With the arrival of eight hundred and fifty newly arrived Tennessee volunteers at Fort Strother who had agreed to serve for sixty days, General Jackson’s army was sufficiently increased in numbers for him to consider a battle.
About the same time General Jackson was
informed by his scouts that a large force of Creeks had congregated
in a bend of the Tallapoosa River near the mouth of Emuckfau Creek,
and that they were planning an attack on Fort Armstrong on the
Coosahatchie which was in present Cherokee County, and very near the
Georgia line. This fort was garrisoned by some two hundred friendly
Creeks and Cherokees, and eighteen or twenty white men from
Mississippi.
General Jackson resolved to strike an
immediate blow, not only to keep his men employed, but also to
demoralize the Red Sticks. Coupled with his own determination and
advice from General Pinckney and General Floyd, his troops set out to
attack the Indians gathering on the Tallapoosa.
On January 15th about eight hundred
mounted troops, crossed the Coosa River at Fish Dam Ford and marched
to a good grazing ground on Wehogee Creek, four miles distant from
Fort Strother, and there they camped.
The main force joined them the
following day. which consisted of an artillery company, with one
six-pounder, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Armstrong, a company of
infantry, two companies of spies, commanded by Captain John Gordon
and Captain William Russell, and a company of volunteer officers
commanded by General Coffee. A small force only had been left at Fort
Strother.
On January 17 they marched toward
Talladega Fort, and reached it the next day. Here they were
reinforced by two or three hundred friendly Native Americans,
including sixty-five Cherokees, the remainder Creeks. They received
word that General Floyd was about to begin a movement, and also a
letter from Colonel William Snodgrass, in which he stated that Fort
Armstrong was about to be attacked. General Jackson immediately
planned an advance. His men prepared three days’ rations, and were
otherwise put in marching order.
The movement against Emuckfau was begun
on January 19th . The army camped on the next night at Enitachopco,
at which a battle was later fought on January 24. On the night of the
21st , Jackson’s troops had reached Emuckfau Creek. Disposing his
men in a hollow square, pickets were placed, spies were sent out, and
his camp fires built around but far beyond the camp. About 11 o’clock
p. m. the spies reported that the Red Sticks were encamped three
miles away, engaged in dancing, and with demonstrations, indicating
that they knew General Jackson’s presence. The men rested quietly on
their arms throughout the night, awaiting the attack they knew was
imminent.
At daybreak on January 22nd , the alarm
guns of the sentinels, followed by the yells of the Red Sticks,
announced the beginning of the expected battle. The Creeks made a
furious assault on Jackson’s left flank, by which it was met
with great firmness. The battle continued for about a half an hour.
With the coming of dawn, the exact
disposition of the Red Sticks was ascertained. General Jackson
reinforced his left wing, and the whole line, under General Coffee,
charged upon the Red Sticks. The friendly Native Americans joined in
the chase and the Creeks were driven with great loss for about two
miles.
The chase over,
General Coffee was detached with four hundred men and the friendly
Native Americans to burn the Creek encampment. They found it
impracticable to do this without the aid of artillery since it was
well-fortified so his party returned to camp.
About half an hour afterward, the
battle was renewed by the Creeks attacking General Jackson’s right
flank in an attempt to draw the attention of the white troops and
thus expose the left wing. This was met by General Coffee with two
hundred men, but owing to some mistake in orders, only his old
company of around fifty mounted volunteer officers followed him. With
this small force he advanced upon the superior numbers of the enemy
who were posted on a ridge. General Coffee dismounted his men,
charged the lines, and drove them into a reed brake on the margin of
the creek.
The main force of Native Americans
which had been carefully concealed on the left, now made a sudden and
violent assault upon the left wing, which they believed to have been
weakened and demoralized by the first engagement. The charge was met
with great firmness, and the Native Americans were repulsed.
The battle then became general along
the whole line. The Red Sticks fought in the old way, every man
adopting his own tactics, shooting from behind trees, logs, or from
whatever shelter afforded the best protection, falling flat on the
ground to reload, then rising to deliver the fire. General Coffee
ordered his men to dismount and charge them, and they were driven
back to the bank of a stream. The battle continued for some time. The
friendly Native Americans had earlier in the engagement been ordered
to the support of General Coffee, but when the attack became fiercest
on the left wing, they joined with the fight in that quarter.
General Coffee had been fighting for an
hour against a greatly superior force, so General Jackson dispatched
Jim Fife, the principal Creek chief in charge of the friendly
warriors, to his relief. General Coffee and the Creek chief charged
in concert, and the enemy broke, losing forty-five men in the charge
and pursuit of about three miles. General Coffee was shot and
severely wounded in the attack. Major Donelson and three others were
killed. The battle closed about the middle of the afternoon.
The battle over, the dead were
collected and buried, the wounded given attention, and a temporary
fortification thrown up about the camp. The main objects of the
expedition had been accomplished. The Indians had been diverted from
any possible attempt to re-enforce those against whom General Floyd
advanced on the Tallapoosa, and Fort Armstrong was relieved from
possible attack. In front of General Coffee’s lines the bodies of
forty-five warriors were found. A like proportion were killed in
other parts of the battle.
Although a victor at Emuckfau, General
Jackson did not feel that he could hold the ground taken with his
limited force, and without supplies nearer than Talladega which was
forty miles away. His soldiers had only one day’s rations, and his
Native American troops none. For two days and two nights his horses
had been without food, other than occasional grazing. He therefore
resolved to fall back to Talladega.
Litters were made from the skins of slain horses, on which the sick and wounded were carried. At 10 o’clock on the day following the battle, he began his return march, the troops in regular order, with sick and wounded in the center. That night they reached the village of Enitaochopco (also known as Anatichapko), where they camped.
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a collection of lost and forgotten stories that reveals why and how
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and heroism of participants from both sides.
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Tecumseh
Causes Earthquake
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Settlers Abandon Farms
Survivor
Stories From Fort Mims Massacre
Hillabee
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Red
Eagle After The War
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