He used the fort as a base for the invasion of the Creek nation with the Regular Army of the United States, the Lower Tombigbee Militia, and friendly Choctaw.

It had grown to 2500 by the time that the Marquis de Lafayette visited in April 1825 during his famous tour of all 24 US states.

He was entertained in the newly built masonic hall, a building which, along with the William B. Travis house, still exists but was later moved to the nearby community of Perdue Hill.

By then the town boasted two large hotels, numerous stores and business establishments, a cotton warehouse, a boarding house, a jail, a school, several churches, and a few hundred residences.

The coming of the American Civil War saw the construction of batteries along the lower Alabama River and at Claiborne.

[3] When the new railroad through Monroe County bypassed Claiborne in the early 20th century, the fate of the settlement was sealed.