Description
The river begins in northeastern Mississippi in Itawamba County. Historically, the beginning of the river was in northern Monroe County, by the confluence of Town Creek (also known as West Fork Tombigbee River) and East Fork Tombigbee River. Today, however, what was once known as the east fork is now designated as the Tombigbee.
It flows east through Aberdeen Lake near Aberdeen, and Columbus Lake near Columbus. It flows through Aliceville Lake on the Mississippi-Alabama border, then generally SSE across western Alabama in a highly meandering course, past Gainesville and Demopolis, where it is joined from the northeast by the Black Warrior River. South of Demopolis it flows generally south across southwestern Alabama, past Jackson. It joins the Alabama from the north on the Mobile-Baldwin county line, approximately 30 mi (50 km) north of Mobile, to form the Mobile River.
After the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in 1985, much of the middle course of the river in northwestern Mississippi was diverted into the new, straightened channel. Above Aberdeen Lake, the waterway flows alongside the original course of the river.
In addition to the Black Warrior, the river is joined by the Buttahatchee River from the east, north of Columbus, Mississippi. To the South of Columbus, Luxapalila Creek joins with the Tombigbee River, approximately 5.2 miles from downtown Columbus. Approximately 10 mi (15 km) north of Gainesville, it is joined from the north by the Sipsey River. At Gainesville, it is joined from the west by the Noxubee River.
The Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge is along the river in southwestern Alabama, approximately 20 mi (30 km) northwest of Jackson.
The upper reaches of the Tombigbee formed the homeland of the formidable Chickasaw. The French official, Bienville used the Tombigbee to travel with his forces in his 1736 campaign against the Chickasaw. In the nineteenth century, they were considered one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, as they adopted some European-American ways. But, Congress still passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and ultimately the United States forced the Chickasaw west of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, extinguishing most of their claim to land in the Southeast.
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