Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainAdjacent to the 1816 U.S. Army frontier fort built on a bluff over Murder Creek in East Brewton, this public cemetery and park contains two rows of unmarked soldier graves and persistent reports of a roaming Confederate apparition.
Shofner Street & Weaver Street (intersection historical marker), East Brewton, AL 36426
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public park and cemetery. Nature trail, picnic pavilion, and grills available.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Park with paved and unpaved paths; cemetery ground may be uneven.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1816 · One of Alabama's earliest U.S. Army frontier forts, constructed 1816 on Andrew Jackson's orders · Named for the Creek War era; evacuated 1821 after Spanish Florida cession · Cemetery with two rows of unmarked graves believed to be original post burial ground · Historical marker and public park preserve the site
Fort Crawford was built in 1816 atop a commanding bluff above Murder Creek in what is now East Brewton, Escambia County, Alabama. Following the First Seminole War and the Creek War of 1813–14, General Andrew Jackson ordered Major General Edmund P. Gaines and the 7th Infantry Regiment to construct a frontier fort to safeguard settlers in the region from continued Red Stick Creek resistance. The fort was named for either 2nd Lieutenant Joel Crawford or former U.S. Secretary of War and Treasury William H. Crawford.
Fort Crawford's log construction featured an unusual design described in period records as 'square log work with two blockhouses at diagonal angles, with four sides formed of log buildings.' The fort served as a base for military operations against remaining Red Stick forces until the cession of Florida to the United States by Spain in 1821, at which point the strategic need for the fort ended. The 4th and 7th Infantry Regiments were withdrawn from the region in September 1821.
The Fort Crawford Cemetery — now within Fort Crawford Historical Park — contains two rows of unmarked graves that local tradition holds to be the post's soldier cemetery. A large oak tree growing at the cemetery is believed to predate the fort's abandonment. The park today features a picnic pavilion, grills, and a nature trail; a historical marker stands at the intersection of Shofner and Weaver Streets. Additional exhibits are displayed at the Thomas E. McMillan Museum at Jefferson Davis Community College (220 Alco Drive, Brewton), open Tuesday through Thursday 9am–3pm at no charge.
Sources
Fort Crawford Cemetery has accumulated several distinct paranormal traditions over the decades. The most persistent involves a Confederate soldier — an apparition seen on multiple occasions walking along the back of the cemetery grounds at night. According to accounts from a 2011 paranormal video and corroborated by the Brewton Standard's 2015 Halloween feature, the soldier is sometimes described as approaching visitors and asking 'Where is my bayonet?' The figure is reportedly translucent or shadowy, moving purposefully as though still on patrol.
A second tradition describes children's laughter heard in the cemetery between roughly 11 p.m. and midnight, with no children present; a third involves a shadowy figure that has reportedly seized the arm of a pedestrian passing through after dark. An apparition of a young girl in a white dress has been separately reported near the cemetery perimeter.
The Brewton Standard (2015) covered local accounts of these experiences, providing the only local-newspaper documentation for the paranormal tradition. The Southern Spirit Guide's county-by-county Alabama haunting survey also documents the site independently. The cemetery's setting — unmarked 19th-century soldier graves on a bluff over Murder Creek — provides a genuinely atmospheric foundation for the folklore.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk the park nature trail, view the two rows of unmarked soldier graves at the post cemetery, and read the historical marker at Shofner and Weaver Streets. The Thomas E. McMillan Museum nearby has fort exhibits.
The adjacent museum on the Jefferson Davis Community College campus has exhibits on Fort Crawford's history as a Seminole War-era frontier post.
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