William Brantley, Hugh Comer, and Thomas Martin correspondence on the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

William H. Brantley Jr. was born in Troy, Alabama, in 1896. He attended The University of Alabama and Harvard Law School and was one of the founding partners of the Birmingham law firm Lange, Simpson, and Brantley. He served as the president of the Alabama Historical Association from 1953-1954, and was one of the charter members of the organization. Brantley published a brief history of the battle of Horseshoe Bend for the Horseshoe Bend Battle Park Association in 1955. He died in 1964.

Hugh Comer, the son of B. B. Comer, governor and senator from Alabama, was born in 1892 in Birmingham, Alabama. A graduate of Emory and Henry College and The University of Alabama, Comer worked for his family's alrge textile company, Avondale Mills. At the time of his death in 1962, Comer was chairman of the board of Avondale Mills.

Thomas Wesley Martin was born in Scottsboro, Alabama, on August 13, 1881. While serving as Alabama Power Company Chairman of the Board, Martin petitioned Congress for the creation of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. The company purchased the battlefield in 1923; instead of creating a dam on the site, however, Martin encouraged the company to donate the land to the federal government and organized the Horseshoe Bend Battle Park Association. Martin published a brief history of the battle, titled The Story of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, in 1960. The park opened on March 27, 1965. Martin died on December 8, 1964.

Source: Alabama Authors Database, Alabama Historical Association website, Encyclopedia of Alabama, and The Tuscaloosa News.