Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 5: The Creek War and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

Angered that they were turned down by Spanish governor Gonzalez Manrique. they turned to John Innerarity at the Forbes store  in Pensacola.  Innerarity feared that an Indian war was about to begin and showed them only empty barrels and turned down their request for guns and gunpowder

However, Governor Manrique decided to help the Creeks and  provided Chief Peter McQueen with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder.  An attack on Fort Mimms caused the United States to declare war on the Creeks.

Alarmed that the Creeks would become a dangerous threat if the British armed them, Andrew Jackson's Tennessee volunteers marched to the Alabama River from Nashville and defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and forced the Indians to ceded half of their territory to the Americans.

With some justification,  hostile factions among the Creeks and Seminoles blamed Forbes & Company for their lack of firearms and gunpowder that led to their defeat and loss of land.

--Brock-Perry