About Fort Tombecbe
Fortifications, Historic, Interesting Places, Other Fortifications
Fort Tombecbe (Fort de Tombecbé), also spelled Tombecbee and Tombeché, was a stockade fort located on the Tombigbee River near the border of French Louisiana, in what is now Sumter County, Alabama. It was constructed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1736-37 as trading post about 270 miles (430 km) upriver from Mobile, on an 80-foot (24 m) limestone bluff. Fort Tombecbe was built in Choctaw lands and would play a major role in colonial France's efforts to stop British intrusions into the area. Bienville claimed that the new fort was to protect the Choctaw from the Chickasaw. Tombecbe was a major French outpost and trade depot among the Choctaw, the largest Native American group in the colony.
