Upon learning of the survey and that the French grants lay elsewhere, American settlers began to quickly purchase the property of the former French settlement, intending to develop it as a major river port on the Tombigbee. A land company was formed in 1819 with the express purpose to purchase the land and lay off a town, the White Bluff Association (later renamed as the Company of the Town of Demopolis). George Strother Gaines was named as the company spokesman, and he bought the town site atop White Bluff as soon as it was offered for sale. Commissioners for the company were George Strother Gaines, James Childress, Walter Crenshaw, Count Charles Lefebvre Desnouettes, and Dr. Joseph B. Earle.