After Fort Mims was destroyed, the Red Sticks were in a high state of excitement which spread over the land. They burned homes, destroyed crops, and murdered every white man with whom they came in contact. Panic seized the whole population of the Mississippi Territory. Settlers abandoned their homesteads and fled to the confines of the forts. Three hundred and ninety people were housed at Fort Huron, at Fort Rankin were five hundred and thirty, and at Fort St. Stephens were five hundred settlers. Two forts at Mount Vernon were packed with refugees. Urgent requests for help were sent to the Governors of Louisiana, of Georgia, and of Tennessee.
The
Creeks were divided into two parties after Fort Mims, the friendly
Native Americans and the Red Sticks, but the war party prevailed
while the other looked to the United States for protection. There was
great anxiety that the Chickasaws and Choctaws would be drawn into
the conflict as allies.
In
southern part of what would become Alabama, settlers had quickly
armed themselves. A small group of twenty-five rural pioneer Alabama
militia were scouting the sparsely settled area of Wood’s Bluff and
Bashi Creek in the fall of 1813 when they were ambushed by Red
Sticks. They were led by Colonel William McGrew who had taken part in
the Battle of Burnt Corn, to a stream called Bashi Creek which flowed
into the Tombigbee River a mile or two north of Wood’s Bluff when
they suddenly found themselves among concealed Creek warriors.
A
turkey tail was raised above a log by one of the concealed Creek
which was the signal for attack and the Native Americans began
firing. Colonel McGrew was killed along with Private Edmund Miles,
Jesse Griffin, and Captain William Bradbury. David Griffin (twin of
Jesse Griffin) was reported missing and presumed dead; his body was
never found. Days later, a military column passed by and buried the
deceased pioneer militia members with military honors.
The few troops under Claiborne’s command, together with the militia of the country, were barely sufficient to hold the forts, and even this inadequate force was liable at any time to be reduced by the withdrawal of the soldiers to assist in repelling an attack of the British whose fleet now constantly threatened the coast; and if the forces of the Choctaws and Chickasaws should be added to Red Eagle’s strength, the plight of the whites would indeed be profound.
Pushmataha tombstone in Congressional Cemetery, Washington D. C. (Wikipedia)
About
this time a Choctaw chief of influence with his people, by name
Pushmatahaw, arrived at St. Stephen’s, and declared that he could
induce a considerable number of the Choctaw warriors to enlist in the
American service if permission was given to recruit among them.
Eagerly
grasping at this hope, Colonel George S. Gaines went with the chief
to Mobile to secure the desired authority from General Flournoy, who
was now in command of the southwestern department.
That
officer, for some reason which is not apparent, declined to accept
the services of the Choctaws and Colonel Gaines and his companion
returned with heavy hearts to St. Stephen’s with the sad news.
However, before Pushmatahaw had taken his departure, a courier from
General Flournoy arrived with the order for Colonel Gaines to accept
the friendly chief’s offer of assistance and to accompany him to the
Choctaw Nation to enlist the men.
With
a single white companion, Colonel Gaines went with Pushmatahaw to the
nation where, gathering the Choctaws into a council, the chief made
them a speech, saying that Tecumseh, who had suggested this war, was
a bad man. He added:
“He
came through our country, but did not turn our heads. He went among
the Muscogees, and got many of them to join him. You know the Tensaw
people. They were our friends. They played ball with us. They
sheltered and fed us when we went to Pensacola. Where are they now?
Their bodies are rotting at Sam Mims’s place. The people at St.
Stephen’s are also our friends. The Muscogees intend to kill them
too. They want soldiers to defend them. You can all do as you please.
You are free men. I dictate to none of you; but I shall join the St.
Stephen’s people. If you have a mind to follow me, I will lead you to
glory and to victory.”
Pushmatahaw
finished this speech with his drawn sword in his hand. When he
paused, one of the silent warriors stood up and, striking his breast
with his open palm, after the manner of the Choctaws on specially
solemn occasions, said, ” I am a man; I will follow you.”
Whereupon his fellows imitated his example, and thus a considerable
force of men, who might have been added to Weatherford’s strength but
for the friendliness of Pushmatahaw, became active friends of the
whites.
During
this time before railroads and steamboats, it took more than a month
for the swiftest messenger from Alabama to reach New York. In this
perilous situation of affairs it was useless for General Claiborne,
or his superior officer, General Flournoy, to appeal to the
government at Washington for aid. Even if the troops of the
Government had not been fully occupied already in other parts of the
country, the distance was so great that any assistance which the
general government might be able to render must of necessity come too
late to be of any avail. It would take a month for the messenger
asking for help to reach Washington, another month for a force to be
gathered, and perhaps two months more for it to reach the exposed
point. Three or four months at least, and probably a greater time,
must pass before help could come from that quarter, and it might as
well have taken a hundred years so far as all practical purposes were
concerned.
Therefore,
the only sure resource was an appeal to the people of the surrounding
states. Urgent requests for help were sent to the Governors in South
Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, carrying dispatches which simply
set forth the facts and the danger. The response was quick and
generous. Georgians and South Carolinians began at once to organize
forces, which soon afterward invaded the Creek country. But the most
efficient aid was to come from Tennessee, a state which had already
shown itself quick to answer to every demand made upon it.
Tennessee
had furnished its full quotas of men to the national army; and in
less than a year it had sent a full division of volunteers under
Jackson to reinforce the army at New Orleans. This division had been
ordered to disband while at Natchez, when they were without money or
provisions with which to reach their homes, but Jackson had
resolutely disobeyed the order, and instead of disbanding his
division had marched it back to Tennessee in a body.
Meanwhile, the Red Sticks war party had gathered a formidable body in early October and were said to have been directing their course towards the frontiers of Tennessee.
is
a collection of lost and forgotten stories that reveals why and how
the confrontation between the Native American population and settlers
developed into the Creek-Indian War as well as stories of the bravery
and heroism of participants from both sides.
