The Day Gen. Andrew Jackson Heads For the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, He Orders Provision For His Indian Allies

The Creek War of 1813-14 began as a civil war, largely centered among the Upper Creeks, whose towns were located on the Coosa, Tallapoosa, and upper reaches of the Alabama rivers. The struggle pitted a faction of those Creeks known as Red Sticks against other elements in their towns and the Lower Creeks, who supported the National Council, a relatively new body that had developed under the auspices of U.S. federal Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins. The war broke out against the backdrop of the American-British War of 1812.  The British provided supplies to the Red Sticks, and the Americans, fearful that southeastern Indians would create an effective alliance with the British, quickly joined the war against the Red Sticks.

The first clashes between the Red Sticks and United States forces occurred on July 21, 1813, when a group of U.S. territorial militia intercepted a party of Red Sticks returning from Spanish Florida, where they had acquired arms from the Spanish governor at Pensacola. The Red Sticks defeated the Americans at this, the Battle of Burnt Corn, which broadened the Creek civil war to include American forces.

On August 30, the Red Sticks struck at mixed-blood Creeks who had taken refuge at Fort Mims. The warriors attacked the fort, and killed a total of 400 to 500 people, including women and children and numerous white settlers. The Red Sticks subsequently attacked other forts in the area. Panic spread among settlers throughout the Southeastern frontier, and they demanded US government intervention. But U.S. forces were busy fighting the British and Northern Indian tribes, so the southeastern states called up militias to deal with the threat.

The Tennessee legislature authorized Governor Blount to raise militia, and Blount responded by calling out a force of 2,500 West Tennessee men under Andrew Jackson to “repel an approaching invasion … and to afford aid and relief to …Mississippi Territory.” Mississippi Territory then included Alabama. Jackson’s objective was to attack the Red Sticks, and on November 3, he secured the first American victory in the war when his cavalry routed Creeks at the town of Tullusahatchee, killing 200 Red Stick warriors. However, Jackson was not able to accomplish anything more at that time. As cold weather set in, supply problems, expiration of enlistments, desertions, poor communications, and quarrels between Jackson and his fellow Tennessee general John Cocke, plagued the Tennessee forces. By the end of 1813, Jackson was at Fort Strother on the Coosa River in Alabama, and down to a single regiment whose enlistments were due to expire in mid January.

Governor Blount ordered a second draft of Tennessee militia, and their arrival, coupled with the arrival of the 39th United States Infantry on February 6, 1814, provided Jackson a disciplined core for his force, which ultimately grew to about 5,000 men. Jackson spent the next month building roads and training his force.

In mid-March 1814, Jackson embarked on an ambitious campaign against the single largest remaining Red Stick settlement: Tohopeka at the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River. He first moved south along the Coosa, about half the distance to the Creek position, and established a new outpost at Fort Williams. This was to be a supply depot in preparation for the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. On March 24, leaving a garrison there, Jackson headed for Horseshoe Bend with a force of about 3,000 effectives, augmented by 600 Cherokee and Lower Creek allies. John McIntosh was a Cherokee chief whose tribe was allied with the Americans and who participated in the battle.

Document signed, Fort Williams, Ala., March 24, 1814, ordering supplies for his imminent move against the Creeks. “Provision return for 75 men under the command of Capt. John McIntosh for eight days commencing on 24th March & ending on the 1st of April…The Contractor will issue five hundred & ninety complete rations agreeable to the above return.” Jackson has signed below with rank of Major General.

Three days later, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, Jackson’s army routed the Red Sticks, killing nearly all of the estimated 800 warriors who had gathered behind an impressive barricade. It was a decisive victory for Jackson. From Horseshoe Bend, Jackson proceeded along the Tallapoosa River, burning towns and improvements in his path. This effectively ended the Red Stick resistance.