Red Sticks is the English term for a traditionalist faction of Creek Indians who led a resistance movement which culminated in the outbreak of the Creek War in 1813.
The term "red sticks" is derived from the red-colored war clubs and the alleged magical red sticks used by Creek shamans. This faction of Creeks aggressively supported traditional views of Creek society such as hunting and communal land. Inspired by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and angered by the unrestrained encroachment of white culture, Red Sticks went to war against their own pro-European Creeks.
The Red Sticks came primarily from the Upper Towns of Creek Territory and opposed white acculturation. The Red Stick War, more commonly called the Creek War, raged from 1813–1814. During the war, Redsticks would lash out at symbols of white influence. They would kill domesticated animals, break farming equipment, and burn crops. Metal pots and pans as well as spun cloth would be routinely gathered and destroyed.[1]
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Following a successful attack on a white expedition at the Battle of Burnt Corn in 1813, the Red Sticks determined to attack and destroy Fort Mims in the Mississippi Territory. Poor scouting, an attack at noon when most of the garrison was eating, seizure of the port holes by the Indians, and inability to close the main gates were all elements in the defeat on 30 August 1813. A plaque on the site notes that the British provided weapons to the Red Sticks for the attack, as part of the British campaign in the South during the War of 1812.
Estimates of the number of inhabitants of Fort Mims at the time of the massacre vary from 300 or so to 500 (including whites, slaves, and several visiting Indians). Claims of survivors have likewise varied greatly from as few as a single slave woman to a few dozen people of different races. It's likely some people were taken hostage and either escaped, were sold/traded and later escaped or released, or were released soon after their capture at Fort Mims. Creek losses were heavy as well. The massacre had significant short and long-range implications. The fall of the fort started a major Indian war in the South that resulted in a substantial build-up of American forces in the area - which probably prevented the British from occupying an undefended Gulf Coast in 1814.[2]
The United States entered the war after the Fort Mims massacre. At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814) on March 27, 1814, United States forces and Indian allies under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks, killing most of the warriors and sending the rest fleeing to Florida where they joined the Seminole tribe. The Red Sticks were backed by the British and Spanish in their resistance to the U.S. Government's plans for settling Georgia. The War of 1812 increased Britain's interest in fomenting civil war among the Creeks.
The relationships between Americans and the Southern Indians drastically changed. The Creeks had been living peacefully and in close contact with the settlers of the Mississippi Territory. Led by William Weatherford, Menawa, and Peter McQueen, the war resulted in the loss of half of the traditional Creek lands and within 20 years, and another migration of Creeks into the Florida Seminole territory.