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.

Bicentennial of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought 200 years ago today in the Creek Nation of Alabama. The outcome forever changed the history of the United States.

The Creek War of 1813-1814 had been underway for more than nine months when Major General Andrew Jackson left Fort Williams near present-day Sylacauga with an army of 3,300 men. The general and his men arrived within six miles of the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River on the evening of March 26, 1814.

Tallapoosa River at Horseshoe Bend

The next morning Jackson sent Brigadier General John Coffee with a force of 1,300 men to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the bend from its opposite shore. He then moved forward with the rest of his army and sealed off the neck of the peninsula. Receiving word that Coffee was in place to cut off any attempt at retreat by the Red Stick Creek army, Jackson began his attack at 10:30 in the morning, 200 years ago today.

U.S. artillerymen manhandled two cannon - a 3-pounder and a 6-pounder - to the top of a hill overlooking the massive fortification that the Creeks had built to defend their town of Tohopeka ("Horse's Flat Foot"), a village that took its name from the unusual shape of the Horseshoe Bend. As Jackson's troops formed into lines of battle facing the barricades, the gun crews opened fire.

Site of the Creek fortification

For two hours the guns blasted away at the Red Stick defenses, but the solid iron cannonballs either ricocheted off the solid wall or flew over it. At noon, however, General Coffee's blocking force changed the course of the battle.

Among the 1,300 men assigned to Coffee were 600 Cherokee and Creek warriors who had allied themselves with the United States. With the battle in doubt, the Cherokee soldiers swam the river and launched an attack on the rear of the Red Stick line. The famed scholar Sequoyah was part of this attacking force.

Grave of Major Lemuel Montgomery

Facing attack from both directions, the Red Sticks had no choice but to divide their army. The main body of their warriors remained behind the wall to oppose Jackson while a smaller force rushed to the rear to battle Coffee's oncoming warriors. Seizing the moment, General Jackson ordered his infantry to attack.

Surging forward, the 39th U.S. Infantry struck the Creek fortifications. Major Lemuel Montgomery was killed and Ensign Sam Houston (later President of Texas) was severely wounded, but the 39th went up and over the wall. Jackson's Tennessee militia troops followed.

Menawa

Led by the war chief Menawa, the Red Sticks continued to fight. For hours the sounds of gunfire, screams and war cries echoed through the smoke that covered the Horseshoe Bend. A couple of hundred Red Sticks tried to escape by swimming the Tallapoosa, but Coffee and his riflemen shot them in the water. So many were slain that the river ran red with blood. Almost all of Menawa's other warriors fought to the death.

When night fell, the severely wounded war chief crawled out from under a pile of bodies and slipped away. He was disfigured for life. A few of his warriors also managed to swim away, but the Creek Nation would never recover from the devastating defeat.

Andrew Jackson

Jackson and his men counted the dead the following day by cutting off the noses of Menawa's slain warriors and then doing a "nose count." The bodies of 557 Red Stick warriors were found on the battlefield and Coffee estimated that another 200-300 were slain in the river. The bones of the dead littered the scene for years to come.

U.S. losses in the battle were 49 killed and 157 wounded. Many of the latter died in the days, weeks and months that followed.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend did not end the Creek War of 1813-1814, but its outcome was never in doubt after March 27, 1814. The engagement started Andrew Jackson on his road to the White House and the Creek Nation on its journey to the Trail of Tears.

Five months later, the United States forced the Creeks to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The document exacted severe terms on Red Stick and U.S. allied chiefs alike, forcing the cession of 23 million acres of Creek land to the United States.

To learn more about the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/AlabamaHSB.

To learn more about the Creek War of 1813-1814, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/creekwar.

To learn more about the Creek Trail of Tears, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/creektrail.

Spring Travel Part Twenty: Fort Mims, Alabama

Sometimes the most interesting historic places can be found a little off the beaten path. A prime example is Fort Mims State Historic Site near Tensaw, Alabama.

One of the most significant historic sites in the United States, Fort Mims was the scene of a monumental clash of cultures on August 30, 1813.

A nativistic religion, called the "Red Stick" movement by the whites, had developed in the Creek Nation. It called for Native Americans to give up the ways of the whites and return to traditional ways of living.

The movement led to a civil war in the Creek Nation. Red Stick forces, led by their prophets, battled the traditional Creek leadership led by the Big Warrior. The spread of the war alarmed white settlers living on the fringes of the nation and in July of 1813, a force of Mississippi Territorial Militia attacked a Red Stick supply party at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama. The attack on Fort Mims was in retaliation for the Burnt Corn battle.

On August 30, 1813, a large for of Red Sticks stormed Fort Mims in a battle that lasted for hours. When the smoke cleared, hundreds of the occupants of the fort were dead. News of what the whites called the "Fort Mims Massacre" soon spread across the frontier and three armies converged on the Creek Nation in what became known as the Creek War of 1813-1814.

To learn more about Fort Mims, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmims1.

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.