Sweetwater Mansion in Florence, Alabama (also known as Sweetwater Plantation, the Weeden Home, or...
Gravelly Springs, Alabama and the Civil War
Gravelly Springs, Alabama near Waterloo is the spot where the largest cavalry force in the Western Hemisphere was ever assembled! Major General James Harrison Wilson brought together 22,000 people and camped between this spot and Waterloo during the spring of 1865. Wilson himself made his headquarters one mile east at Wildwood Plantation, the 2,750-acre boyhood home of Alabama’s 25th governor, George Houston. Though signs of the plantation can no longer be seen, land deeds show that there are two cemeteries on the property. A 5-acre family plot and a second area set aside for the burial of enslaved families. The 1860 census showed 100 enslaved individuals working the plantation.
Gravelly Springs, Alabama Historic Marker
This Gravelly Springs, Alabama historic marker is located at the intersection of County Route 14 and County Route 2, Waterloo, Alabama.
The text on the Gravelly Springs, Alabama marker reads: "At this site from mid-January to mid-March 1865, Maj. Gen. James Harrison Wilson, U.S. Army, assembled the largest cavalry force ever massed in the western hemisphere. Five divisions totaling 22,000 camped from Gravelly Springs westward to Waterloo. Wilson made headquarters a mile east of the springs at Wildwood plantation, the boyhood home of Alabama senator and governor, George Houston. After intensive training Wilson's Cavalry crossed the Tennessee to invade South Alabama and Georgia, a campaign which included burning the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and the capture of Pres. Jefferson Davis at Irwinville, Georgia, in May 1865, after Lee's surrender."
