Fort Mims, Alabama
The bloody attack on Fort
Mims prompted the attack on
the Creek Nation by three U.S.
armies.
Holy Ground Battlefield
The Red Stick town of Holy
Ground was the seat of the
Prophet Josiah Francis and
the scene of an important
battle.
The Creek War of 1813-1814 in Alabama, Georgia & Florida
The Creek War of 1813-1814 in AL, GA & FL
Generals of the Creek War
The Red Stick leader Menawa (left)  and Major
General Andrew Jackson (right), both pictured here
later in life, fought each other at the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend, Alabama.
Historic Sites of the Creek War
On July 27, 1813, the Mississippi Territorial
Militia intervened in a civil war that had been
raging within the Creek Nation in Alabama
and Georgia. The militia's attack on a Creek
supply train at Burnt Corn Creek in Alabama
brought the United States into a bloody
conflict that is remembered today as the
Creek War of 1813-1814.

The civil war among the Creeks started after
a new religion exploded among certain
towns the nation. The famed Shawnee
leader Tecumseh had visited the Creeks in
1811 to solicit their participation in an
alliance of tribe. United, he said, the
American Indian tribes could defend their
lands against the westward expansion of the
United States.

Tecumseh at that time was a secondary
figure in the movement. Its real leader in
1811 was still his brother, the Shawnee
Prophet Tenskwatawa ("Open Door").

The Shawnee's words were not immediately
taken to heart by the Creeks, but during the
winter of 1812-1814 the new religion began
to catch fire in the nation. Under the
leadership of the Creek Prophet, Josiah
Francis, thousands became followers of
Tenskwatawa's teachings.

The new religion encouraged Native
American peoples to return to their traditional
lifestyles and disavow anything associated
with the whites. Francis and his  followers,
called Red Sticks because of the red war
clubs they displayed in their villages, quickly
found themselves at odds with the Big
Warrior and other traditional leaders of the
Creek Nation. The latter individuals favored
the "civilization" program promoted by U.S.
Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins.

A civil war erupted among the Creeks after
the Big Warrior and other traditional chiefs
ordered the executions of some of the Red
Sticks. Francis and his men retaliated and
soon thousands of Creek warriors battled
each other for control of the nation.

Desperately needing ammunition and other
supplies, a party of Red Sticks led by Peter
McQueen went to Pensacola in Florida to
obtain what they could from the Spanish. As
they were on their way back into the nation,
they were attacked by Mississippi Territorial
Militia forces at Burnt Corn Creek near
present-day Brewton, Alabama.

The Red Sticks won the Battle of Burnt Corn
Creek, but were infuriated by what they
considered an unprovoked attack.

They retaliated with an attack of their own
against Fort Mims, a frontier stockade in
South Alabama. Hundreds of men, women
and children died in the fall of Fort Mims and
outraged citizens across the South blamed
the Creeks for starting a war against the
whites.

Three American armies took the field against
the Red Sticks and severe fighting followed.
The Tennessee army of Andrew Jackson
battled the Red Sticks at Tallushatchee and
Talladega in the Alabama mountains. The
Georgia army attacked Autossee (Atosi) and
built Fort Mitchell in eastern Alabama. The
army from the Mississippi Territory, drove up
the Alabama River and destroyed Holy
Ground, the primary town of the Prophet
Francis.
The climactic Battle of Horseshoe Bend took
place on the Tallapoosa River on March 27,
1814. Led by the war chief Menawa, the main
fighting force of the Red Sticks was totally
destroyed by the much larger army of Andrew
Jackson. More than 800 warriors were killed
and the military power of the Creek Nation
was broken.

Jackson's victory at Horseshoe Bend began
his march to the White House but assured
the Creeks would soon start their long walk
on the Trail of Tears.

The prophet and several thousand of his
surviving followers fled to Spanish Florida
where they soon allied with the British who
were then engaged in the War of 1812
against the Americans.

The rest of the nation was forced to sign the
Treaty of Fort Jackson, which required them
to surrender hundreds of thousands of acres
of land to the United States as reparations for
the cost of the war. The area included large
parts of the modern states of Alabama and
Georgia.

To learn more about historic sites dating
from the Creek War of 1813-1814, please
follow the links below:
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
The 1814 battle on the
Tallapoosa River was the
climactic engagement of the
Creek War of 1813-1814.
Fort Jackson, Alabama
The Creek War of 1813-1814
ended here with the signing of
the Treaty of Fort Jackson,
which opened vast areas of
Alabama and Georgia to white
settlement.
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Copyright 2012 & 2014 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.

Last Update: March 22, 2014
Historic Sites in Alabama
Fort Mitchell, Alabama
A vital base for operations
against the Red Sticks, Fort
Mitchell has been rebuilt in
Russell County, Alabama.
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