Battle of Burnt Corn
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The Battle of Burnt Corn was an encounter between United States armed forces and Creek Indians that took place July 27, 1813 in present-day southern Alabama, near Monroeville, Alabama. The battle was part of the Creek War.
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[edit] Background
In July 1813, Peter McQueen and a large party of "Red Sticks" warriors proceeded to Pensacola, Florida, with a letter from a British officer at Fort Malden and four hundred dollars to buy munitions. The Spanish governor gave them, in McQueen's words, "a small bag of powder for each ten towns, and five bullets to each man". The governor represented this as a "friendly present, for hunting purposes".
But conversely Samuel Moniac, a Creek warrior, testified August 2, 1813, “High Head told me that, when they went back with their supply, another body of men would go down for another supply of ammunition; and that ten men were to go out of town, and they calculated on five horse-loads for every town.”
[edit] Battle
United States soldiers at Fort Mims, having heard of McQueen's mission, responded by sending a disorganized force, led by Colonel Caller and Captain Dixon Bailey, to intercept McQueen's party. The Americans ambushed the Red Sticks as they bedded down for the evening at the village of Burnt Corn, which is about eighty miles (130 km) north of Pensacola near present day Monroeville, Alabama.
The Americans scattered the Red Sticks, who fled to the nearby swamps. Flush with victory, the Americans began looting the Red Sticks' pack-horses. From the swamp, the Creeks noticed that the Americans were getting carried away with their looting and had dropped their guard. The Creeks re-grouped and launched a surprise attack of their own, which scattered the Americans.
[edit] Results
The Red Sticks considered this ambush to be a "declaration of war" by the American settlers. Since the American militia had attacked from Fort Mims, the Red Sticks directed their next offensive at that fort. Many mixed-blood Creek families from the lower towns had fled to Fort Mims at the outbreak of the Creek War, and these refuges were also likely targets of the Red Stick aggression.
[edit] 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. 779-780 ISBN 0-940450-35-6
- John Ehle, Trail of Tears The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation (Anchor Books Editions 1989), pg 104-105 ISBN 0-385-23954-8
- Steve Rajtar's "Indian War Sites" (McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999)
[edit] External links
- A map of Creek War Battle Sites from the PCL Map Collection at the Universtity of Texas at Austin.
- Account of the Battle of Burnt Corn
- The Deposition of Samuel Moniac taken in 1813.
