March 27, 1814 · Creek Nation (Alabama) Theater
March 27, 1814
In the culminating battle of the Creek War — a conflict intertwined with the War of 1812 — Andrew Jackson led a combined force of U.S. regulars, militia, Cherokee, and Lower Creek warriors against the Red Stick Creek fortification at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. The Red Sticks had constructed a formidable barricade of logs across the neck of a horseshoe-shaped river bend. Jackson's artillery breached the walls while his Cherokee allies swam the river and attacked from behind. The result was a slaughter: over 800 Red Stick warriors were killed in the most decisive defeat ever inflicted on a Native American nation on the continent.
Commanders