One would suppose that after these appeals Major Beasley, figuratively speaking, never would have closed his eyes; but that officer was one of those who, when placed in a critical situation, seem to be smitten with blindness. Several negroes had been sent up the Alabama by their masters to procure corn. The Indians captured three, but one managed to escape. He ran to Fort Mimms, and told the Major that the Indians were marching against the post. The commandant looked calmly at the panting servant, the picture of terror, and smiled. He couldn't believe the negro had any cause for his panic. The next day several white men came to the fort with word that a large force of Indians were in the neighborhood, and every sign pointed to an attack. The officer was not so foolish as wholly to disregard this news, though he could not believe the danger was serious. That which followed seems incredible. Three negroes, a day or two later, hurried to the post, and told Major Beasley that, while looking for cattle in the woods, they had met a large party of prowling Indians. The officer sent out several scouts to look for them. They came back saying they had not found a single redskin, whereupon, Major Beasley had the principal negro whipped for spreading falsehoods. The next day the same negro discovered a large number of warriors stealing through the woods toward the fort. Not caring to earn another reward such as he had received for telling the truth in the former instance, he wisely decided to hold his peace.
Not long afterward, Weatherford, at the head of fifteen hundred warriors, crossed an open field and came within thirty paces of the fort on a bright summer morning (August 30, 1813), before his approach was discovered. To complete the criminal idiocy of the commandant and his officers, the gates were open and unguarded. Before they could be closed, the horde swarmed through and attacked the garrison. Of the defenders, nearly one-half were old men, women and children.
The soldiers fought as men do who know no quarter will be given, and who are aware of the awful fate of those dependent upon them, in case of the failure to repel their assailants. It is not necessary to dwell upon the particulars of this dreadful affair. Every officer died fighting. The women and children took refuge in the blockhouse, to which the Creeks applied the torch, and all perished. The wounded Major Beasley was one of those who breathed his last in the flames. Nearly three hundred were in Fort Mimms, of whom only seventeen escaped, and most of these were wounded.
This massacre sent a thrill of horror and wrath throughout the country. Tennessee set aside three hundred thousand dollars, and placed five thousand men under command of General Andrew Jackson, with orders to punish the Creeks. It is worth noting that "Old Hickory" at that time was not fully recovered from a wound received in a duel, and among the volunteers under him were the eccentric Davy Crockett, killed more than twenty years later at the Alamo, and "Sam" Houston, who won the independence of Texas at San Jacinto, shortly after the death of Crockett, and his comrades at the fort in San Antonio.
On the march, Jackson's men rebelled because they were reduced to the point of starvation, and saw no hope of getting a mouthful of food if they remained. The stern old hero of New Orleans crushed the mutiny, and lived upon acorns, and sometimes was unable to obtain even these. It was not the only time that that remarkable man, single-handed, conquered a thousand men by the strength of his will.
It is not our province to give a history of the Creek War, marked as it was by many shocking occurrences on both sides. White men, in the intense anger caused by the outrages of the Indians, often equalled them in cruelty. There were numerous skirmishes, battles and defeats of the hostiles, whose spirits, however, remained unbroken, until the delivery of the crushing blow at the Great Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River, in the State of Alabama. The Creeks had been beaten so many times that they determined to make their final stand at this point, and to stake everything on a single battle. Their camp was fortified with a skill that recalled the fort of the Narragansetts during King Philip's war, it being so built that the only way to carry it was by storm. Behind these rough intrenchments crouched a thousand warriors, ready to fight to the death.
General Jackson had been eager from the first to get the hostiles together like this, so that when he struck his blow, it should be effective. So long as only a few were slain here and there, no real effect upon the campaign itself followed. He was as resolute to reach the hostiles as they were to have him come within reach of them.
Early on the forenoon of March 27, 1814, General Coffee, with a force of regulars, and a number of friendly Indians, crossed the river two miles below the encampment and stationed his men so as to cut off the retreat of the enemy. A number of spies paddled in canoes to the end of the bend, and fired several buildings. Pressing on, they attacked the breastworks, but did not make much of an impression.
