The Creek Nation was divided by conflict during the summer of 1813, with factions fighting for and against the United States in a bloody series of border wars. In response to an attack by Chief William “Red Eagle” Weatherford of Coweta Creek, the United States sent an army of 5,000 volunteer and regular soldiers, augmented by forces from neutral Creek states and the Cherokee Nation. In November of 1813, a force of Tennessee militiamen under Colonel John Coffee engaged Red Eagle’s army (known in Creek nomenclature as the Red Sticks, due to their warrior status) at Tallasahatchee. Outnumbered, the Red Sticks suffered 186 casualties and were forced to withdraw from the field. The following week, General Andrew Jackson and the remaining American-Creek-Cherokee force defeated a party of Red Sticks who had besieged the Creek village of Talladega. Talladega was the home base for a faction of the Creek Nation that was loyal to the American government and viewed Red Eagle’s actions as dangerous—this faction was known as the White Sticks, due to their peaceful relationship with the surrounding white communities. It is clear from this examination that the quasi-war of 1813 (which perhaps more appropriately should be called the Red Stick Rebellion) was more than a border skirmish between the United States and an Indian faction—it was in fact a civil war among the Creek.
As the Americans pursued him, Red Eagle proved more resilient than was thought and was able to regroup. In December of 1813, the American expeditionary force under General William Clairborne tracked Red Eagle to his capital, Econochaca, but the chief managed to escape once more. By January of 1814, Jackson’s full force was armed and ready to bring the war deep into enemy territory. Despite the overwhelming numbers that were allied against him, Chief Red Eagle managed to hold off against the onslaught of his pursuers in two engagements in early January and evaded capture on several occasions. However, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March of 1814, he was trapped along the Tallapoosa River. Jackson, now augmented by an additional 600 troops, surrounded the Creek encampment and advanced in force. By the setting of the sun, 750 of Red Eagle’s 900 warriors had been killed man and his village was in flames. The Red Stick Rebellion was over, but its Commander-in-Chief still lived.
With the remnants of his army trapped in the burned out buildings of his encampment, Red Eagle surrendered himself to Jackson’s army. Boldly proclaiming, “I am Bill Weatherford,” Red Eagle embraced his fate. As it turned out, Jackson was need elsewhere and did not have time to lord over his fallen adversary. To the north, the British were ravaging the American countryside and even managed to threaten the capital, Washington D.C. Jackson knew that the Coweta Creek would no longer prove a threat to the United States and concentrated his energies on defeating the British. Red Eagle returned to his tribe a free man. Jackson would not forget his enemy, however, and the recompense for their involvement in the late rebellion would not discriminate between those Creek who had fought against him and those who had fought for him. The outcome of the Red Stick Rebellion of 1813 would unify the Creek in their distrust of the American government and would earn General Jackson the nom de guerre, “Sharp Knife.” A new war had begun.
Mark C Carnes, Ed, U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996).
Kenneth C. Davis, Don’t Know Much About History. (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2003).
Gilbert Legay, Atlas of Indians. (Hauppage: Barron’s, 1995)
Marilyn Miller and Marian Faux, Eds., American History Desk Reference. (New York: MacMillan, 1997).
Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian. (New York: Checkmark Book, 2000).
