British arrive on the Gulf Coast, 200 years ago today

Union Jack flies over the Gulf Coast

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of British forces on the Gulf Coast as the War of 1812 shifted south.

The warships HMS Orpheus and HMS Shelburne arrived at Apalachicola Bay on May 10, 1814. Florida was then Spanish territory and Spain was ostensibly neutral in the conflict between the United States and Great Britain, but the British prepared to land on the Apalachicola to open a southern front against U.S. forces.

The commander of the expedition, Captain Hugh Pigot, had been directed to land a small force of British Royal Marines and a massive stockpile of arms and ammunition at the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The weapons would be delivered to Seminole and Creek warriors in order to secure their allegiance to the British.

Waters off Apalachicola Bay where the British arrived

To achieve this goal, Pigot ordered Brevet Captain George Woodbine of the Royal Marines to enter the river and make contact with any chiefs in the vicinity:

You are hereby directed to proceed up the river Appalachicola and endeavour by every means in your power to procure an interview with the Chiefs of the Creek Nation. You will inform them that the Orpheus Frigate has arrived on the coast with two thousand muskets, ammunition, &c. &c. for them, and...should cavalry be able to act inform me what arms and furniture they stand in need of. - Captain Hugh Pigot, Royal Navy, to Brevet Captain George Woodbine, Royal Marines, May 10, 1814. 

Apalachicola Bay, Florida

The British had come to Apalachicola Bay at the request of Chiefs Thomas and William Perryman, who lived on the lower Chattahoochee River in what is now Seminole County, Georgia, and Jackson County, Florida. The two leaders had headed a delegation that met with a British officer in September 1813 to request military support from the British. They had recently learned of the American attack on Red Stick Creek warriors at Burnt Corn Creek in what is now Alabama and were concerned that the United States was preparing to open an indiscriminate war on Creek towns, including their own.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

By the time their request was delivered to the Bahamas and then on to London, the Creek War of 1813-1814 had erupted into a full scale conflict between the Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation and the United States. When the British arrived at Apalachicola Bay 200 years ago today, they were unaware of the devastating defeat inflicted on the Red Sticks by the army of Major General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Thousands of Red Stick warriors and their families were fleeing into Florida.

Site of the British Post at Prospect Bluff

Over the days ahead, the British established a depot at Prospect Bluff on the lower Apalachicola River. This post would later be known as the "Negro Fort" and finally as Fort Gadsden. It would play a major role in the history not only of Florida, but of the entire United States.

To learn more about the fort, please visit: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.

Later in the year 1814, the British built a second fort at the head of the Apalachicola where the City of Chattahoochee stands today. Often overlooked or confused with the post on the lower river, this outpost was intended to serve as a base of operations for a major British invasion of Georgia.

Learn more about it at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nicollsoutpost.

I will follow the history of the British invasion of the Gulf Coast over coming days, weeks and months so be sure to check back often here at http://southernhistory.blogspot.com.

200th anniversary of Battle Horseshoe Bend is tomorrow

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

Tomorrow (March 27, 2014) will mark the 200th anniversary of the cataclysmic Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama.

Fought on March 27, 1814, between the U.S. Army of Major General Andrew Jackson and the Red Stick Creek army of Menawa, the battle broke the power of the Creek Nation and started the Creeks on their journey to the Trail of Tears.

The Red Sticks were followers of a religious movement started in the Creek nation by the Prophet Josiah Francis. They believed in a return to traditional ways and a disassociation with the so-called "Plan of Civilization" introduced into the nation by United States through its agent for Indian affairs, Benjamin Hawkins.

Fort Mims State Historic Site

The Red Sticks had gone to war against the traditional leaders of the nation in 1813 after several of their party had been assassinated for involvement in an attack against white settlers on the Duck River in Tennessee. The Creek War of 1813-1814 began as a civil war among the Creeks themselves, but spilled over after Mississippi Territorial Militia attacked a Red Stick supply party at Burnt Corn Creek in Escambia County, Alabama.

The Red Sticks won the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek then retaliated against the United States by attacking Fort Mims and killing more than 250 men, women and children. The destruction of Fort Mims stunned the American frontier and led to the invasion of the Creek nation by three U.S. armies.

Holy Ground Battlefield Park

An army under Gen. F.L. Claiborne pushed up the Alabama River and destroyed the primary town of the Prophet Francis at the Battle of Holy Ground. A second army under Gen. John Floyd built Fort Mitchell on the Chattahoochee River and then fought the Creeks at Autossee (Atosi) and Calabee Creek in eastern Alabama. The third army, under Andrew Jackson, pushed south from Tennessee and fought the Red Sticks at Tallushatchee, Talladega, Emuckfau and Enitichopco before closing in on the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River 200 years ago today.

Site of Tohopeka at Horseshoe Bend

One of the two main forces of Red Stick warriors had fortified themselves at Horseshoe Bend, building a village there they called Tohopeka ("Horse's Flat Foot") after a unique looping bend of the Tallapoosa River that looks like a  horse's hoof from the air. Led by the war chief Menawa and the prophet Monahoe, the Creek army numbered perhaps 1,000 men.

Jackson's army, which included both Cherokee and U.S. allied Creeks, outnumbered the Red Sticks by more than 3 to 1 but the fortifications erected by the defenders were extremely well constructed. The outcome of the fight was in no way clear on the evening before the battle as the U.S. troops approached Tohopeka.

I will post more on the Battle of Horseshoe Bend tomorrow. If you would like to read more now, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/AlabamaHSB.

Fort Mims 200th Anniversary - The night before the attack

Monument  at Fort Mims

 200 years ago tonight, a force 700-1,000 Red Stick warriors moved to within range of Fort Mims, a roughly built log stockade in the Tensaw settlement north of Mobile, Alabama.

The evening of August 29, 1813, would be the last night on earth for more than 250 of the inhabitants of the fort. They had come there seeking safety, but on the next day Fort Mims would prove to be a trap from which few would escape.

19th Century Artist's Impression of the Big Warrior

The attack was part of the Creek War of 1813-1814, a conflict that had started as a civil war among the Upper Creeks who lived along the Alabama, Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers. A large segment of the nation had broken away from its traditional leadership - the Big Warrior, Little Prince, William McIntosh and others - and taken up the war club under the leadership of Josiah Francis, a man remembered today as the Alabama Prophet.

Francis grew up in the Alabama towns which were clustered near present-day Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama (or Alibamo) were an ancient tribe with different traditions and a different language those those of the Muskogee or Upper Creeks. Even so, the Alabamas and the associated Coushatta (or Coosada) had allied themselves with the Muskogees as part of the loosely organized Creek Confederacy.

Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet

In 1811-1812, however, Josiah Francis converted to the religion of the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa. A brother of Tecumseh, the Prophet taught that the American Indians should separate themselves from and give up the ways of the whites. Contrary to much 19th century and modern writing, he did not urge war on the whites but instead told his followers they should remain at peace with everyone and should steal nothing from the whites, "not even a bell." He did advocate a strong union of the various Indian nations, but as a defensive measure to halt any further westward expansion by settlers from the United States.

Francis had seen the impact of the "plan of civilization" introduced in the Creek Nation by the United States through the guidance of its Agent for Indian Affairs, Colonel Benjamin Hawkins. Traditional ways were disappearing from the Creeks and the evil influence of alcohol had spread through the Nation. Even though he was the son of a white trader, Francis grew concerned over these influences and listened carefully to Tecumseh when he came to Alabama in the fall of 1811 to spread the word of his brother's religion and prophesies.

Alabama River

Francis did not immediately convert, however, but thought over Tecumseh's message and learned more from the lesser Shawnee prophet Seekaboo, who had remained among the Creeks after the Prophet's brother returned to the Midwest. Josiah Francis became a true believer.

In the late summer of 1812, he announced that he had become a prophet himself. As the warriors in the Alabama towns listened to his preachings, they became convinced that the conversion was real and began calling Francis a "Hillis Hadjo" ("Warrior of Mad Medicine"). From an early group of 60 followers, the Alabama Prophet's following grew dramatically until by early 1813 his converts numbered in the thousands.

19th Century Sketch of a Human Scalp

The U.S. unwittingly ignited the civil war among the Creeks when it demanded the punishment of Little Warrior and a party of the Alabama Prophet's followers who had killed white settlers on the Duck River in Tennessee. The Big Warrior - traditional leader of the Creek Nation - ordered out execution squads to kill the murderers. Francis ordered his own warriors to retaliate and war exploded among the Creeks.

Francis and his followers became known as Red Sticks because they displayed red war clubs in their villages in a traditional sign of war.

As the conflict escalated, a force of 300 Red Sticks went to Pensacola in Spanish Florida to obtain arms and ammunition. The Spanish governor provided them with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder, along with gun flints, other supplies and a corresponding amount of lead shot. As they were making their way back to Holy Ground, the town that the Prophet Francis had established on the upper Alabama River, these warriors were attacked by a force of Mississippi Territorial Militia. The resulting engagement is remembered today as the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek and ended in victory for the Red Sticks.

Reconstructed Stockade at Fort Mims

Blood had been shed between the Red Sticks and the whites, however, and the families of those slain and wounded demanded a retaliatory strike. Since many of their enemies - including a group of mestizos (Creeks of mixed ancestry who sided with the whites) - were sheltered at Fort Mims, it was selected as the target.

The fort was not a true military structure, but instead was a rough stockade with a blockhouse that had been erected around the house of Samuel Mims. Hundreds of white and mestizo settlers had crowded inside, where they were protected by a small force of territorial militia. Because there were so many of them, the occupants of Fort Mims did not really think the Red Sticks would dare attack them. They were wrong.

Artist's Impression of William Weatherford

200 years ago tonight, a force of 700-1,000 Red Stick warriors led by William Weatherford and the lesser prophet Paddy Walsh took up positions in shallow ravines within view of Fort Mims. Weatherford and others even crawled up to the walls of the fort and peered through the loopholes to study the arrangement of the stockade. The fort was so poorly designed that the loopholes were not elevated. This meant that an attacking enemy could use them to fire into the fort just as easily as its defenders could use them to fire out.

Even though slaves had reported the presence of a large Red Stick force in the area and even though hundreds of warriors spent the night within sight of the stockade, Major Daniel Beasley and the officers commanding Fort Mims never saw them coming.

The next day - August 30, 1813 - would end in one of the greatest defeats ever administered by whites by an American Indian force in the entire history of North America.

Please click here to read more about the attack itself: http://southernhistory.blogspot.com/2013/08/200th-anniversary-of-fall-of-fort-mims.html.

You can learn more about Fort Mims State Historic Site at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmims1.

This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the attack on Fort Mims and special events are planned. To see the schedule of events and obtain directions, please visit http://southernhistory.blogspot.com/2013/08/friday-marks-200th-anniversary-of-fort.html.

Fort Mitchell Historic Site - Fort Mitchell, Alabama

Civic minded citizens in and around Russell County, Alabama, have turned one of their historic treasures into one of the South's finest newly developed historic parks.

Fort Mitchell was built on a high hill overlooking the Chattahoochee River by Georgia Militia troops during the Creek War of 1813-1814. General John Floyd had marched an army of Georgians to the Chattahoochee River as part of a three-pronged attack on the Creek Nation. He built a log stockade on the west side of the river to serve as a base for his operations.

The outpost was named Fort Mitchell after Governor David B. Mitchell and served as the supply point and base for Floyd's movements prior to the Battles of Autossee and Calabee Creek, both in Alabama.

The fort also served as a key point during the U.S. campaign against what American officials called the "Negro Fort" on the Apalachicola River and was a supply point during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818.

The original stockade deteriorated and was replaced with a second fort during the 1820s. By 1836, Fort Mitchell was the last U.S. military post bordering the Creek Nation. The Creek War of 1836 erupted that year when Hitchiti, Yuchi and other Creek warriors, outraged over frauds and demands that they be removed from their lands, attacked settlements almost within earshot of the fort.

They uprising was quickly suppressed and Fort Mitchell then became a primary concentration point for thousands of Creek men, women and children being forced west on the Trail of Tears. As such, it became the easternmost point for the Creek Trail of Tears.

A company of the 15th Alabama Infantry was raised at the site during the Civil War, but the fort by then had all but rotted away.

Over the last 5 years, a major community effort has taken place in Russell County to develop the site as a heritage park. The 1813 stockade has been beautifully restored and the park now includes an impressive visitor center, a restored log home, cemetery sites associated with both the fort and local residents, a museum housing one of the finest collections of historic carriages in the South and much more.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmitchell1.

Battle of Holy Ground, Alabama

On December 23, 1813, an army led by General Ferdinand L. Claiborne attacked the Creek town of Holy Ground, Alabama, in a key action of the Creek War of 1813-1814.

The Battle of Holy Ground was fought for control of the religious center of the Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation. Led by the Prophet Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo), who based his operations on a high bluff overlooking the Alabama River, the Red Sticks were followers of a religious movement originated by the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa.

From his base at Holy Ground, Francis and his subsidiary prophets taught their followers that the Creeks should return to traditional ways and give up all aspects of white culture. These teachings brought the Red Sticks, so named because they displayed red war clubs in their towns, into conflict with the Big Warrior, hereditary leader of the Creek Nation. A civil war erupted in the nation, but spread over to involve the whites when the Mississippi Territorial Militia attacked a Red Stick supply party at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama, during the summer of 1813.

The Red Sticks responded by attacking Fort Mims in South Alabama in August, killing hundreds of men, women and children. By December, three U.S. armies had converged on the Creek Nation. As Andrew Jackson fought his way south from Tennessee and John Floyd fought his way west from Georgia, a third army led by General Ferdinand Claiborne advanced on Holy Ground.

Believing that they would be protected by the Spirit of Life and over confident from their successes at Burnt Corn Creek and Fort Mims, the Red Sticks were overwhelmed by Claiborne's army. Using fallen trees for breastworks, William Weatherford and other warriors delayed Claiborne's advance while Francis evacuated the women and children across the river. It is said that Weatherford later escaped by leaping on horseback from the top of the bluff into the Alabama River.

The site is now Holy Ground Battlefield Park near the community of White Hall, Alabama. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/holyground1.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. This engagement was one of two major War of 1812 victories that made Andrew Jackson a household name in the United States. The other was at a place called Horseshoe Bend, Alabama.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought on March 27, 1814 and was the culminating action of a subsidiary war to the War of 1812, the Creek War of 1813-1814.

The Creek War began in early 1813 as a civil war between two factions of the Creek Nation. The "Red Stick" faction (so named because of their practice of placing red war clubs on display in their towns) was a religious group inspired by the teachings of the Shawnee prophet, Tenskwatawa, and his brother, Tecumseh. Led by the Creek Prophet Josiah Francis, they rose up against the "White" faction of the nation, led by the Big Warrior and under the influence of U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins.

The war spilled over to the whites when a party of Mississippi Territorial Militia attacked a Red Stick supply party at Burnt Corn, Alabama, but was driven from the field in panic. The outraged Red Sticks struck back by attacking Fort Mims, Alabama, and killing more than 250 men, women and children in a bloody battle.

A full scale war then erupted between the whites and the Red Sticks. Three U.S. armies converged on the Creek Nation. Two were turned back either because of supply shortages or bloody fighting, but the third - led by Andrew Jackson - continued to advance.

On March 27, 1814, Jackson led thousands of U.S. regulars, militiamen and allied Creek and Cherokee warriors in an attack on the main Red Stick stronghold of Tohopeka ("Horse's Flat Foot"), or as the whites translated it, Horseshoe Bend.

If you would like to learn more about this bloody battle that forever broke the military strength of the Creek Nation, please visit our new Battle of Horseshoe Bend pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/horseshoebend.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama

Fought on March 27, 1814, in the rolling hills of Central Alabama, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend was one of the most important battles in American history and one of the most dramatic U.S. victories of the War of 1812.

For six months, the United States had been engaged in brutal combat with the "Red Stick" faction of the Creek Nation. The Red Sticks, so named because they displayed red warclubs or "sticks" in their towns, were a nativist group of Creeks who followed a religious movement developed by the Shawnee prophet, Tenskwatawa. The waged a civil war for control of the Creek Nation beginning in 1812, but began fighting the United States in 1813 after a party of Mississippi Territorial Militia attacked one of their supply trains at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama.

The resulting conflict, remembered today as the Creek War of 1813-1814, was a part of the War of 1812. After two previous United States invasions of the Creek Nation turned back due to supply shortages and heavy fighting, Major General Andrew Jackson fought his way south into the heart of the nation with an army from Tennessee. On March 27, 1814, he attacked the Red Stick fortifications at Tohopeka ("Horse's Flat Foot" or "Horseshoe Bend") on the Tallapoosa River.

The resulting Battle of Horseshoe Bend forever broke the power of the Creek Nation. To learn more about the battle and see modern photographs of the battlefield, please visit our Horseshoe Bend Battlefield pages at: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/AlabamaHSB.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama was one of the most significant military encounters in American history. Fought on March 27, 1814, the battle was the final major engagement of the Creek War of 1813-1814 and one of the most convincing American victories of the War of 1812.

The Creek War was an outgrowth of a civil war that had erupted among the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia. A branch of the nation, called the "Red Sticks" or "Red Clubs," became devoted followers of a religious movement headed by the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa. Led by the Alabama Prophet, Josiah Francis or Hillis Hadjo, the Red Sticks opened a war against the so-called "White Party" of the Creeks, led by the traditional leader of the nation, Big Warrior.

The war spilled over after a party of white militia attacked a Red Stick party carrying ammunition back to the nation from Pensacola at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama, during the summer of 1813. The Red Sticks responded by attacking and capturing Fort Mims, a frontier stockade north of Mobile and killing hundreds of the men, women and children in the fort.

The Fort Mims attack outraged the frontier and U.S. armies advanced on the Red Sticks from three directions. The principal of these, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, pushed south into the Creek heartland fighting four major battles during the winter of 1813-1814. Jackson finally attacked the primary Red Stick stronghold at Tohopeka or "Horseshoe Bend" on March 27, 1814.

The Creeks had fortified the bend by erecting a strong wall across the narrow neck of land created by the looping course of the Tallapoosa River. The wall proved impervious to artillery fire from Jackson's army. The stalemate was broken when a party of Cherokee and "White Party" Creek warriors swam the river behind the Red Stick battlelines and brought back canoes to allow a force to attack the barricade from the rear.

When Jackson heard the sounds of this attack, he ordered his main army to charge and storm the barricade. Led by the 39th U.S. Infantry, the troops stormed forward in a bloody attack that forever broke the power of the Creek Nation in Alabama.

To learn more about the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and to experience an online tour of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, please visit our Horseshoe Bend pages at: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/AlabamaHSB.html.