Battle of Tallushatchee

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Tallushatchee
partof=the Creek War
date=November 3, 1813
place=Mississippi Territory
result=U.S. victory
combatant1="Red Stick" Creeks
combatant2=United States
commander1=Unknown
commander2=John Coffee
strength1=Unknown
strength2=900 dragoons [Borneman p.147]
casualties1=186 killed [Borneman p.147]
casualties2=5 killed
41 wounded

The Battle of Tallushatchee was a battle fought during the Creek War on November 3, 1813, in Alabama.

Background

After the massacre at Fort Mims, General Andrew Jackson assembled an army of 2,500 Tennessee militia. Jackson began marching into Mississippi Territory to combat the Red Stick Creeks. Jackson's troops began to construct Fort Strother along the Coosa River. 15 miles (24 km) away from the fort lay the Creek village of Tallushatchee where a sizeable force of Red Stick warriors were. Jackson ordered his friend and most trusted subordinate, General John Coffee, to attack the village.

Battle

Coffee took about 1,000 dragoons and arrived at the village on November 3, where he divided his brigade into two columns which encircled the town. Two companies ventured into the center of the circle to draw out the warriors. The trap worked, and the warriors attacked and were forced to retreat back into the buildings of the village. Coffee closed the circle in on the trapped warriors. Davy Crockett, serving in the Tennessee militia, commented "we shot them down like dogs". Coffee's forces killed about 180 warriors losing only five dead and 41 wounded.

The battle was the first battle in General Andrew Jackson's military campaign. A week later General Jackson inflicted another serious defeat on the Red Sticks at the Battle of Talladega.

References

*cite book|last=Borneman|first=Walter R. Borneman|authorid=Walter R. Borneman|title=1812: The War That Forged a Nation|location=New York|publisher=Harper Perennial|year=2004|isbn=ISBN 9780060531126

External links

* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/horseshoe_bend_war_1813-14.jpgA map of Creek War Battle Sites] from the PCL Map Collection at the Universtity of Texas at Austin.