In the years leading up to the declaration of war between the United States and Great Britain, Tecumseh, a Shawnee warrior, attempted to create a pan-Indian alliance to retard American expansion into the Northwest Territory. Tecumseh’s appeal to the Indians of the Southeast had largely failed. However, the traditionalists among the Creeks (the Red Sticks) formed an alliance with the Shawnee leader.
In May 1812, Red Stick warriors attacked the isolated cabins of the Manley and Crawley families on Duck River in Humphreys County. The inhabitants were slain with the exception of Martha Crawley, who remained a captive.
Ultimately, Martha Crawley returned to Tennessee, but Tennesseans demanded justice for the attack. Friendly Creeks arrested the perpetrators and executed the guilty. The executions lead to a civil war amongst the Creeks. Meanwhile, Congress declared war on Great Britain in June 1812 and Tecumseh’s Indian Confederation joined the British cause. The civil war within the Creek Nation took a particularly brutal turn in August 1813. On August 30, Red Stick Creeks attacked Fort Mims, located about 45 miles north of Mobile, Alabama. The fort contained Friendly Creeks, mixed-blood settlers, black slaves, and a company of the Mississippi Territorial Militia. The bloody battle turned into a massacre with the majority of the fort’s occupants being killed by the Red Sticks. Word of the “Fort Mims Massacre” quickly spread across the United States. With the majority of the US Army tied down fighting the British on the Canadian front, the War Department called upon the militia of Tennessee, Georgia, and the Mississippi Territory to deal with the Red Stick threat. While Georgia and Mississippi Territory troops would all play a role in the fighting, the burden of the Creek War fell primarily on Andrew Jackson and the Tennessee militia and volunteer regiments.
Assembling at Camp Blount in Lincoln County, Tennessee in early October 1813, Jackson moved south into Creek Territory. Faced with starvation, mutinies, and desertions, Jackson’s army withered away after initial successes at Tallasahatchee and Talladega. Reinforced in the late winter of 1814 with a fresh draw of militiamen, the 39th US Infantry Regiment, and approximately 500 Cherokees and 100 allied Friendly Creeks, General Jackson took the offensive.
The Tennessee War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission will conduct a brief memorial ceremony for Tennesseans who fought in the battle on March 29 at 2:00 PM at the grave site of Lemuel Montgomery at the Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.
John Coffee wrote this letter to his wife, Mary Donelson Coffee,
reporting on Battle of Horseshoe Bend, April 1, 1814.
reporting on Battle of Horseshoe Bend, April 1, 1814.
Image: Dyas Collection, John Coffee Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
To learn more about the War of 1812, we encourage you to click on the following online resources:
- Brief History of Tennessee in the War of 1812: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/military/tn1812.htm
- Materials at TSLA Pertaining to the War of 1812: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide04.htm
- The War of 1812 and Indian Wars, from The Volunteer State Goes to War: A Salute to Tennessee Veterans: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/exhibits/veterans/1812.htm
- Regimental Histories of Tennessee Units During the War of 1812: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/military/1812reg.htm
The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.
Hmm...
ReplyDeleteNo one ever adds the whole Alabama Indian Genocide with the Invasion of Mobile in April of 1813 which had been plotted literally for years prior to the whole the Ft. Mims Massacre, which actually mimics the Ft. Rozalie Massacre said to be committed by the Natchez, who the Alabama are the descendants of to begin with... Wonder why some maps show Ft. Dearborn on the Miss where modern Natchez is and I wonder why Natchez is 170 or miles north of Mobile versus the 30 miles it is supposed to if it had anything to do with Rozalie?
Then again, I still wonder how it was that Bienville confused the Mobile River with the Mississippi River... and so many more afterwards...
I still get to wondering how it is that Panzacola was said to be North of Mobile and how it is that Florida (the Town) was actually in Mt. Vernon Alabama where the state's first newspaper was published - the Mobile Centinel and the list goes on... I'm working out the facts and the various maps and it does not look good for a lot of historians and probably innocent archaeologists who find one thing and come to a remarkably different conclusion and meanwhile just totally changed the entire South Eastern map across the states all to cover up for the Yazoo Land Scandal and that Crime Perpetuated by Jackson and the War-Hawks... or whoever else was in league with them...
Good luck!