July 4, 1861

Representatives of Winston County met at Looney’s Tavern to draft a declaration demanding that the “Free State of Winston” be left out of the Civil War. The county was unsuitable for plantation agriculture and most of the county’s residents supported the Union and desired to remain neutral. Winston County never attempted secession, and it served as a gathering point for Unionists avoiding the draft and Confederate deserters. Today, a statue of a Civil War soldier, half Union and half Confederate, stands in front of the county courthouse in Double Springs.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Looney Tavern historical marker. (Jimmy Emerson, DVM, Flickr)

Charles Christopher Sheats (1839-1904) was the Winston County representative at Alabama’s secession convention in 1861 during the lead-up to the Civil War. Sheats and many in Winston County opposed secession and declared the county neutral during the war. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Reita Jones)

A sign at Natural Bridge Park in Winston County, a purported meeting place for Unionists avoiding the Confederate draft and for deserters from the Confederate Army. . (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Photograph by Valerie Glenn)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.