Community Heroes Series
From the March 2004 issue of Alabama Living magazine

Article by Kay Marshall

Ever Wondered about the name “Tombigbee”?

Since I have been working closely with Tombigbee Electric over the past few years, the question of the origin of the co-op’s name has crossed my mind. It crossed the mind of Steve Foshee as well just a few weeks ago, and he asked that I take a look at the history behind the word Tombigbee. The ultimate goal, a journey that I am still embarking upon, is to accurately define the reason that an electric cooperative in Northwest Alabama was named after a river that is prominent in Northeast Mississippi. For now we’ll settle in for a short look back at the history of the Tombigbee itself. To accomplish this we must first revisit a few bits of historical facts.

As many can recall from elementary school geographical studies, Spain, in the 1500’s, was a nation that put forth explorers whose job it was to charter new territories and lay claim to lands, riches, and Spanish glory. Spain did not seriously explore Alabama until Governor Hernando de Soto led an expedition there in 1540 which ultimately ended in his death and the disposal of his body in the Mighty Mississippi. Alabama, in 1540, was a land that was heavily occupied by several nations of Indian tribes. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chocktaw, and Creek Indians were not happy with the Spanish intrusions into their lands and under the direction of the great Chief Tuskaloosa the Choctaws fought De Soto and his men and struggled to retain the lands and the rivers around the Black Warrior. We know that a great many of our local areas and waterways take their names from our Indian heritage. For example, Tuscaloosa, the city is named after Choctaw Chief Tuskaloosa; the Black Warrior river also got its name from the Creeks and Choctaws "Tushka" means warrior and "lusa" means black.

Our namesake river, the Tombigbee, is derived from the Choctaw language as well, "itumbibikbi," which according to Cyrus Byington's Choctaw Dictionary means coffin maker or box maker. The Tombigbee itself, in case someone doesn’t know, rises in northeastern Mississippi and flows south by southeast into western Alabama where it joins the Alabama River to Mobile. At this point my research came to a low ebb, and then, as luck would have it, I was contacted by Mr. Clyde Wilson, publisher and editor of TomBigBee Country magazine over in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Mr. Wilson and his staff publish a fine monthly magazine that is rich in the histories of the counties along the Tombigbee river, including Lamar and Marion Counties. Clyde Wilson is what some people might refer to as a “‘walking encyclopedia’” of local area history and has quite a network of other historical buffs ready at the call. When I wrote him and asked if he knew the origin of the Tombigbee, he was quick to reply with the following information.

“Tombigbee is an English corruption of a Choctaw word and has no romantic or even interesting orgin.The French ex-plorers came up the Tombigbee in 1736 from Mobile and built a fort where a creek, that was called Itombi Ikbe Bok (Coffin Maker's Creek) by the Choctaw, flowed into the river. They named it Fort Tombecbe after the creek and in time began calling the river Tombecbe which later came to be spelled Tombigbee by the English traders and trapper, “ wrote Mr. Wilson.
He continued, “However, we can do much better than that in giving your readers an answer to the question ‘Who was Tom Bigbee?’
Various historians have approached the subject. Highly recognized historian John Ed Rodabough in his book, "Steamboats On The Upper Tombigbee" wrote: “The small streams descending from the hills of Tishomingo and Itawamba Counties in Mississippi eventually join to form what was once known as the Itawamba River. The narrow, torturous channel of the Itawamba meanders southwestward until it joins the waters (Old Town Creek) flowing eastward from the location of the Chickasaw Old Towns (Tupelo). At the confluence of those two streams is born the river variously known as the Los Angeles, Mobile, River of the Chickasaws, Etomba Igaley, Tombeckbee, and lastly, the Tombigbee. It is an impressive body of water stretching almost 600 miles from source to outlet and served by such interesting subjects as Matubba, Buttahatchie, Luxapalila, Oktibbeha, Noxubee,the Black Warrior, and others. Not far above the Gulf, the Tombigbee joins the Alabama to form the Mobile and then proceeds on a majestic scale.

The entire river system is one of the largest in America. The Chickasaws and Choctaws were the earliest known settlers along the Tombigbee. They passed interested glances when De Soto journeyed through the area and were even more preoccupied when the early 18th century French (in 1736) attempted to gain control of the region by building a fortress near what was later known as Cotton Gin Port. But the Indians were to live in virtual isolation, and the river was to know only their canoes until near the end of the 18th century. Then came the English, Scottish, and Irish in the form of trappers, traders and that magic breed of men known as "alligator horses’.
Working from such trading centers as the Hurricane (as early as 1791) and Cotton Gin Port (from about 1801), they carved out the beginnings of a river empire. They laid the groundwork for the migrating communities of the region who would eventually form Cotton Gin Port, Columbus, and Hamilton, Mississippi, the earliest true towns of the area. These pioneers would be the ancestors of a score of other towns that eventually sprang up. All these towns, grouped along the headwaters of the river, have, or had, a common heritage and were even more closely tied than
today.”

So, we see that the history of our river, the Tombigbee, is far ranging and filled with tales of Indians and explorers, conquests and defeats, and the love of this river by the people it affects.
Songs and poems have also been written about Tombigbee by greats, such as Walt Whitman.

From Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Circa 1900.

“Longings for Home”

“Dear to me the Roanoke, the Savannah, the Altamahaw, the Pedee, the Tombigbee, the Santee, the Coosa and the Sabine, O pensive, far away wandering, I return with my soul to haunt their banks again”.

The most prominent reference on the River was in the form of a song, which can be heard online at the link listed below.

Many thanks to Mr. Clyde Wilson for his contribution to this article. For information on subscriptions to Tombigbee Country, call 1.662.369.8551.
If you have information pertaining to how Tombigbee Electric was named I would love to hear from you! Please phone 205.921.0300.

Listen to The Gum Tree Canoe
by downloading it to your computer

"The Gum Tree Canoe" (1847)
[or, Tom-Big-Bee River]
Words by Silas Sexton Steele
Music by Anthony F. Winnemore

[Source: 18094@LoC "new edition" in 1885
published by S. Brainard's Sons; originally
published in 1847 by Henry Tolman & Co.;
also page 208 from "Minstrel Songs, Old and New" (1883)]

1.
On Tombigbee river so bright I was born,
In a hut made ob husks od de tall yaller corn,
An' dar I fust meet wid my Jula so true,
An I row'd her about in my Gum Tree Canoe.

CHORUS 2 times
Singing row away, row,
O're de waters so blue,
Like a feather we'll float,
In my Gum Tree Canoe.

2.
All de day in de field de soft cotton I hoe,
I tink ob my Jula an' sing as I go,
Oh I catch her a bird, wid a wing ob true blue,
An at night sail her round in my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)

3.
Wid my hands on de banjo and toe on de oar,
I sing to de sound ob de river's soft roar;
While de stars dey look down at my Jula so true,
And dance in her eye in my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)

4.
One night de stream bore us so far away,
Dat we couldn't come back, so we thought we'd jis stay;
Oh we spied a tall ship wid a flag ob true blue,
An it took us in tow wid my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)

Kay Marshall is the Internet Projects Coordinator and Editor for TEC

Home Safety Tips

Safety Around Power Lines

Keeping Baby Safe At Home

Seasoned Citizen Section

Recipes

TEC Woman

Local Hero Series

Alabama Living

Map of the
Tombigbee Waterway