Soon, Jackson ordered a bayonet charge. The 39th U.S. Infantry, led by Colonel John Williams, charged the breastworks and engaged the Red Sticks in hand-to-hand combat. Sam Houston (the future statesman and leader of Texas) served as a third lieutenant in Jackson's army. Houston was one of the first to make it over the log barricade alive and received a wound from a Creek arrow that troubled him for the rest of his life.

At the end, roughly 800 of the 1,000 Red Stick warriors present at the battle were killed. In contrast, Jackson lost fewer than 50 men during the fight and reported 154 wounded. After the battle, Jackson's troops made bridle reins from skin taken from Indian corpses, conducted a body count by cutting off the tips of their noses, and sent their clothing as souvenirs to the "ladies of Tennessee." Chief Menawa was severely wounded but survived; he led about 200 of the original 1,000 warriors across the river and toward safety, to join the Seminole tribe in Spanish Florida.

Aftermath

On August 9, 1814, Andrew Jackson forced the Creek to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The Creek Nation was forced to cede —half of central Alabama and part of southern Georgia—to the United States government; this included territory of the Lower Creek, who had been allies of the United States. Jackson had determined the areas from his sense of security needs. Of the Jackson forced the Creek to cede , which was claimed by the Cherokee Nation, which had also allied with the United States. Jackson was promoted to major general in the U.S. Army after getting agreement to the treaty.

Two currently active battalions of the Regular Army (2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 7th Infantry Regiment) perpetuate the lineage of the old 39th Infantry Regiment, which fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

In fiction

Eric Flint has written a series of alternate history novels, Trail of Glory, that begin with the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. In Flint's version, Houston is only lightly wounded in the battle, allowing him freedom to develop his career, in turn facilitating the author's objectives.

The main character of Paulette Jiles' novel News of the World, 'Captain' Jefferson Kyle Kidd, has a backstory that includes fighting as a youth of 16 in this battle under Jackson.

Notes

References

  • Andrew Burstein,
  • Steve Rajtar, Indian War Sites, (McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999)
  • Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767–1821 (1977) ch. 13

Further reading

  • Holland, James W. "Andrew Jackson and the Creek War: Victory at the Horseshoe Bend," Alabama Review, Oct 1968, Vol. 21 Issue 4, pp 243–275
  • Kanon, Thomas. "A Slow, Laborious Slaughter": The Battle of Horseshoe Bend," Tennessee Historical Quarterly, March 1999, Vol. 58 Issue 1, pp 2–15
  • Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars (2001), ch 4
  • "The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Collision of Cultures", National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places.
  • A map of Creek War Battle Sites, PCL Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • "Battle of Horseshoe Bend" , Encyclopedia of Alabama
  • Mrs. Dunham Rowland, "The Mississippi Territory in the War of 1812", Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 4, 1921, pp. 7–156
  • "If you visited Horseshoe Bend Battlefield today"