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is a city in Limestone and Madison Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 36,824. The current mayor is Paul Finley
Madison's first resident was John Cartwright, who settled in the area in 1818. The city was originally known as Madison Station, and grew up in the 1850s around a stop of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Madison was the site of a battle in the American Civil War on March 16, 1864, when Col. Josiah Patterson's 5th Alabama Cavalry, supported by Col. James H. Stuart's cavalry battalion and a section of horse artillery, drove Col. Adam G. Gorgas's 13th Illinois Infantry Regiment from the city. Patterson's men captured the 13th Illinois Regiment's wagon train, taking 66 prisoners. They also burned Union supplies and tore up the railroad tracks before retreating. Portions of the 5th Ohio Cavalry, the 59th Indiana Infantry and the 5th Iowa Infantry were sent in pursuit from Huntsville and skirmished with Patterson's rear guard that evening at Fletcher's Ferry south of Madison.
More recently, the city has become a fast-growing suburb of Huntsville. In 1980, the population of Madison was about 4,000. Today, the city's estimated population is 36,824.