by Siggurdsson
Image courtesy of http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/places/horseshoe_bend
(Unless otherwise indicated, all illustrations are courtesy of Wikipedia)
(Unless otherwise indicated, all illustrations are courtesy of Wikipedia)
[Today's post is an update to one originally published in 2010.]
For today's little history lesson, I present to you an updated post of one of my original BurnPit pieces. This one is devoted to the climactic battle in the Creek Indian War of 1813-1814
Background
The fledging United States was involved in the War of 1812, fighting Great Britain over various issues. One of those items concerned the settlement of Americans in areas as yet undeveloped but currently occupied by Native American Indians. In 1811, just prior to the outbreak of war with the British, an Indian "prophet" named Tecumseh traveled throughout the Midwest and South, seeking to build an Indian confederation to drive Americans out of areas they had already occupied. He received tacit support from Great Britain, seeking any way to disrupt American forces as war loomed.
In 1813, the Creek Indian tribes of Georgia and Alabama split over supporting the British during the war. The Lower Creek group continued their support of U.S. forces, while the Upper Creeks threw in their lot with the British. The Upper Creeks (also known as the "Red Stick Creeks" for their red-painted wooden war clubs as well as supposed magical red sticks used by their shamans), who had listened to Tecumseh's preachings, began intriguing with both the British in Canada and the nearby Spanish in Florida for material support. The Red Sticks viewed themselves as supporting the traditional values of Creek society. They routinely killed domesticated animals, broke modern farming equipment, and burned cultivated fields. Even metal pots and spun cloth was routinely gathered and destroyed.
After a clash with Mississippi territorial militia in July of 1813, 700 Red Sticks retaliated by attacking Fort Mims in Alabama, burning the stockade and massacring the garrison and their families. [The garrison of Fort Mims included friendly Creek Indians, who were regarded as traitors to their traditional ways, and were massacred along with the American settlers.] As a result of the massacre, the governors of Tennessee, Georgia and the Mississippi Territory called up militia forces to put down the Red Stick rebellion. The Georgia and Mississippi forces were turned back after some initial contacts with the Red Sticks. However, the Tennessee forces were made of sterner stuff…
Andrew Jackson by Thomas Sully (1824)
The Tennesseans were led by 47-year-old General Andrew Jackson, at that time a prominent state politician and militia officer. Jackson had carefully organized and trained his militia. He also carried out strict discipline. In one case, Jackson carried out a death sentence on one of his men (who ran in the face of the enemy) in front of his entire army. In another, Jackson faced down mutinous militiamen on horseback, training a musket on a group of mutineers, threatening to shot the first man who left to go home. The disgruntled men backed down, though Jackson later learned his musket was so badly maintained, it likely would not have fired.
American Army
In early 1814, Jackson led a force of about 3300 men deep into the Alabama country. His force included: 2000 infantry, mostly West Tennessee militiamen, which he had relentlessly drilled to a level of efficiency rivaling regular army soldiers. Also among the infantry were the 600 men of the 39th U.S. Infantry Regiment, the only real "regulars" among his force, which he felt would provide further discipline to his little army. Jackson also had 700 mounted infantry under the command of General John Coffee – a former Jackson business partner, who had married Jackson's niece. He also had several pieces of artillery. Finally, his forces included 600 Cherokee, Choctaw and Lower Creek Indian allies.
Red Stick Creek Forces
Red Stick chief Menawa (c. 1765 – c. 1835)
Lithograph by Charles Bird King
Anticipating an attack, the Red Stick chief Menawa took charge of the defense of the settlement. [It should be noted that Menawa was of mixed Indian and Scottish ancestry.] He ordered a timber and dirt palisade built, about 400 yards long and five to eight feet tall, zigzagging its way across the neck of the Horseshoe Bend. It was also pierced with loopholes to allow for firing on the enemy without exposed the Red Sticks. This structure gave the Red Sticks excellent fields of fire against any attacker. The Red Sticks seemed determined to fight to the death to resist the American forces. Within the area of Tohopeka were gathered about 1000 Red Stick Creek warriors, as well as aabout 350 women and children. About one-third of the Red Sticks were armed with rifles or muskets, with most of the rest armed with bows.
Prelude to the Battle
After mustering at the supply depot of Fort Williams in north-central Alabama (now Talladega County) in early March of 1814, Jackson's force marched about 35-40 miles through the forested mountain and hill country of Alabama. On March 26 the Tennesseans arrived within six miles of the Red Stick main settlement, a village named Tohopeka. The village contained about 300 log cabins, very similar to the "classic" log structure used by American pioneers. The town was located on a spit of land surrounded by high bluffs on the Tallapoosa River. It had become a gathering place for many of the local Red Stick Creeks.
Jackson's battle plan was fairly simple. He sent the mounted infantry and the 600 Indian allies to a point about two and a half miles downriver from Tohopeka to cross the Tallapoosa River to its southern bank. Coffee's force would take up positions on the opposite riverbank to Tohopeka, with orders to stop any Red Sticks from escaping the coming battle. They would then cross the river to take the Red Sticks in the rear, while the rest of the force would assault the Red Stick palisade. Jackson retained the remaining 2000 infantry north of the town.
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Map of battle of Horseshoe Bend, showing American and Creek dispositions
Image courtesy of PCL Map Collection, University of Texas Libraries, Univ. of Texas at Austin
At about 10:30 on the morning of March 27, Jackson ordered his two artillery pieces – a six-pounder and a three-pounder – to begin a bombardment of the Red Stick barricade, hoping to blast a hole where his infantry could come to grips with the Red Sticks. Unfortunately, after a 2 hour bombardment, the cannonballs had no effect on the palisade, either ricocheting off the barrier or passing overhead and killing some Creeks in the village. At the same time, a portion of Coffee's force – a forty-man militia unit under Lt. Jesse Bean – took up a position on a small island in the river at the western end of the enemy palisade; their mission was to prevent the Red Sticks from escaping the fight via that route.
Frustrated by the failure of his artillery, Jackson, according to his own report, "…determined to take their works by storm." He ordered the 39th Infantry to lead a bayonet charge to take the palisade. Jackson stated that the U.S. Regulars "…had been waiting with impatience to receive the order, & hailed it with acclamation." Supported by the rifle fire of the militia and under a furious fusillade from the Red Stick defenders, the 39th Infantry led the way. Upon reaching the palisade, the Regulars thrust their muskets through the Creeks' loopholes and a brisk firefight ensued. Then, the regiment's second-in-command, Major Lemuel Montgomery, mounted the barricade and urged his men to scale the barrier. Barely had he issued that command when he was shot in the head by a Red Stick rifleman, and fell dead. His men, enraged by Montgomery's sudden death, clambered over the palisade and engaged the Red Sticks in bloody hand-to-hand fighting.
"Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka), Creek War" (1846)
Artist unknown, from Digital Library of New York Public Library
Just prior to the assault of the 39th Infantry, the rest of General Coffee's men began crossing the river in canoes stolen from the Red Sticks. Mounting the bluffs surrounding Tohopeka, these men began setting fire to some of the buildings. They then fell upon the enemy Creeks and drove them toward the fighting at the barricade. The enemy was now caught in a trap.
It was a vicious fight, which lasted for some five hours. Jackson reported, "Arrows, and spears, and balls were flying; swords and tomahawks were gleaming in the sun and the whole Peninsula rang with the yell of the savages, and the groans of the dying…It was dark before we finished killing them all."
Aftermath
When the fighting ended, Jackson ordered that an exact count of the dead Red Stick Creeks be made. As each dead body was tabulated, the tip of the corpse's nose was sliced off; many of the bodies were also scalped by the Indian allies. More than 550 Red Sticks were cut down in the fighting, with another 300 or more killed trying to escape across the Tallapoosa. Two hundred and fifty of the women and children were also taken prisoner. [Menawa was wounded seven times in the battle, but escaped capture by lying among the piles of Red Stick dead. At nightfall, he made his way across the river, eventually finding a few hundred of his surviving followers, whom he eventually led to Florida to join the indigenous Seminoles.] Casualties for the Americans and their allies amounted to 47 dead and 159 wounded for the Americans, and 23 killed and 47 wounded among his Indian allies.
Land ceded by Creeks to U.S. by Treaty of Fort Jackson, 1814
Footnote #1: The Red Stick rebellion was finished, with the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August officially ending the hostilities. Over 23 million acres of Creek land in southern Georgia and southern and central Alabama was ceded to the U.S. government. Some of that land was ceded to the Cherokees. However, some 16 years later, when he was President, Andrew Jackson began the process of removing the Cherokees from their lands, culminating in the 1838-1839 "Trail of Tears" as the Cherokees were forcibly moved to Oklahoma, where they live today…
Footnote #2: According to Menawa's autobiography, he was originally second in command at Horseshoe Bend. The Red Stick "prophet" Monahell, who was recognized as the overall commander, spent most of the battle chanting incantations and generally doing nothing. Finally, Menawa struck Monahell down and took command of the Red Stick forces, but it was too late. He died in about 1838, during the Creek removal to Oklahoma.
Footnote #3: Among the Cherokee allies of the American forces at Horseshoe Bend was a brave who was known by the name of George Guess. He was a silversmith, about 44 years old. He would later be known as Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee alphabet.
Footnote #4: One of the first Americans to make his way over the Red Stick barricade during the battle – after the death of Major Montgomery – was a 27-year-old ensign of the 39th Infantry. He was wounded in the groin by a Creek arrow, then received musket wounds to the shoulder and arm. Years later, this gentleman would move to the Mexican province of Texas, become the governor of the independent state and lead opposition to Texas's secession from the union in 1861, dying in 1863. His name was Sam Houston.
Footnote #5: Ten months later, General Jackson would take another step on the road to the White House. On January 8, 1815 he defeated a British invasion force at the battle of New Orleans.
Footnote #6: Two currently active battalions of the Regular Army (2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 7th Infantry Regiment) perpetuate the lineage of the old 39th Infantry Regiment, which fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Both battalions most recently participated in Operation Enduring Freedom. In March 2013, the 3/7 Infantry was deployed to Logar Province, Afghanistan as division reserve force at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank. They returned to the states at the end of the year
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