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FORT WARREN
On June 29, 1815, Governor Holmes of the Mississippi Territory created Monroe County, which at that time embraced almost two-thirds of the State of Alabama. It extended from the Florida line to the mountains of Blount and from the Tombigbee to the Chattahoochee.Native Americans watched as their former lands were burned, cleared and tilled for crops. They would form bands of raiding parties and attach lone settlers who risked their own lives to settle here. Colonel Richard Warren constructed Fort Warren near Pine Orchard [approximately 6 miles north of Burnt Corn] for protection of settlers and travelers. Settlements naturally grew up along the Federal Road or Post Road. Fort Warren, Pine Orchard Community, near Burnt Corn** for the protection of the settlers, and travelers on the Old Federal Road. Many settlers from Conecuh & Monroe Counties took refuge in this fort during the many Indian uprisings *Territory of Alabama was created from Eastern half of Mississippi Territory on March 3, 1817, with St. Stephens as the Capitol; In Nov, 1818 Cahaba was made the Capitol; and in 1819 became a state with temp. Capitol at Huntsville Site of Fort Warren, built in 1816 by Colonel Richard Warren, who owned considerable land in this vicinity. This facility was used as a refuge for settlers who feared for their lives in the early days of the aftermath of the Creek Indian Wars of 1812-1814. **-Burnt Corn & Pine Orchard Communities are divided by the county line (Old Federal Road) between Conecuh & Monroe Counties. One side of the road is in Monroe Co, and the other side is in Conecuh County. "In 1817 the first court house of the county was built on Hampdon Ridge. By mutual agreement between the whites and the Indians, whose camps and villages lay beyond Murder creek, this stream was fixed as a boundary. But, due to increased Indian attacks on the white settlers, the settlers organized and drove the Indians out. Richard Warren was the first white settler to venture across Murder Creek to build his home. He was soon after followed by his son, (Hinchey) who located at the point where he died, one mile east of Sparta. In 1820 the Warrens, along with the Hunters & Boykins, were responsible for the court house being removed from Hampdon Ridge across the creek, where a new courthouse was built, and the village was given the name of Sparta. After the removal of the court house, the bar of Conecuh was increased by the location of Samuel W. Oliver, Edridge S. Greening, and John S. Hunter, at Sparta."
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