Troy, AL news and local guide

As settlers pressed onto Creek land, tensions turned to violence in the 1830s. On February 10, 1837, at the Battle of Hobdy's Bridge, more than 100 militiamen under Captain Jack Cooper attacked a camp of about 75 Creeks fleeing toward Florida; low on ammunition, the Creeks fired nails from their muskets before the camp was overrun. In 1838 the town was renamed Troy and became the county seat, replacing Monticello, and the court met in local stores until a courthouse was built in 1839. Troy was formally incorporated on February 4, 1843. Congressman John Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, and raised on a farm in rural Pike County by his sharecropper parents, Eddie and Willie Mae Lewis. In December 1957 he applied to the all-white Troy State College, now Troy University, and was turned down because of segregation; he wrote to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who encouraged him to join the civil rights movement. Lewis went on to help lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the 1965 march from Selma. Sources Wikipedia: Troy, Alabama The Historical Marker Database: Birthplace of Congressman John Lewis (Alabama Historical Association)