Fort Mims massacre

Fort Mims massacre Part of Creek War The Battle Date August 30, 1813 Location 35 to 40 miles north of Mobile, Alabama near Bay Minette, Alabama Result Red Stick victory Belligerents Red Stick Creek United States Commanders and leaders Peter McQueen William Weatherford Daniel Beasley Dixon Bailey Strength 750-1,000warriors 265 militia, Fort Mims Casualties and losses ~50 killed, unknown wounded 517 killed, unknown wounded, Fort Mims severely damaged

The Fort Mims massacre occurred on 30 August 1813 during the Creek War, when a force of Creek people, belonging to the "Red Sticks" faction under the command of Peter McQueen and William Weatherford ("Red Eagle"), his cousin by marriage, killed hundreds of Lower Creek, white settlers, and militia at Fort Mims. The fort was a stockade with a blockhouse surrounding the house and outbuildings of the settler Samuel Mims, located about 35 miles north of present-day Mobile, Alabama.

Background

Not understanding about the internal issues among the Creek, the frontier whites were alarmed about rising tensions. The Red Sticks of the Upper Towns opposed the land cessions to settlers and the Lower Towns' assimilation to European-American culture.

The mixed-blood Creek of Tensaw, one of the Lower Towns, joined European-American settlers for refuge at the stockades of Fort Mims. Both groups also brought slaves. There were about 517 settlers, including 265 armed militia., Fort Mims was located about 35 to 45 miles (50–70 km) north of Mobile on the eastern side of the Alabama River.

Upon learning that Peter McQueen's party of Red Sticks were in Pensacola, Florida to acquire arms from the Spanish, Major Daniel Beasley, Captain Dixon Bailey, and Colonel Caller led a force to intercept the warriors. They ambushed the Red Sticks in the Battle of Burnt Corn in July 1813. While the United States forces were looting the Red Sticks' pack trains, the warriors returned and drove off the Americans.

In August 1813, Red Eagle (Weatherford) was one of the Red Stick chiefs who led the attack on Fort Mims. He sought revenge on his personal enemy, Captain Bailey.^{[citation needed]} A mixed-race Creek born in Auttose, Bailey had been educated at Philadelphia under the provisions of the Treaty of New York of 1790.^{[citation needed]}

Alabama Historical Association Fort Mims marker.

Attack

On August 29, 1813, two black slaves tending cattle outside the stockade reported that "painted warriors" were in the vicinity. But, mounted scouts from the fort found no signs of the war party. Beasley had the second slave flogged for raising a "false alarm".

Major Beasley, the commander, had claimed that he could "maintain the post against any number of Indians", but historians believe the stockade was poorly defended.^{[citation needed]} At the time of the attack, the East gate was partially blocked open by drifting sand. The Red Sticks timed their attack during the mid-day meal, when no US scouts were out.

Inside Fort Mims looking at the west wall and gate.

The Red Sticks took control of the gun loopholes and the outer enclosure. Under Captain Bailey, the settlers held the inner enclosure and fought on for a time. The Red Sticks set fire to a house in the center, which spread to the rest of the stockade.

The warriors forced their way into the inner enclosure and, despite the attempts of Weatherford, massacred most of the mixed-blood Creek and white settlers. A total of 500 people died, and the Red Sticks took 250 scalps. They spared the lives of most of the slaves to take them as their own. About 36 people escaped, including Bailey, who was mortally wounded.

Aftermath

The Red Sticks' victory at Fort Mims spread panic throughout the Southeastern United States frontier, and settlers demanded governmental action. The massacre marked the transition from a civil war within the Creek tribe (Muskogee) to a war between the United States and the Red Stick warriors of the Upper Creek.

Since Federal troops were occupied with the northern front of the War of 1812, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Mississippi Territory mobilized their militias to move against the Upper Creek towns that had supported the Red Sticks' cause. After several battles, Colonel Andrew Jackson commanded the state militias and Cherokee allies at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend to defeat the Red Sticks and end the Creek War.

Today the Fort Mims site is maintained by the Alabama Historical Commission.

See also

• Tombigbee District
• List of massacres in Alabama
• Mississippi Rifles {155th Infantry MNG}

References

• Henry Adams History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (Library Classics of the United State, Inc. 1986), pp. 780-781 ISBN 0-940450-35-6
• Andrew Burstein The Passions of Andrew Jackson (Alfred A. Kopf 2003), p. 99 ISBN 0-375-41428-2
• John Ehle, Trail of Tears The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation (Anchor Books Editions 1989), p. 105 ISBN 0-385-23954-8
• Halbert, Henry S., and Timothy H. Ball. The Creek War of 1813 and 1814, Edited by Frank L. Owsley Jr. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995.
• Heidler, David Stephen and Heidler, Jeanne T. "Creek War," in Encyclopedia of the War of 1812, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1997. ISBN 978-0-87436-968-7
• John K. Mahon The War of 1812 (University of Florida Press 1972) pp. 234-235 ISBN 0-8130-0318-0
• Owsley, Jr., Frank L. "The Fort Mims Massacre," Alabama Review 1971 24(3): 192-204
• Owsley, Frank L., Jr. Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans, 1812-1815, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1981.
• Thrapp, Dan L. "Weatherford, William (Lamouchattee, Red Eagle)", in Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: in Three Volumes Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1991. OCLC 23583099
• Gregory A. Waselkov, A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813-1814 (University of Alabama Press, 2006) ISBN 0-8173-1491-1

External links

• Fort Mims - official site at Alabama Historical Commission
• "Fort Mims Massacre", Encyclopedia of Alabama
• A map of Creek War Battle Sites, PCL Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin.
• "A Drawing of Fort Mims"
• Fort Mims Restoration Association
• Site about the Creek War including accounts, letters, etc.