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

Henry A. Burchstead May Have Died At the Battle of Autossee

From Wikipedia.

I am unable to find out any more about this man.  But, noting when he died, on November 30, 1813, this was just one day after the Battle of Autossee during the Creek War.  It took place by the Creek towns of Autossee and Tallasee near present-day Shorter, Alabama.

General John G. Floyd and 900 to 950 militia men and 450 allied Creeks attacked the villages and killed 200 Red Stick Creeks.

American casualties were 6-11 killed during the battle and 5 wounded.  Another 5 were killed in the ambush after the battle.

--Brock-Perry

Georgia's John Floyd-- Part 4: The Battle of Autossee Desolation

General Floyd's son, Charles Rinaldo Floyd, 16, was along with his father at the Battle of Autossee and later wrote:  "The Indians never repair the desolation of a town, so Autossee has been deserted ever since the battle, except by wolves and ravens, and the skeletons of the slain are still bleaching amidst the ruins.

General Floyd was seriously wounded in his knee at the battle and recuperated over the Christmas holidays at Fort Mitchell.

--Brock-Perry

Georgia's John Floyd-- Part 3: The Battle of Autossee

General John Floyd was ordered to take command of the federal troops assembling at Camp Hope on the Ocmulgee River.  They constructed forts in a defensive line along the federal Road from the Ocmulgee River to the Alabama River.  Fort Mitchell was erected on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River.

In November 1813,  Floyd was on the offensive and fought at the Battle of Autossee on the east bank of the Talapoosa River   It was the site of one of the most populous Creek towns.

Floyd planned to attack at daybreak and encircle the town.  His scouts discovered a second town and Floyd had to divide his force.  Fighting was fierce.  Red Stick men, women and children were shot, bayoneted and burned to death in their own houses.  Both villages were completely destroyed.

--Brock-Perry

Georgia's John Floyd-- Part 2: St. Marys and the Patriot War

At the beginning of the War of 1812, John Floyd commanded a force at Point Peter at St. Marys in Camden County.  He was asked by General George Matthew, special agent during the Patriot War, to have his militia ready to overthrow the Spanish government in East Florida.

In October 1812, Floyd, with 120 volunteers reached New Camp Hope in East Florida where he encountered Seminoles (who the Spanish government had enlisted their aid).  The Americans ran out of supplies and many got sick, forcing a withdrawal.

Creek Indians, allied with Britain, began attacking American settlements in eastern and central Alabama and western Georgia.  Those Indians from the Upper Creek Towns were known as the Red Sticks and were especially bad.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Hawkins (The Hawkins Line)-- Part 3: Another Red Stick Threat

After the war, Benjamin Hawkins organized peaceful Creek Indians to oppose a British force on the Apalachicola River in Florida.  They were threatening to rally the Red Sticks and reignite a war versus the settlers on the Georgia frontier.

He was buried at his Creek Agency near Flint River and Roberta, Georgia.

Find-A-Grave lists his final resting place at the Hawkins Family Cemetery.  It is the only grave in that cemetery.

His inscription reads "Col. Benjamin Hawkins/  General Washington's Staff Revolutionary War/ Aug. 15, 1754  Jun 6, 1816."

Born in Granville County, North Carolina.  Died in Crawford County, Georgia.

I would have thought the inscriptions would have mentioned something of his dealings with the Creek Indians.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Hawkins (Hawkins Line)-- Part 2: Peace and Then the Red Sticks

He taught European-American agriculture to the Creeks at his Creek Agency in Georgia.  Largely regarded as the main reason there was peace between American settlers and the Creeks for 19 years.  However, in 1812, a group of Creek Indians called the Red Sticks started attacking settlers and defending their lands.  They were led by Chief William McIntosh.

They continued to be a threat until Andrew Jackson's force defeated them badly at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama which led to the Treaty of Fort Jackson where the Creeks were forced to ceded most of their land.

Hawkins was unable to attend this treaty and no doubt would have been more lenient than Jackson.

--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

War of 1812 Veteran Henry Griggs to Be Honored-- Part 2

Henry Griggs was a private in the Georgia militia from Hancock County during the war and served on the southern Indian frontier.  The red Stick group of the Creek Indians in Georgia in the late spring and summer of 1813 started attacking white settlements and farms leading up to a massacre involving hundreds of militia and civilians.

Under Georgia Militia law, every county was divided into districts with each having about sixty men between the ages of 15 and 60.  Henry Griggs was in one, a cavalry unit referred to as dragoons.  When not at war, militia socialized on "muster day" when assembled for drills and parades.  There was often a barbecue that went along with the muster.

After the massacre, the United States government authorized Georgia's governor to raise 1500 militia to fight the Creeks.  They were to be commanded by Brigadier General John Floyd.

--Brock-Perry

Col. John Williams of the 39th U.S. Infantry Regiment-- Part 2

In the War of 1812, John Williams raised a small company of 200-250 volunteers, primarily from Tennessee and Georgia, with the intention of invading Florida and attacking the Seminoles.  They invaded Florida in February 1813 and destroyed several Indian villages.  They returned to Tennessee where they were mustered out.

In June 1813, Williams was commissioned into the U.S. Army and ordered to recruit and organize the 39th U.S. Infantry Regiment.  They were charged with engaging the Red Stick Creeks Indians.  Williams raised 600 troops for his regiment.

Early in 1814, they were placed under General Andrew Jackson's command, who was preparing for an expedition against the Red Sticks in Alabama.  They met at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend where the 39th formed the center of Jackson's line and captured the log barricades the Creeks had fortified along the riverbed and forced them to retreat..

Among the soldiers in the 39th were future Arkansas senator Thomas Hart Benton and future governor of Tennessee and Texas, Sam Houston.

After the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Williams went to Washington, D.C., to raise money and weapons for the 39th.  Throughout the rest of 1814, Jackson and Williams bickered over the dispersal of those weapons.,leading to them being adversaries after the war.

In 1815, he was chosen to fill Tennessee's senate seat and later won it on his own.

--Brock-Perry

Nicholls' Outpost-- Part 2

The British arrived at the mouth of the Apalachicola River in May 1814.  Thomas and William Perryman, two Lower Creek chiefs had appealed in the Bahamas to England for aid fighting U.S. troops.

By the time the British arrived, however, the Red Sticks had been smashed by General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama.

The British troops were led by Brevet Major George Woodbine, who met the Indians who were fleeing into Spanish Florida.

The British apparently evacuated Nicholls' Outpost in April 1814.

No visible traces of the fort remain.

--Brock-Perry

Nicholls' Outpost-- Part 1

From the Explore Southern History Blog by Dale Cox.

The other British fort built on the Apalachicola River was at Prospect Bluff and Nicholls' Outpost was located upriver at present day Chattahoochee, Florida.  The Post and fort were built as part of a British plan to recruit Red Stick and Seminole Indians to their cause during the War of 1812.

The other fort was 30 miles north of the mouth of the Apalachicola River at the site of present day Fort Gadsden Historic Site. Both forts were built by Edward Nichols of the Royal Marines.   This fort later was referred to as the "Negro Fort."

Nicholls' Post was the smaller fortification of the two and was built on top of a large Indian mound at Chattahoochee Landing in Gadsden County, Florida.

--Brock-Perry