Battle of Horseshoe Bend - Creek Wars

 The War of 1812

Creek War with the Red Sticks

                Battle of Horseshoe Bend         

http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend_(1814)

During the Creek War (1813-1814), Colonel Andrew Jackson became a national hero after his victory over the Creek Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend is considered part of the War of 1812 in central Alabama. The Creek Indians of Georgia and Alabama had become divided into two factions: the Upper Creeks (or Red Sticks), who opposed the American expansion and sided with the British and Spanish during the War of 1812, and the Lower Creek, who had a stronger relationship with the US Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins, and sought to remain on good terms with the Americans. The Red Sticks began to raid American frontier settlements, and when the Lower Creek helped U.S. forces capture leading raiders, they were punished by the Red Sticks.

As Federal forces were devoted to the War of 1812, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama organized militias that were commanded by Colonel Andrew Jackson, together with Lower Creek and Cherokee allies, to go against the Red Sticks.

Horseshoe Bend was the major battle of the Creek War, in which Andrew Jackson sought to "clear" Alabama for American settlement. Colonel Jackson commanded an army of West Tennessee militia, which he had turned into a well-trained fighting force.

After leaving Fort Williams in the spring of 1814, Jackson's army (consisting of 2,600 American soldiers, 500 Cherokee, and 100 Lower Creek allies) cut its way through forest up a steep hill. This placed them on a bend in the Tallapoosa River, called “Horseshoe Bend.”  They were within 6 miles of Chief Menawa's Red Stick camp of Tohopeka. From this vantage point, Jackson would begin his attack on a Red Stick Creek fortification.

Jackson split his troops sending roughly 1300 men (mounted infantry and Indian allies) to cross the Tallapoosa River under the command of General John Coffee.

They were to surround the Red Sticks' camp. Jackson stayed with the rest of the 2,000 infantry north of the camp and later began an artillery barrage which consisted of two cannons firing every two hours. Little damage was caused to the Red Sticks or their 400-yard-long log-and-dirt fortifications. Jackson was impressed with the measures the Red Sticks took to protect their position.

Jackson then ordered a bayonet charge. The 39th U.S. Infantry, led by Colonel John Williams, charged the breastworks defending the camp and caught the Red Sticks in hand-to-hand combat. Sam Houston (the future statesman and politician) served as a third lieutenant in Jackson's army. Houston was one of the first to make it over the log barricade alive and received a wound from a Creek arrow that troubled him the rest of his life.

The Creek warriors refused to surrender, though, and the battle lasted for more than five hours. At the end, roughly 800 of the 1000 Red Stick warriors were killed. In contrast, Jackson lost fewer than 50 men during the fight and reported 154 wounded.

Chief Menawa was severely wounded but survived; he led about 200 of the original 1,000 warriors across the river and into safety among the Seminole tribe in Spanish Florida.

On August 9, 1814, Andrew Jackson forced the Creek to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The Creek Nation was forced to cede 23 million acres, half of central Alabama and part of southern Georgia—to the United States government. Jackson was promoted to Major General after getting agreement to the treaty.