The Battle of Burnt Corn, also known as the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, was fought on July 27, 1813, in what is now Escambia County, Alabama, United States. The battle was the first conflict of the Creek War to be fought between American forces and a faction of the Muscogee known as the Red Sticks. The Creek War began as an intratribal conflict between two factions of Muscogee (also known as Creek or Mvskoke), one that supported a centralized tribal government and cooperation with the United States government and the other (known as Red Sticks) that opposed the encroachment of American settlers and championed a return to the traditional Muscogee lifestyle. A group of Red Sticks traveled to Pensacola to obtain weapons and supplies from the Spanish to further their fight.

On their return, the Red Sticks were ambushed by a mixed force composed of Mississippi Territory Volunteers, local militia, and mixed-blood Muscogee (who were of European and Muscogee ancestry). The mixed force temporarily held the element of surprise but the Red Sticks regrouped and eventually drove them from the field. Ten to twelve Red Sticks were killed, and they lost most of the ammunition and supplies they had obtained in Spanish Florida. Even so, the battle was a victory for the Red Sticks when the combined American force retreated.

The battle held little overall strategic importance, but escalated the Creek War from an intratribal conflict into a broader conflict that involved multiple countries and became a regional part of the War of 1812. Multiple participants in the Battle of Burnt Corn were subsequently involved in the Fort Mims massacre, which was a retaliatory attack carried out by the Red Sticks on American settlers. Additional fighting ensued over the next year, culminating in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, and the eventual removal of most of the Muscogee from Alabama and Georgia.

Background

The Creek War (also known as the Red Stick War) began as a civil war within the Muscogee Confederacy. The Muscogee traditionally inhabited most of modern-day Alabama, parts of western Georgia, and northern Florida. The tribe was primarily split into two divisions: the Upper Towns, consisting of towns () along the Alabama, Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers and the Lower Towns, located along the Chattahoochee River. Under the direction of U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, the Creek National Council was formed as a centralized form of tribal government that evolved from the regional meetings of tribal chiefs (). The National Council began selling tribal hunting lands to satisfy Muscogee debts, which angered many tribal members. In addition, the traditional Muscogee hunting and trading economy was being slowly replaced by a market economy that focused on farming and agriculture. Due to decline in traditional supply sources, most Muscogee were forced to trade with the United States government or private firms such as Panton, Leslie & Company (and later John Forbes and Company). Colonel James Caller, who commanded all the Mississippi Territory forces east of the Pearl River, immediately mustered the 15th Regiment of Mississippi Territorial Volunteers without waiting for orders from General Ferdinand Claiborne. Caller began assembling a force with the plan of intercepting the Red Sticks as they returned from Pensacola. Caller commanded six companies of Mississippi Territory Volunteers and militia from Washington County and set out from St. Stephens. They marched to the area of modern-day Jackson, Alabama, then met militia under the command of Samuel Dale at Fort Glass. On July 24, this group crossed the Alabama River near present-day Gainestown and proceeded to Tate's cowpen, where they were joined by militia from present-day Baldwin County. The Baldwin militia included many mixed-blood Muscogee, including Tate, Cornells, and their commander, Captain Dixon Bailey. The total force included approximately 180 mounted men armed with rifles, shotguns and muskets. Many of the American force—including Caller—held political aspirations, causing the assembled force to have an unnecessarily large number of officers. In total, the combined force contained four captains and multiple lieutenants, and on the morning of the battle elected William McGrew as Lieutenant Colonel, along with four new majors.

On July 26, the force marched up the Federal Road toward Burnt Corn Springs. The next day, scouts located the Red Stick group on the Wolf Trail at a ford over Burnt Corn Creek preparing their mid-day meal. The Wolf Trail began near modern-day Belleville, Alabama, as a branch of the Indian Trading Path to Mobile that ultimately led to Pensacola. The combined force of Volunteers and militia proceeded in a southerly direction down the Wolf Trail and reached the ford unobserved between 10:00 AM and noon.

Battle

thumb|Burnt Corn Creek in [[Escambia County, Alabama]]

The Red Sticks were surprised by the initial American attack. The Americans charged on horseback and killed a Muscogee woman and an enslaved African who was fleeing to the Americans. One American was killed and 8–10 Red Stick pack horses were quickly captured. Sporadic fighting lasted for 45 minutes to an hour before the Red Sticks were chased into a canebrake.

The Red Sticks rallied and began firing on the Americans, who were concentrated on an exposed, sparsely-covered pine ridge. Colonel G. W. Creagh (who was present at the battle), reported Caller's soldiers showed little interest in fighting while Bailey's men attacked and pursued the Red Sticks, leaving Caller's men to loot the supplies. Red Sticks under McQueen and High-head Jim attacked these looters, causing them to flee the field of battle. After an additional two hours of fighting, Caller gave an order to retreat. A small American rearguard commanded by Captains Dale, Bailey, and Benjamin Smoot, fought the Muscogee counterattack and covered the retreat. An additional American soldier was killed in the retreat.

The Red Sticks suffered 10–12 killed with eight to nine wounded out of a total force of 60, while the Americans lost two soldiers killed and approximately 15 wounded. George Stiggins, a mixed-blood Muscogee who wrote an early history of the tribe, reported the Red Sticks were only armed with 13 guns and traditional weapons.

Aftermath and preservation

The battle was considered a humiliating defeat for the American force, but they did obtain some of the Red Sticks' ammunition, cloth, salt, and other supplies. The Governor of Mississippi Territory David Holmes blamed Caller for the failure of the attack. In addition to commanding the failed attack, Caller and Major James Woods were lost for 15 days after the battle before being found by a search party. For the first two days, they were joined by Private Abner Smith Lipscomb, who eventually served as the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Immediately following the battle, settlers fled to Mobile, St. Stephens, Fort Stoddert, or erected stockades around private homes. Claiborne feared the Red Sticks would begin retaliatory attacks on settlers in the area north of Mobile and ordered Mississippi Territory Volunteers from the Mount Vernon Cantonment to supplement the militias in Fort Mims, Fort Easley, and eventually, Fort Peirce. Fort Mims had been constructed around the home of Samuel Mims after the Red Stick attack on Tukabatchee.

After the battle, Bailey led a group of warriors and damaged McQueen's homestead. Bailey returned to Fort Mims and was elected captain of the Tensaw militia. William Weatherford and Francis planned a retaliatory attack on Forts Mims and Peirce, as many mixed-bloods and participants from the Burnt Corn battle were taking refuge there. The mixed-bloods specifically had guided the mixed American force at the Battle of Burnt Corn, were responsible for most of the Red Stick deaths, and had covered the American force's retreat. The attack on Fort Peirce was never carried out, but most of the inhabitants of Fort Mims were killed by Red Sticks on August 30, 1813, in what became known as the Fort Mims massacre. After the Fort Mims massacre, the Red Sticks faced a three-pronged attack from the United States that culminated in their defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

In 2011, the American Battlefield Protection Program provided a grant to identify and study Creek War sites, leading to the identification of the approximate site of the Burnt Corn battlefield on private land, but no definitive artifacts have been recovered as of 2012.

Sources

References

  • 1930 photograph of the claimed site of the Battle of Burnt Corn