Editing Russell County, Alabama (section)

==History==
Russell County was established by an act of the state general assembly on December 18, 1832, from lands ceded to the state by the [[Muscogee|Creek]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The county seat has changed several times: [[Girard, Alabama|Girard]] (1833–1839), [[Crawford, Russell County, Alabama|Crawford]] originally Crockettsville (1839–1868), [[Seale, Alabama|Seale]] (1868–1935) and Phenix City (1935–present). It was named for War of 1812, Col. Gilbert Christian Russell Sr., 1782–1861, 3rd U.S. Infantry.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Russell County and especially its county seat, Phenix City gained a reputation of lawlessness, political corruption and being a den for vice such as organized crime, prostitution, and gambling.<ref name=coakley>{{Harvnb|Coakley|Scheips |Demma|1971 |p=35 }}</ref>  The city police and county deputies also took part in the corruption.<ref>{{Harvnb|Grady |2005|pp=5–6}}</ref> In 1954, the local politician [[Albert Patterson]] won the Democratic nomination for [[Alabama Attorney General]] on a platform of ridding the city of corruption and crime. Patterson ran for a state office since he was unable to run in local elections, as they were rigged. On June 18, 1954, Patterson was shot and killed by an unknown assassin.<ref name=coakley/> The murder set off a series of events that led to Governor [[Gordon Persons]] [[declaration of martial law in Russell County, Alabama|declaring martial law in the county and city]] because of its lawlessness on July 22 that year. That was the only time since the [[Reconstruction era]] that martial law was declared in a US city for reasons other than civil unrest or natural disaster.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stewart|1998|pp=200–201}}</ref> The [[Alabama National Guard]] was called in to assume the role of the police and clean up the area of illegal activities. The state of martial law was rescinded on January 17, 1955, with Russell County and Phenix City both returning to civilian control.<ref name=c36>{{Harvnb|Coakley |Scheips |Demma|1971 |p=36 }}</ref><ref name=bernstein>{{Harvnb|Bernstein|2009 |p=98}}</ref> In 1974, the ''[[New York Times]]'' noted that the campaign was very successful and led to a relatively-low crime rate in Phenix City for the 20 years since then.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jenkins |first1=Ray |title=Phenix City Ala., Is Staying Clean |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/18/archives/phenix-city-ala-is-staying-clean-son-of-murdered-reformer-hails.html |access-date=January 8, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 1974}}</ref>