Little Warrior Post Office, Blount County
By Carl Elliott

From: Annals of Northwest Alabama, pg 258-9

Near the end of the third year of the administration of President Millard Fillmore, A United State post office called Little Warrior was established in Blount County, Alabama. It opened on January 29, 1852. Henry Watkins Collier of Tuscaloosa was then governor of Alabama.

The post office was located near Blackburn Fork and Calvert Prong, both headwater streams of the Locust Fork of the Warrior river. Thus, "Little Warrior" appears to have been an appropriate name for the office. Since early times, towns and post offices have often been named for nearby streams, or given a name closely akin to nearby streams.

The first postmaster at Little Warrior was Henson D. Harbin. He was appointed when the office was established and apparently served until it was discontinued on January 7, 1867. The office was not very remunerataive to Postmaster Harbin, as his entire salary for the year 1853 was $2.20. It climbed to $6.18 in 1855, but dropped to $.51 for the whole year of 1857. In 1859 he was paid $6.22; and for the first three quarters of 1861 the total pay was $6.65. Beginning with the quarter starting October 1, 1861, Postmaster Harbin made no returns on the Little Warrior Post Office to the Post Office Department in Washington until the office was discontinued on January 7, 1867. This, of course, was the Civil War Period.

Little Warrior Post Office was re-established on August 31, 1869, with Milton Westbrook as postmaster. He served until the office was again discontinued on February 8, 1875. His salary ran to exactly $12.00 for each of the years 1871 and 1873.

Little Warrior was again re-established as a post office on March 8, 1875, with Robert G. Hayden as the new postmaster. He served until November 25, 1878. His total salary for 1875 was $3.00 and for 1877 it was $.94.

Thomas R. Deaver became postmaster on November 25, 1878 and served until May 18. 1886. His salary for the year 1879 was $8.44; for 1881, $7.99; for 1883, $10.57; and for 1885, $14.83.

The next postmaster was Edward P. Patterson, who served from his appointment on May 18, 1886 to January 22, 1887. He appears to have been paid $4.36 for the third quarter of 1886. There is no further record of salary or compensation paid to him.

Finis E. Deaver was Little Warrior's last postmaster. He was appointed January 22, 1887 and served for over eighteen years, until the office was finally discontinued on August 14, 1905. Postmaster Deaver's salary was $4.36 for the year 1887, but it jumped to the then unheard of figure of $99.29 for 1889. It promptly sank back to an average salary of $13.13 for each of the next sixteen years of its existence, 1890-1915. Surely, somewhere in the musty files there is a very interesting story behind the sudden rise in Postmaster Deaver's remuneration for 1889.

The offical records are incomplete as to the exact location of many of the older small post offices. We do know, however, that the Little Warrior Post Office, on March 5, 1889, was located in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 12, Township 13 North, Range 1 West. It is about ten miles southwest of Oneonta. The community of Little Warrior is now known as Deavertown.