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Patreon.com slash Southern Mysteries. Chaktau County in southwestern Alabama is named for the Chachtell Nation settlements in the area

prior to the removal of indigenous tribes from the southeastern United States during the Trail of Tears.

From the time Choctaw County was formed in 1847 until the late 1870s. The settlers were relatively law-abiding.

It was part of the Alabama frontier, but sheriffs and U.S. Marshals work together to keep the peace.

For reasons we'll never know, a man who had been peaceful and law-abiding began to stir up trouble.

With local churches, he began to speak out against man-made laws.

By the late 1880s, he declared himself a prophet with more than 100 followers in his cult and set off a chain of events that led to a bloody chapter in Alabama history.

Welcome to Southern Mysteries, exploring history and mysteries of the American South.

I'm your host, Shannon Ballard.

This is the story of Alabama's Bloody Bob Sims and The Sims War.

Robert Bruce Sims was born in the Womack Hill community of Choctaw County, Alabama in 1839.

The early years of his life were spent farming before he served in the 22nd Alabama infantry during the Civil War.

Bob Sims was injured and captured in Georgia on May 16, 1864.

He was transferred and held as a prisoner of war

at Union Camp Morton in Indiana

...