Russell Lands History
Including
A Greatly Expanded Version
4, 2020
Michael Jefferson Bulger
February 13, 1806 – December 21, 1900
2019 Robert Gunn
General Michael Jefferson Bulger’s lineage dates back to the Revolutionary War, his grandad, Michael, an Irishman, came to America as a staff member to German General, Baron Johann DeKalb. General DeKalb died from some 11 wounds that were inflicted while on the battlefield of Camden. The battlefield where Michael was also wounded. After his recovery, Michael married and raised his family. His son Pierce was also a wounded soldier, owing his wounds to the war of 1812.
A Richland District, South Carolina mechanic by trade, Pierce Bulger married Ann R. Adams. They had a child they named Michael Jefferson. Pierce died when Michael was only 11 years old. In his own words, Michaels says, “I was left an orphan in the midst of vicissitudes and sorrows, I managed to work myself through school at Menersville, an institution of high character, located south of Columbia. Completing my education, I fell in with a migrating family and came to Montgomery, Alabama arriving there on July 4, 1823.”
M.J., as he was known by most, worked odd jobs in a shop, sometimes at a desk, and sometimes at a Law Office. He worked hard and saved his money until the winter of 1827-28 when he traveled to East Tennessee. It was here that he met and married Pamela T. Donald. After their marriage, he bought a tract of land near Wetumpka and using what he referred to as “scientific methods” of farming soon quadrupled the value of his lands. When the treaty with the Creek Indians ended in 1834, he sold his property and moved to Coosa County where he opened a large store for trade with the Creek Nations. He named this location Nixburg.
Michael Jefferson Bulger
It was while in Nixburg, his wife became alarmed at a report that the Indians were attacking and killing everyone. While on her way to refuge she was so injured by her horse running away, that she died of those injuries.
As the Indian reservations were exhausted, and the Indians removed, M.J.’s business no longer flourished. He closed it with a handsome profit, then he invested in slaves, stock, and farming implements and moved to Tallapoosa County, his home for the next 65 years. It was at his new home where began a number of very successful farming operations.
In 1837, MJ, married Elizabeth Bozeman of Tallapoosa County, this marriage also produced four children. He was a member of the Alabama Legislature which assembled in 1851, 1852, and 1853.
In 1854, the Tuskegee Macon Republican newspaper reported that the Dadeville Banner had “at last passed into the hands of General M.J. Bulger, a well-known Dadeville citizen” and president of the stock company that owned it. It is said that General Bulger ran a newsy paper with a fair amount of advertising with much of it on the front page! This in spite of the fact that at this time Dadeville was only a village with a small surrounding population.
M.J. Bulger
With the prospect of war on the horizon in 1861, he, as a delegate to Alabama’s succession convention voted “nay” to the question of whether the state should break away from the United States. However, when war came, he felt that he must do his part to sustain the southern cause and raised a regiment in Tallapoosa County. He went out as captain of Company A and was afterward promoted to various offices all the way to brigadier general.
He was seriously injured in the battle of Cedar Mountain. He was shot first in the arm, then in the leg where his artery was severed. It is said that he plugged the bullet holes in his leg with corn cobs and secured them with his suspenders. While recovering at home, he was elected to
the state senate from his district and served until the session closed, he then returned to his regiment.
He was with his troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Confederate efforts to seize the high ground known as “Little Round Top” happened on July 2, 1863. M.J., approaching 60 years in age, climbed atop a boulder and waving his sword, urged his Alabamians onward! His gallantry came with a high cost though, he was shot through the lung. With blood freely flowing from his chest, mouth, and nostrils he was left behind and was reported to have been killed while “fighting most nobly.” However, he was discovered alive by Colonel James Clay Rice and was transferred to a Union surgeon. Later MJ let it be known that the compassion shown by Rice, saved his life! He was kept as a prisoner of war on Johnson’s Island near Sandusky, Ohio, until he was exchanged in 1846. Before the end of the war, he was granted a leave of absence, during this leave he was again elected to the state senate – an office he held until the state was taken over by national authorities. The war concluded with him as member of the Invalid Corps. M.J. was not only a Civil War hero, but a third generation battle injured Bulger – falling in line with his grandfather Michael and his dad Pierce, all injured in American Wars on American soil.
He returned to his adopted state of Alabama where he found his slaves freed, his stock confiscated, his farm of 400 acres dilapidated and his 15 miles of fencing – every panel needed repair. Fortunately, an abundance of provisions had been hoarded through the perseverance and management of his wife. He went about retrieving his lost fortunes. He successfully re-engaged in farming and, despite his advanced age, farmed until the death of his wife in 1893.
He sold the farm and moved in with his daughter, Parmella Bulger Banks of Jackson’s Gap where he lived until his death in 1900. He is buried in the Dadeville, Alabama City Cemetery.
Little Round Top - Gettysburg
During M. J. Bulger’s lifetime, there was a post office built at Bulgers Mill from 1848 to 1867 and in 1896 from 1902 it was simply known as Bulgers, a name that the area is still called today.