<P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> 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 . St. Stephens, now abandoned, served as the territorial capital from 1817 to 1819 . </P>

The alabama creek war was significant in creating alabama fever because it resulted in