The Battle of Horseshoe Bend

 by Denise Weimer

Today we take a gander at the decisive battle of the Creek War or Red Stick War, which waged from 1813-14 on the Southeastern frontier as part of the War of 1812 … the setting for my latest historical romance, Bent Tree Bride. My posts have followed the movements of allied Tennessee militia and the Cherokee Regiment under General Andrew Jackson into the hostile Creek Territory of modern-day Alabama, where they fought against the Red Stick Creeks allied to the British. A series of campaigns and battles in fall of 1813 wound down to a cold and hungry winter for those soldiers whose enlistments continued. Most of the Americans lodged at Fort Strother that winter, while the Cherokees were based at Fort Armstrong. A contingent also guarded Principal Chief Path Killer at the Cherokee village of Turkey Town.

In mid-January, impatient for action, Jackson took fresh recruits against the enemy at Emuckfau, where he found the Red Sticks more difficult to vanquish than expected. On his way back north, he was attacked again while taking his cannon across Enitachopco Creek.

By March, Fort Strother swelled with new recruits, and Jackson was ready to land the final blow on the last major Red Stick village of Tohopeka in a teardrop peninsula of the Tallapoosa River. He sent his Cherokee Regiment ahead to scout and burn deserted Creek villages and his engineers to widen narrow trails for cannon and supply wagons.

On Sunday, March 27, 1814, Colonel Gideon Morgan’s five hundred Cherokees and Major William McInstosh’s one hundred National (friendly) Creeks were ordered to come up from behind the town to prevent enemy escape. Hundreds of Red Stick warriors gathered behind a five-to-eight-foot wall of logs and rock-hard mud. Jackson fired his three- and six-pound artillery at the barricade for two hours to no effect.

Across the river, the Cherokees grew impatient. Several warriors swam the Tallapoosa to commandeer canoes on the opposite bank, ferrying their comrades across under fire. They took captives and burned huts at the rear of the village, the smoke alerting Jackson of the wisdom of an infantry assault on the wall. Young Ensign Sam Houston was among the first to heed his mortally wounded commander’s summons to scale the wall, taking an arrow in his thigh. Dozens fell dead every minute as the cannons were dragged to the barricade and fired on retreating Red Sticks, and the Cherokees corralled the enemy from the rear.

Re-enactors at Horseshoe Bend

By late afternoon, the Red Sticks abandoned the fight but were killed while trying to flee across the river. Fighting continued until darkness fell. The next day, the armies returned north, though Jackson took a band of men along the Coosa to round up remaining prisoners. By April, Creek Chief Red Eagle walked into Jackson’s camp and turned himself in. Months later, Jackon negotiated peace with the Creeks and took 20 million acres of their land, sending much of the tribe west. Their bid to keep their land through alliance with the British had failed. Despite their invaluable service to the American troops, within two decades, the Cherokees’ hopes for peaceful coexistence with white settlers would also be crushed.

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for the historical imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of almost a dozen published novels and a number of novellas. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses! 

Bent Tree Bride: https://www.amazon.com/Bent-Tree-Bride-Denise-Weimer-ebook/dp/B08Q8K5YD6/

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The Formation of the Cherokee Regiment, Red Stick War

by Denise Weimer

As the release date for my Eastern frontier historical romance, Bent Tree Bride, approaches, I’ve shared the history behind the Red Stick War (https://colonialquills.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-red-stick-war-whats-that.html) and the summer of 1813 battles at Burnt Corn Creek and Fort Mims (https://colonialquills.blogspot.com/search?q=burnt+corn+creek) to lay out events framing this little-known part of the War of 1812. We saw that a portion of the Creek Indians of modern-day Alabama, called Red Sticks, allied to the British in an attempt to keep their lands, while the Cherokees joined American forces under General Andrew Jackson with the same goal in mind. When the Red Stick Creeks began attacking their National Creek brethren, many National Creeks swarmed into Cherokee villages for refuge and called on the Cherokees for military defense. So did the Tennessee militia, later joined by Georgia and Mississippi militia.

On September 26, 1813, Cherokee Chief Charles Hicks, the real-life father of my fictional hero, Sam Hicks, relayed to the Cherokee Council the formal call to war by U.S. Indian Agent Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, under Brigadier General James White of Knoxville. Cherokee Headman John Walker, whose son was married to the daughter of Meigs, replied that the Cherokees would supply five to seven hundred men.

By the way, the Walker-Meigs marriage of a Cherokee man to a white woman was very unique, and when my hero falls in love with his colonel’s daughter, he uses it to argue a precedent to his father in Bent Tree Bride. During the time, white men often took Cherokee wives, but the reverse was rare.

The volunteers were to serve a three-month stint in Colonel Gideon Morgan’s Cherokee Regiment of seven companies. Morgan had married a Cherokee woman and settled on their land, so he made a trusted leader. He serves as inspiration for Colonel Moore, my heroine’s father. Many of the Cherokee enlistees were past or present members of the Cherokee Lighthorse Brigade, a mounted patrol unit established by Cherokee Chief The Ridge in 1808. These veterans enlisted as men of rank or earned promotion.

Thirty-nine-year-old Cherokee Captain David McNair led a special spy or scout unit which my hero belongs to, made up of seventeen mounted volunteers from different companies. They were to wear white plumes or deer tails in their hair to identify themselves as American allies.

Many Tennessee militiamen mistrusted their Cherokee counterparts due to the

fact that they’d been enemies as recently as the late-1700s. The militia made their way into Creek Territory, to the newly and roughly constructed, hundred-yard-square Fort Strother at the junction of the Coosa River and Canoe Creek. Across the shoals of the river was a small, friendly Creek village known as Oti Palin, Ten Islands. The fort included an eight-hut hospital complex, twenty-five tents for soldiers, and space for a hundred hogs. At Fort Strother and Turkey Town, much of the action of Bent Tree Bride takes place.

On October 29, 1813, a large group of Cherokees mustered into service at the Cherokee Agency, where Meigs addressed them, saying, “We are a band of brothers in this war acting in a common cause.” He cautioned them against “acts of barbarity” and promised that honor would come to those who served if they rejected traditional values that stressed individual action for status.

From the fort at Hiwassee, they navigated the mountains of Northern Alabama by way of the Cherokee village of Turkey Town. There they learned the Red Sticks had gathered in a nearby village. The Cherokees set out on their own to confront them, finding the victims of General Coffee’s Tennessee militia at Tallushatchee … where my conflicted Cherokee lieutenant first tests himself in action.

My May post will relate what actually happened at Tallushatchee and Talladega.

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for the historical imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of a dozen published novels and a number of novellas. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses!

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Burnt Corn Creek and Fort Mims

by Denise Weimer

AL, War of 1812

In last month’s post, "The Red Stick War? What’s That?" (https://colonialquills.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-red-stick-war-whats-that.html), I explored a little-known part of the War of 1812. The Southern frontier, where the Red Stick Creeks allied to the British engaged the American and Cherokee forces, provides an intriguing setting for some of my historical novels. This month, I’d like to delve a little deeper into the conflict as we follow the progression of events in my April novel, Bent Tree Bride.

In the summer of 1813, the Red Stick Creeks began attacking National Creeks (those not wanting to go to war with the United States), burning homes and destroying cornfields and livestock. The National Creeks asked the Cherokees for aid, and many relocated to the Cherokee towns of Coweta, Cusseta, and Turkey Town. Turkey Town was located about a mile from present-day Centre, Alabama, on the west side of the Coosa River. Cherokee Principal Chief Path Killer operated a ferry on the trail that follows close to the present road from Rome to Cave Springs, Georgia.

On July 27, 1813, at Burnt Corn Creek, Mississippi Territorial Volunteers under Major Daniel Beasley and Captain Dixon Bailey from Fort Mims near present-day Mobile ambushed a Red Stick supply caravan bringing flour, corn, and ammunition from the Spanish in Pensacola, Florida. The Red Sticks were chased into the swamp but regrouped and drove the Americans away from looting the pack train.

U.S. Indian Agent Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs Sr. wrote, “There is no doubt the insurgent Creeks are acting in concert with the English throu the northern Indians.” He suggested two battalions of Cherokee soldiers be raised under a white major to patrol the territory.

Fort Mims, attack #26

Retaliation for Burnt Corn Creek came on August 30th by order of William Weatherford/Chief Red Eagle. As some 700 Red Stick warriors approached, around 400 white settlers and National Creeks took refuge at Fort Mims, a hastily erected stockade on the plantation of Samuel Mims, a wealthy resident of the mixed white and Creek Tensaw District of Mississippi Territory. Major Beasley had ignored warnings of danger given by a slave and a mounted scout. With a tomahawk to the head, he died while attempting to shut the fort’s gate. The Red Sticks flooded inside, killing half of the surprised, hundred-man garrison in the first few minutes. Captain Dixon Bailey, a Creek, and his American and Creek militia repelled the attack for four hours (including a breath-baiting hour's lull during which the Red Sticks agreed to resume the attack) while the civilians huddled inside the one-acre stockade. Forcing the settlers out with burning arrows, the Red Stick warriors killed 250 and took at least 100 captive, mainly slaves. The Red Sticks razed the surrounding farms after the battle. The massacre of civilians led to a rallying cry for Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia militia of “Remember Fort Mims.”

Next month’s post will look at the formation of the Cherokee Regiment in the fall of 1813 and follow the allied forces into Creek Territory, the starting point for Bent Tree Bride.

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for the historical imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of almost a dozen published novels and a number of novellas. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses! 

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The Red Stick War? What's that?

 Denise Weimer here, delighted to be back with you after a hiatus during which I was researching and writing some contemporary novels. But good news! My best writing ever will hit the shelves in April in the form of Bent Tree Bride, a Federal-era frontier romance set in the Southeastern states. Allow me to share some of the fascinating and little-known history behind it.

Gen. Jackson as depicted in Harper's

When I tell people that Bent Tree Bride is the story of a mixed-blood Cherokee lieutenant who falls for his colonel’s daughter while fighting in the Cherokee Regiment during the Red Stick War portion of the War of 1812, most folks draw a complete blank, much less have any idea that Cherokee warriors turned the tide for General Andrew Jackson against the Red Stick Creek warriors at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. What was the Red Stick War, you may be asking.

In the early 1800s, the United States became caught up in the war between Britain and France. Our fledgling country resented British trade restrictions and naval impressments and feared Native Americans in the Northwest Territory who had decided they needed British support to prevent further American settlement. In 1811, Shawnee war chief Tecumseh traveled into Creek Indian Territory (primarily modern-day Alabama) to urge the Creeks to unite against the Americans. It’s said someone threatened him not to repeat that speech in Cherokee Territory (where many progressive chiefs embraced white ways), or they’d kill him. When the Red Stick Creeks (those who sided with Tecumseh and the British—their naming is another story) began attacking National Creeks (those who did not want war), the National Creeks called to the Cherokees for aid.

In July 1813, militia from Fort Mims, near Mobile, ambushed a Red Stick supply caravan, leading to a skirmish at Burnt Corn Creek. Reprisal occurred at Fort Mims, where most of the civilians and soldiers were killed except for the slaves.

The governors of Tennessee and Georgia asked for Cherokee enlistments in the militia. When Cherokee Chief The Ridge failed to sway a neutral Cherokee Council, he rounded up volunteers himself. But then a Cherokee woman was killed by Red Sticks, drawing first blood in a conflict, and Principal Chief Pathkiller gave his blessing for his warriors to fight alongside the Americans. They agreed to supply five to seven hundred men for 39-year-old Colonel Gideon Morgan’s Cherokee Regiment. Though white, Morgan had a Cherokee wife and lived within Cherokee Territory. In late November 1813, they repair to Fort Strother on the Coosa River, southwest of present-day Gadsden. From this rough-and-tumble, hundred-yard-square enclosure, the adventure of Bent Tree Bride begins. 

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for the historical imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of almost a dozen published novels and a number of novellas. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses!

Connect with Denise here:

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For more information, Toward the Setting Sun by Brian Hicks and Forging a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War: From Creation to Betrayal by Susan M. Abram

 

Far from Home. American Prisoners of War during the War of 1812.

Dartmoor Prison/ Wikipedia

It should come to no one’s surprise that there is an endless amount of information to learn in history, even if you focus on a few decades. While I’ve done quite a bit of research into the era of the War of 1812, it was only recently that my browsing took me (figuratively) to HM Prison Dartmoor.

Devon County, England / Wikipedia

I was quite surprised that American prisoners-of-war were sent that far away.

His/Her Majesty’s Prison at Dartmoor was built in an out-of-the-way location high on a moor in Devon county when prison ships used during the Napoleonic war couldn’t hold any more. Built from 1806 to 1809, by 1815 Dartmoor held almost 6000 prisoners, both French and American.

Wikipedia

Some of the prisoners were Americans who’d been impressed into British naval service during the war with France, and a fair number of them were free blacks who’d crewed Privateers.

Dartmoor seemed to work as its own town. Even the prisoners had their own form of government, and were allowed to create a market, casino and multiple churches. Life was hardly pleasant as floggings were commonly handed out for the least of acts. Surviving meant you were healthy enough to handle pneumonia, smallpox, and frequent food poisoning. For those that did survive, there was boxing and music lessons, or you might join a theater production. 

HMS Victory / Wikipedia

Trouble boiled over after the Treaty of Ghent was announced in December 1814. Much like the famous Battle of New Orleans that occurred after this date, the American prisoners’ release was dependent on ratification of the treaty and the time it took for news to travel. By April of 1815, American prisoners revolted and were fired upon. Conditions were so bad inside the jail that it was closed after all French and American surviving prisoners were gone. 

Newspaper archives, Marblehead, MA

One thing that didn’t surprise me was the fact many black prisoners chose any option other than taking a ship back to any seaport in the southern states.

Dartmoor in the 21st Century /Wikipedia

Dartmoor reopened in 1850 as a jail/gaol for British criminals and closed again in 1917 when it was used to house conscientious objectors. By 1920 it returned into service as a jail in 1920 and was notorious for housing the worst of Britain’s offenders. Now it’s both a historic site and, in parts that have been renovated, used as a “category C” facility for non-violent offenders, and is home to a museum with exhibits focusing on its use during those early 19^th Century decades.

I’m not sure I can imagine the trials of being taken prisoner, shipped to England and then held in such a facility as a prisoner of war. No wonder few came out unscathed by permanent injury and health issues as well as what we now call PTSD.

For fans of our colonial history, we'd love to share our novella collection, Backcountry Brides, available in paperback and digital ebook.

As one completely comfortable with our modern conveniences, what aspect of confinement in Dartmoor Prison of the early 1800s most bothers you?


 

The Care and Feeding of Colonial Livestock

Google books is an invaluable resource!

It started, as so often happens, as a quest to find a scrap of research info. I just wanted to know whether or not a backcountry farmer would feed oats to his saddle horse. I mean, they couldn't just drive down to their local feed store and bring home a bag of Omelene.

I asked my trusty 18cLife Yahoo group, which led to a whole array of answers.

Among other things, I was pointed to a handy resource: an old book, now available online, titled The Discipline of the Light-Horse by Captain Hinde of the Royal Regiment of Foresters. I discovered that oats were, indeed, common provender for horses since at least colonial times, and I plan on taking time to read the entire book. Though written with an eye to the War of 1812, it contains many references to the American Revolution.

Something else I learned, though, was that Germanic settlers--Germans, yes, but also Dutch and other continental Europeans of varying religious backgrounds--were the ones who introduced the concept of large-scale farming with big barns and big hay wagons. The practice of farming the land on purpose (for "business," some said) and rotating crops were a curiosity to their British neighbors, who generally turned out their livestock to roam and graze, then herded them in as needed. Thus, the term "Cow Pens" where the famous South Carolina battle got its name was an actual area where pens were built for the periodic containment of cattle. Saddle and work horses might either be pastured or staked out to graze. Horses and cattle both do just fine on grass only, or hay with a bit of grain in the winter, but they'd need to spend a lot of time grazing because it takes a lot of grass to feed that large of an animal. Hogs and chickens or other yard fowl were also left to roam.

Cattle drives were a thing long before the West was won

The purpose of fencing or stables in colonial times, in the backcountry or on the frontier, was more for the purpose of keeping predators out than containing livestock.

The rich meadows and forests of South Carolina were actually considered cattle country at one time, and many savvy cattlemen were of African descent, whether enslaved or not, trusted with the keeping and care of herds. The Florida "Crackers" (as in, the cracking sound of the cattle drivers' whips) were also famed for their ability to work cattle in the harsh conditions of central Florida, through heat and torrential rains.

So, what did the colonial farmer raise crops for, if not to feed his livestock? The concept of the cash crop (tobacco, rice, indigo) dates back to at least the first settlement at Jamestown, and like it or not, much of the grains grown (corn, barley) went into grain liquor, especially the making of whiskey. (There's a whole discussion, in fact, on how the different spellings of whisky and whiskey denote a British-made product or an American-made one.)

I was able to find "provenance for my provender," in the case of whether to feed a favored saddle horse at least an occasional bit of oats, but it probably wasn't the norm for every farmer, especially not in the Carolinas.

Old Ironsides

by Elaine Marie Cooper

I first met her when I was a young teenager and I’ve never forgotten her beauty. Her nickname is “Old Ironsides” and she is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.

For years now she has been berthed at the Charlestown Naval Yard in Boston but her anchoring has not kept her from occasional voyages to celebrate her greatness. She sailed under her own power in 1997 to celebrate her 200^th birthday.

Her official name is the USS Constitution and she was one of six vessels authorized for construction by the newly formed United States Navy, enacted by the Naval Act in 1794. She was given her name by none other than President George Washington in honor of this nation’s Constitution. Her launching in 1797 was attended by then-President John Adams. She and the other frigates were built larger than traditional ships of that day: They needed to be strong enough for war.

The Constitution did not have to wait long to fulfill her purpose. She was assigned to protect American merchant vessels from pirates along the Barbary Coast of North Africa in the early 1800’s.

She is most well known for her involvement in the War of 1812 as we, once again, fought against Great Britain, following our victory in the American Revolution. She defeated five British warships, including HMS Guerriere. That was the victory that earned her the name, “Old Ironsides.”

During the Civil War, she was used for training purposes by the United States Naval Academy. Old Ironsides was retired from active service in 1881.

For years, the love of the American people has kept her from the scrap heap that is the burial ground for most naval vessels that have served their country. Affection has kept her afloat and today, she is a museum ship visited by thousands every year. In August of 2012, she did a victory sail to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of her victory over the Guerriere.

Her mission today—for she is still a fully commissioned US Navy ship—is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in both war and peace. The USS Constitution is staffed by a crew of sixty active-duty officers and sailors. Their assignment is to participate in special events and educational programs.

From the moment I stepped aboard Old Ironsides so many years ago, I fell in love with her. She stirred both an affection for history and a pride in our country that has never left my heart. She will always remind me that, although the Constitution may go through many a battle, she can stay afloat in the storms, with God’s help.

                                                             *     *     *

Oliver Wendell Holmes

This poem, written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, first appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser on September 16, 1830. It was in response to a proposal to break up the old ship as unfit for service.

OLD IRONSIDES

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered bulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

Elaine Marie Cooper grew up in the Boston area, visiting the historical sites of our nation's founding. She has written Fields of the Fatherless, a young adult novel based on a true story from the American Revolution. You can visit her website/ blog here.