Fort Mims State Historic Site

This drawing imagines the scene as Red Stick Creeks storm Fort Mims.

Public Domain, Wikipedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Mims_massacre_1813.jpg

Quick Facts

Location:

Tensaw, Alabama

Significance:

The most significant victory of Red Stick Creeks against American forces and their Creek allies.

Designation:

State Historic Site

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

As America's War of 1812 raged along the Canadian frontier and on the Atlantic Ocean, a different conflict erupted among the Creek Indians of present-day Georgia and Alabama. One faction - the Red Sticks - sought to preserve traditional customs and resist European cultural influence and American expansion. The other faction argued in favor or adapting in order to survive, and received the support of American military forces.

American militia, based at Fort Mims in present-day southern Alabama, intercepted Red Stick Creeks receiving British military supplies from Pensacola at the Battle of Burnt Corn in July of 1813. The Red Sticks regrouped and launched a successful assault on Fort Mims on August 30, capturing the fort and killing most of the militia defenders, civilian settlers, and Creek American allies. 

In the absense of Federal troops, who were occupied with America's War of 1812 along the Canadian border, an influx of Tennesse, Georgia, and Mississippi Territory volunteers rallied to the Creek War in the wake of what was termed the "Fort Mims Massacre." Under Andrew Jackson, these state militiamen won a series of victories against the Red Stick Creeks, culminating in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, effectively ending the war.