The Creek War
Submitted By: Bill Mitchell
At the dawn of the 1800's the young American nation was rapidly expanding westward. Alarmed by the ever-growing number of white settlers pushing their way into Indian lands, the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh dreamed of uniting the various Indian tribes into a single political unit, with the strength to push back the tide of white settlers. He travelled up and down the frontier seeking to draw the Indian nations to his cause.
When war broke out between the Americans and the British in 1812, Tecumseh saw
his chance. With his encouragement, the Red Sticks band of Creek Indians rose up
against American settlers. On August 20, 1813, Creek
warriors attacked and destroyed
the settlement of Fort Mims, near Mobile, killing some 250 men, women and children.
The outraged Americans responded by sending Andrew Jackson into Alabama to make
war on the Creeks. He entered Alabama from western Tennessee, marching southeastward.
Meanwhile, in eastern Tennessee, General John Cocke raised an army of volunteers, and marched southward to join the fight. The march took Cocke and his men through the heart of Chattooga County (then Cherokee territory), as they followed the Chattooga River Valley into Alabama. The Cherokee, who had allied themselves with the Americans, joined the march to make war on their traditional enemies, the Creeks. This allied army of Tennesseans and Cherokees would have entered Alabama somewhere west of present-day Chattoogaville.
In camp in northern Alabama, Captain Jacob Hartzell witnessed the execution of
a Creek Indian captured by the Cherokees:
"[T]hey took him to the Indian fire. I was present...one of the Cherokee Indians took his knife out and cut [the prisoner's hair]...off close to his head. Immediately they took him towards the guard...One of the Indians struck his tomahawk into his head, no sooner then that was five or six more in his head. He fell to the ground. One of the Indians stepped up and scalped him and took his scalp in his hand and jumped and hollered 'aleway, aleway' and seemed to rejoice much. One of the others stripped him; another put a piece of rope around his neck and drawed him around the neck to the other two. Several of them stuck their knives in him."Source.
The war was brutal, marked by atrocities committed on both sides. The main body of Creek warriors was ultimately defeated by Andrew Jackson in the decisive battle of Horseshoe Bend, along the Tallapoosa River southeast of Talladega. More here.
*Disclaimer:
(Note: The word "Americans" in the above text is used as a shorthand
descriptor for citizens of the United States of America. Its use is not meant to
imply that the Creeks and the Cherokees were not themselves "Americans.")
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This page was last updated on -03/23/2013