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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	HORSESHOE BEND NATIONAL MILITARY PARK Alabama	Horseshoe Bend NMP
Location: Tallapoosa County, on Ala. 49, about 12 miles north of Dadeville; address: P.O. Box 608, Dadeville, Ala. 36853. Horseshoe Bend NMP

At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, commemorated in this park, Andrew Jackson in 1814 decisively defeated the warring faction of the Creek Nation and brought an end to the Creek War. The battle, which climaxed his determined campaign against the Creeks through central Alabama, dealt a severe blow to the Creek Nation; opened Alabama and other parts of the old Southwest to white settlement; and was the first step along the road that soon brought Jackson national fame for his military exploits and eventually led to the Presidency.

If the Battle of Horseshoe Bend did not involve a feat of generalship, it was at least a victory of will and determination that gained Jackson a reputation as a military leader and Indian fighter. Because of his success at Horseshoe Bend, where he served as a major general in the Tennessee Militia, 2 months later he obtained a commission as major general in the U.S. Army, and 7 months thereafter commanded the U.S. forces at the Battle of New Orleans, where his brilliant defeat of a numerically superior British force made him a national hero.

The Creek War (1813-14) occurred during the War of 1812. Because the U.S. Army was occupied in the clash with Britain, defense of the Southern frontier rested primarily with State militia. When Upper Creeks plunged their tribe first into civil war and then into war against the whites, the surrounding States quickly dispatched militia to quell the Indians. Among the five volunteer generals who took the field was Andrew Jackson, a talented and enterprising Tennessee politician.

In 1813 the Creeks occupied large areas of present Georgia and Alabama. The Lower Creeks resided along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia; the Upper Creeks, or "Red Sticks," along the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers in Alabama. Since 1790, when a treaty with the United States set the boundaries of the Creek Nation, the Indians had been at peace with the frontiersmen. Because the Lower Creeks, who lived closer to the whites, continued to strengthen bonds with them, the friction that had always existed between the two factions of the Creeks intensified. Tribal punishments for Creek attacks on white settlers broadened the gulf. The rebellious Upper Creeks, particularly the religious leaders, or "prophets," were also influenced by Tecumseh, an eminent Shawnee chief, who came south in 1811 to form a league with the Choctaws and Creeks. Supported by the Spanish in Florida, the Upper Creeks gained strength as white encroachment increased.

In February and July 1813 minor clashes between the frontiersmen and the Red Sticks led to a tribal civil war. Finally, in August, war broke out with the United States, when the Red Sticks massacred hundreds of white settlers and their wives and children at Fort Mims, on Tensaw Lake, 20 miles north of Mobile. The massacre aroused the frontier bordering the Creek country. Militia from Georgia and Mississippi Territory mounted drives against the hostile Indians, but it was Andrew Jackson, supported by thousands of Tennessee volunteers, Creek and Cherokee allies, and a regiment of U.S. infantry, who sustained the all-out, conclusive campaign against the Red Sticks.

Gun Hill. A lone cannon stands watch over the battlefield. A monument was erected here in 1918 to commemorate the battle. The granite monument was hauled to the site by ox and wagon. It is inscribed with the wrong date of the battle.

During Jackson's first campaign, between October and December 1813, he marched southward from Fayetteville, Tenn.; united his forces with those of Gen. John Coffee, his chief subordinate; set up a supply base in Creek country; and scored a few minor victories. In January 1814, after reinforcements arrived, Jackson began his second campaign. Driving back two Creek assaults, he inflicted more damage than he suffered. In March his army once more began crossing the 52 miles of wilderness between the Coosa and Tallapoosa. Its destination was Horseshoe Bend, a 100-acre peninsula formed by a large loop in the Tallapoosa A log wall, 5 to 8 feet high and pierced with a double row of loopholes, zigzagged across the narrow neck. Within this stronghold—called Tohopeka ("the fort") by the Creeks—were drawn up a thousand warriors, led by Monahee, their principal prophet, and Menewa, "the great warrior."

On March 27 Jackson made a frontal attack on Tohopeka, while General Coffee surrounded the peninsula to cut off any retreat over the Tallapoosa. The Creeks, heartened by Menewa's example, fought desperately but in vain. Hundreds of Creeks met death, though Menewa escaped. Jackson had few casualties. One of those wounded was Sam Houston, of later Texas fame, who at the time was a young ensign.

In late April, after turning over control of the Creek country to forces from Georgia, Jackson led his troops triumphantly home. On May 22 he obtained a commission as major general in the U.S. Army, and then assumed command of the 7th Military District, whose headquarters was in Mobile. One of his first tasks as military commander for Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi Territory was to negotiate a treaty with the defeated Creeks. In August 1814, at Fort Jackson, second-rank chiefs of the Creeks agreed to cede 20 million acres in southern Georgia and central and southern Alabama—more than half the territory of the Creek Nation. This cession opened to U.S. settlement a vast and rich domain and separated the Creeks from Spanish influences in Florida.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park was established in 1959. No identifiable remains are associated with the battle. Tohopeka and the Indian huts in the vicinity were destroyed by fire during and after the battle. In 1918 Congress erected a stone monument overlooking the battlefield. The visitor center contains interpretive exhibits and maps, and a tour road passes through the battlefield and connects key sites.