Page "Madison, Alabama" Paragraph 1

Southern Railroad Depot, Madison, AlabamaMadison's first resident was John Cartwright, who settled in the area in 1818.

The city was originally known as Madison Station, and grew up in the 1850s around a stop of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad.

Madison was the site of a battle in the American Civil War on March 16, 1864, when Col. Josiah Patterson's 5th Alabama Cavalry, supported by Col. James H. Stuart's cavalry battalion and a section of horse artillery, drove Col. Adam G. Gorgas's 13th Illinois Infantry Regiment from the city.

Patterson's men captured the 13th Illinois Regiment's wagon train, taking 66 prisoners.

They also burned Union supplies and tore up the railroad tracks before retreating.

Portions of the 5th Ohio Cavalry, the 59th Indiana Infantry and the 5th Iowa Infantry were sent in pursuit from Huntsville and skirmished with Patterson's rear guard that evening at Fletcher's Ferry on the Tennessee River south of Madison.