- growing county in Alabama. In the 2020 Census, Baldwin County passed Montgomery to become the fourth-largest county in Alabama with 231,767 residents, an increase of more than 49,000 in 10 years. Baldwin County is a place welcome to all — a land of abundant natural resources, a healthy economy and beautiful beaches, as well as a people who have carved out a place to live, prosper and continually grow.
