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The Creek War of 1813-1814
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The Creek War of 1813-1814
On July 27, 1813, white frontier militia intervened in a Creek civil war
by attacking a Native American supply party at the Battle of Burnt
Corn Creek, Alabama. The unprovoked attack resulted in an
explosion of violence along the Southern frontier that is remembered
today as the Creek War of 1813-1814.
The warriors attacked at Burnt Corn Creek were "Red Sticks,"
members of a nativistic religious movement that exploded among
the Creeks of Central Alabama during the winter of 1812-1813.
Inspired by the teachings of the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa
("Open Door"), the movement encouraged a return to traditional
ways, the rejection of white influences and personal responsibility.
Whites feared the movement because they believed its leaders,
Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh, were using it to organize
all of the Indian nations into a grand alliance to oppose the United
States.
The growth of the movement in Alabama, spearheaded by the Creek
Prophet Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo), created a split in the Creek
Nation that resulted in open civil war between the Red Sticks and
their counterparts, the "white" party influenced by U.S. Indian Agent
Benjamin Hawkins. Following Burnt Corn Creek, the war exploded
into open fighting between the Red Sticks and frontier whites that
continued even after Andrew Jackson destroyed the military power of
the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama on March
27, 1814.
The defeat of the Red Sticks resulted in the loss of hundreds of
thousands of acres of Native American land in Alabama and
Georgia and so weakened the nation that it could not successfully
content with future pressures exerted by expansion-minded white
settlers. It was, in many ways, the preliminary act of the Trail of Tears.
To begin your exploration of the Creek War of 1813-1814, please
follow the links below:
by attacking a Native American supply party at the Battle of Burnt
Corn Creek, Alabama. The unprovoked attack resulted in an
explosion of violence along the Southern frontier that is remembered
today as the Creek War of 1813-1814.
The warriors attacked at Burnt Corn Creek were "Red Sticks,"
members of a nativistic religious movement that exploded among
the Creeks of Central Alabama during the winter of 1812-1813.
Inspired by the teachings of the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa
("Open Door"), the movement encouraged a return to traditional
ways, the rejection of white influences and personal responsibility.
Whites feared the movement because they believed its leaders,
Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh, were using it to organize
all of the Indian nations into a grand alliance to oppose the United
States.
The growth of the movement in Alabama, spearheaded by the Creek
Prophet Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo), created a split in the Creek
Nation that resulted in open civil war between the Red Sticks and
their counterparts, the "white" party influenced by U.S. Indian Agent
Benjamin Hawkins. Following Burnt Corn Creek, the war exploded
into open fighting between the Red Sticks and frontier whites that
continued even after Andrew Jackson destroyed the military power of
the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama on March
27, 1814.
The defeat of the Red Sticks resulted in the loss of hundreds of
thousands of acres of Native American land in Alabama and
Georgia and so weakened the nation that it could not successfully
content with future pressures exerted by expansion-minded white
settlers. It was, in many ways, the preliminary act of the Trail of Tears.
To begin your exploration of the Creek War of 1813-1814, please
follow the links below:
| Military Leaders: Menawa and Andrew Jackson The Red Stick war chief Menawa (left) and Major General Andrew Jackson (right), both pictured here later in life, fought each other at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama on March 27, 1814. |
| Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Alabama preserves the scene of the climactic battle of the Creek War of 1813-1814. Fought on March 27, 1814, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend forever broke the power of the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia. |
| Fort Mims, Alabama The Red Stick attack on the crude stockade of Fort Mims in Baldwin County, Alabama, was a total victory for the Creek forces of William Weatherford. More than 250 men, women and children died when Red Stick warriors breached the defenses of the fort. |