Southwest Georgia Played Key Role in War of 1812-- Part 3: Forts, Fort Mims, Battle of Horseshoe Bend and Negro Fort

Not only was a trail hewed from the Wilderness, but Gen. David Blackshear also built a series of forts along that trail:  Fort Telfair, Fort Twiggs, Fort Jackson, Fort Pike, Fort Mitchell, Fort Green Fort Lawrence, Fort Adams, Fort Clark and Fort McIntosh.

Other forts in the region included  Fort Gaines, Fort Mitchel, Fort Morgan and Fort Scott.

Military action in the region began on August 30, 1813, when a war party of Creek Indians under Spanish and English influence, attacked  Fort Mims in what is now in Alabama and 500  mostly white settlers were killed.  In retaliation, Gen. Andrew Jackson would lead his Tennessee volunteers with the aid of Cherokee warriors, killing around  800 Creeks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Another battle of note which highlighted the alliances formed during the War of 1812 would take place on the Apalachicola River at a fortification called British Fort, but more commonly known as Negro Fort.  There, the British enlisted runaway slaves and Indians to harass the white settlers of the region.

--Brock-Perry

From Fort Mims to Horseshoe Bend to New Orleans

The massacre of Americans at Fort Mims demanded a response.  Col. Andrew Jackson  was sent to fight the Red Stick Creek Indians and defeated them at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend  on March 27, 1814.  Sam Houston, who was to become famous in the Texas was one of Jackson's lieutenants at this battle and continued fighting despite being shot in the thigh.

As a result of this battle, the Creeks ceded half of what was to become Alabama to the U.S. government.

Jackson was promoted to general and sent 150 miles west to defend New Orleans.

The War of 1812 technically ended two weeks before the Battle of New Orleans when the Treaty of Ghent was signed (though it wasn't official until the U.S. ratified it and that took place after the battle was fought.  (February 16, 1815 by the Senate)

--Brock-Perry

The Fort Mims Massacre

From Jan. 7, 2020, News Maven Fort Mims' Massacre, Battle of New Orleans , & General Andrew Jackson" by Bill Federer.

Five hundred men, women and children were massacred at Fort Mims, Alabama, just north of Mobile, on August 30, 1813, by Red Stick Creek Indians.

There is a historical marker there that reads:

"FORT MIMS--  Here in the Creek Indian War 1813-1814 took place the most brutal massacre in American history.  Indians took the fort with heavy loss, then killed all but 36  of some 550 in the fort.  Creeks had been armed  by British in Pensacola in this phase of the War of 1812."

The Indians had been incited to riot, attack and pillage by a foreign power.

Rumors circulated that the British would pay cash for American scalps.

--Brock-Perry

Camp Blount, Tennessee-- Part 2: Mustering to Fight the Creeks

From the July 16, 2013, Elk Valley (Tn.) Times.

During the War of 1812, the Tennessee state government issued a call for volunteers.  Some 3,500 Tennesseeans responded, earning them the state nickname "Volunteers."    The reason for this muster  was that the Creek Indians had attacked Fort Mims and massacred 250 men, women and children.

The soldiers were ordered here by Tennessee Governor Willie Blount.  They trained under the leadership of Andrew Jackson, then major general of Tennessee militia.  Most of the men who reported were from middle Tennessee.

They left Camp Blount oin October 1813.  Less than a year later, the troops again mustered at Camp Blount and this time marched to New Orleans.

--Brock-Perry

Tennessee in the War of 1812-- Part 3: Where It Got the Nickname "The Volunteer State"

Tennessee was greatly alarmed by events at Fort Mims.  The next month, Governor Willie Blount issued a call for 3,500 volunteers.  The enthusiastic and overwhelming response of Tennesseeans initiated  a tradition that gave the state the nickname of the "Volunteer State."

Andrew Jackson, as major general of the Tennessee militia, along with his military colleague, John Coffee, led a force into the heart of the Creek Nation with the intent of totally destroying the Creeks as a fighting force.

Beginning in November 1813, a series of encounters with the Red Sticks culminated in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814.  This battle left over 800 Creeks dead and ended the threat.

--Brock-Perry

Tennessee in the War of 1812-- Part 2: The Creek Indians and "Red Sticks"

For decades, the Creek Indians had become increasingly intermingled with the white culture through marriage and the adoption of commercial agriculture.

Just prior to the War of 1812, however, a more traditional faction of creeks, known as the "Red Sticks" began promoting an anti-white campaign inspired by a visit from the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh.  Indian aggression along the frontier, encouraged by Britain and Spain, alarmed American settlers; then an attack on whites and friendly Indians at Fort Mims near Mobile, Alabama) on August 30, 1813, stirred outraged whites into action.

The Creek War  therefore became intertwined with the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry

Epraim Brevard Osborne, War of 1812 Medical Doctor

Buried in Salem Cemetery, Navarro County (or possibly Hill County)Medical doctor in the war and one of the few survivors of the Fort Mims Massacre.  His brother Spruce Osborne was killed there.  Ephraim was also at the Battle of New Orleans.

He married in 1818.

He died May 23, 1875, in Emmett, Navarro County.

A note from his son mentioned that Lt. Osborne was at Fort Mims and the Battle of New Orleans.  He added, "I have heard him tell of the breast works of cotton bales and of the dense fog that enveloped the whole face of the earth."

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 in Georgia

The Creek War 1813-1814.

The British armed and encouraged the local Indians to do battle with the United States.  The Indians were only too happy to do that as it had become evident that the Americans wanted their land and planned to take it from them.  The Creek War took place primarily in Alabama-Georgia area.

On August 30, 1813, the Creeks attacked and destroyed Fort Mims in Alabama which touched off a major U.S.-Creek confrontation.

U.S. General John Floyd was ordered to build a string  of forts in Georgia from whence to protect the state and attack the Creeks.  He did so starting in September 1813 when he attacked into Alabama from Fort Mitchell on the Chattahoochee River.

Fighting continued into 1814 when the Creeks were finally and decisively defeated  by General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mims in Alabama-- Part 3: Jackson Retaliates and the DAR

From the July/August DAR American Spirit Magazine.

Colonel Andrew Jackson mobilized three state militias to attack the Red Sticks. At the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he defeated them, ending the Creek War. This defeat eventually led to the banishment of several Indian tribes to the West on the infamous Trail of Tears.

The modern history of Fort Mims has a lot to do with the Fort Mims DAR chapter of Stockton, Alabama, founded in 1949. Organizing Regent June Whiting Slaughter and her husband Carl were asked by the Alabama Parks and Conservation Department to help clearing brush off land adjacent to their north Baldwin County property where they had been finding arrowheads and pieces of pottery. Charred wood was found that determined the fort's original site.

In the mid-1980s the first battle reenactment was held and this continues. Gregory Waselkov at the University of South Alabama has started a dig at the fort and written a book A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813-1814. Artifacts from the fort will be on display during the anniversary weekend.

We'll probably be driving to Alabama if NIU plays in the Go-Daddy Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, in January. This could be a stop on the way.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mims in Alabama-- Part 2: Creek-U.S. Tensions and Massacre

Continued from Nov. 30th.

The conditions leading to the Creek Indian War which led to the Fort Mims massacre started even before the War of 1812. In the early 1800s, the Creek Nation numbered between 18,000 and 14,000 primarily inhabiting present-day Alabama and western Georgia. In the years following the American Revolution, Spain, France, Britain and the United States all attempted to gain influence in the region.

By 1805, the Creeks had signed four treaties with the U.S., but animosity between Britain and the U.S. would cause the Creek War which became an extension of the War of 1812. And, of course, another major factor was the continued white pressure to move onto Indian lands.

By early 1813, about 550 settlers and slaves had crowded into the tiny stockade in Tensaw along the Alabama River. On August 30, about 700 warriors from the pro-British Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation attacked the fort, killing hundreds and capturing around 100 slaves, women and children. Only about 36 settlers survived.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mims in Alabama-- Part 1

From the DAR July/August 2013 Magazine by Sharri Whiting.

Chalk it up as another unknown item for me.

The 200th anniversary of the battle took place August 30, 2013, and it was marked by a commemoration from August 30-Sept. 1st in Tensaw, Alabama including exhibits, living history demonstrations, period music, crafts, re-enactments and even a pioneer church service.

The Fort Mims Restoration Association joined with descendants of the survivors, members of the Creek Nation and the general public. It was to remember the 500 white settlers, Creek Indians and slaves who died or were captured Aug. 30, 1813.

--Brock-Perry