Gainestown was founded in 1809 by George Strother Gaines as a Choctaw-Creek Indian trading post on the Alabama River, at what is now Gainestown Landing. Alabama Indians lived here, and the state and river were named for them. At the Battle of Maubila, De Soto's hogs escaped, from which came the first hogs throughout the U.S. In the heyday of steamboats, Gainestown was the largest river port between Mobile and Selma and the center of cattle, cotton, and truck farming in South Alabama. Gainestown furnished Clarke County's secession delegate and the master mechanic for construction of the Confederate submarine Hunley. Every male from sixteen to sixty served the Confederacy. Some of Alabama's most prominent people were born here, including the father and wife of Gov. Gayle.