Blakeley, on the Mobile-Tensaw delta in southern Alabama, evolved from Native-occupied land and colonial-era farming settlements into an ambitious early Alabama port founded by Josiah Blakeley in 1813. Its deep natural harbor made it a rival to Mobile after the War of 1812, and it served as county seat from 1820 to 1868. The town’s history also includes archaeological evidence of earlier Native life, links to the Apalachees and Mississippian culture, and early shipbuilding and literary activity. During the Civil War, a major fort stood here, and in April 1865 Union forces captured the site in one of the war’s last battles, after which Blakeley declined into a ghost town.