Singleton tells of Indian life along the flowing waters of local creeks

Spot along Flat Creek where an Indian village was located

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Indian life centered along streams” was originally published in the Feb. 12, 1976 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

Since man first appeared and began his long trek across the pages of history, he has associated himself with the streams of clear running water. As one looks back into the past and scans the many rustic pages that flutter in the winds of time, he will notice how important these streams were to man’s survival and well-being.

Before the white settler moved down from the east and the north, the red man enjoyed a happy and contented life along the banks of the clear cool streams that abounded throughout this area. The ruins of the many villages along the banks of the larger streams proves beyond question that the Indian found magic in the music of the sounds of the dancing waters.

Contentment, peace

It is true that some of the food that made up the daily diet of the red man came from these clear waters. But I think the most important part in the passage of their lives was the contentment and peace that was to be found in the Lullabyes of the rushing waters and the whispering of the sighing winds in the treetops along the banks.

Many of the hundreds of legends that were told by the tribal story-tellers around the many campfires mentioned the running waters. Many told of the spirits of those long departed and how the same spirits rode the whispering waters on the journey into the Great Beyond. And how, always at the end of this long journey, the great dwelling place of the wandering spirit was always beside a clear running stream that was full of life and glistened in the eternal sun.

Simple things in life

Perhaps today, in our struggle for the so-called better things in life, we have forgotten that man must associate himself again with the simple things in our world, just as the early Indian did. We should pause, too, and listen to the sound of the running waters.

And when we approach the Creator and ask for the many, many things that we do, we might ought to keep our requests simple, as the red man did when he talked to the Great Spirit.

“Oh, Great Spirit that holds all things in one hand, and the warm sun in the other. Reach down and touch my soul and give me strength that I may run with the swiftness of the deer, and I may have strength of the giant oak tree that grows beside the rippling waters.

‘Give me wisdom’

“Give me the wisdom that I might seek food and shelter from the cold winters winds that howl down from the north. Guide my hands that I may use only that which I need, and that I may walk straight and true toward the sunset.

“As I grow old from the passing of many winters, let me look into the dawn of that great day when I will rest forever by the waters that give eternal life, where the air is pure, and the sky is forever blue.”

When one thinks about this simple prayer, what else could a man ask for?

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)