Battle of Fort Mims
The Battle of Fort Mims, fought on August 30, 1813, was a significant conflict during the Creek War, which stemmed from tensions within the Creek Nation and between the Creeks and European Americans. A faction known as the Red Sticks, who sought to uphold traditional Creek values and resist encroachment on their lands, attacked the fort, which was defended by about 120 militia under Major Daniel Beasley, along with approximately 275 to 300 civilians, including friendly Creeks and enslaved individuals. The fort's defenses were inadequately maintained, leading to a surprise assault by the Red Sticks led by William Weatherford, resulting in a devastating defeat for the fort's inhabitants. The battle, perceived as a massacre by the white settlers, incited widespread fear and anger, prompting revenge attacks against the Creeks. Approximately 100 Red Sticks were also killed in the encounter, marking a costly victory for their side. In the aftermath, the federal government and militias from surrounding states mobilized to retaliate against the Creek Nation, leading to further conflicts and eventual defeat of the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend. The events at Fort Mims highlight the complexities of Indigenous resistance and the broader impacts of colonial expansion during this period.
Battle of Fort Mims
Date: August 30, 1813
Place: Alabama
Tribe affected: Creek
Significance: Though William Weatherford’s Creeks won a major victory at Fort Mims, reports of a massacre there led to a rapid mobilization of state and federal forces that eventually overwhelmed the Creeks
Tensions within the Creek (Muskogee) Nation and between some Creeks and European Americans reached the boiling point in 1813. Fighting was already raging between the Creek Red Sticks, who favored maintaining the traditional Creek values and lifestyle and who opposed further encroachments on Creek land, and friendly Creeks, who were more receptive to the assimilationist policies being pushed by the United States government and whose leaders had adopted many aspects of American life, including plantation slavery.
On July 27, 1813, a force of territorial militia unsuccessfully attacked a band of Red Sticks at Burnt Corn Creek, a tributary of the Alabama River. The Creek War now began, though it was only the Red Stick faction of Creeks that waged war with the United States. Encouraged by their initial success, the Red Sticks determined to attack Fort Mims. William Weatherford (Red Eagle), a mixed-blood traditionalist of considerable ability, gathered a force of about 750 warriors and moved toward the fort.
Fort Mims was located near the Alabama River about forty miles north of Mobile and was defended by a garrison of about 120 militia commanded by Major Daniel Beasley. The fort also became a haven for approximately 275 to 300 whites and friendly Creeks plus about a hundred slaves.
Doubting that the Red Sticks would attack a fort, Beasley was lax in maintaining security. On August 29, two slaves reported a large number of hostile Indians nearby. When scouts failed to find any, Beasley ordered the slaves whipped for giving a false alarm. The fort’s defenses were unmanned the next day when Weatherford launched his attack at noon, catching the fort’s garrison and inhabitants at lunch. Red Sticks rushed into the fort’s open entrance. Others began firing into the fort through rifle ports in the walls. The battle raged for several hours before the buildings inside the walls were set on fire. A few militiamen and others managed to escape into the surrounding woods. Most of the whites and friendly Creeks who survived the battle were killed, some by torture. Most of the slaves who survived the battle were taken away as prisoners.
Whites regarded the Fort Mims fight as a massacre, and the numbers reported to have been killed rapidly swelled. No fort of its size had ever been taken by Native Americans, and something akin to panic seized the southern frontier.
Fort Mims proved to be a costly victory for the Creeks, however; around a hundred Red Sticks were killed, and the reports of a massacre roused neighboring white settlers to seek revenge. Georgia and Tennessee mobilized their militias for service against the Creeks, and the federal government diverted some of its scarce military resources from the war it was fighting against England for service against the Creeks. The tide soon turned against the Red Sticks, and all Creeks suffered as a result of their eventual defeat with the fight at Horseshoe Bend and the Treaty of Horseshoe Bend.