Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

  • Also Known As: Horseshoe Bend Battlefield

  • Type: Historic Park
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Historic District

They fought to the last with that kind of bravery desperation inspires

On 27 March 1814, Major General Andrew Jackson's army of 3300 men attacked Chief Menawa's 1000 Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe shaped bend of the Tallapoosa River. Over 800 Red Sticks died that day. The battle ended the Creek War, resulted in a land session of 23000000 acres to the United Sates and created a national hero of Andrew Jackson. - NPS


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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1814/03/17 Captain John Gordon Tennessee Militia Captain Major General Andrew Jackson's army of 3300 men attacked Chief Menawa's 1000 Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe shaped bend of the Tallapoosa River.
1814/03/17 Andrew Jackson Commander Major General Andrew Jackson's army of 3300 men attacked Chief Menawa's 1000 Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe shaped bend of the Tallapoosa River.
1814/03/17 By dark, at least 800 of Chief Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks died (557 on the field and 200-300 in the river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, escaped. Jackson's losses include 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.
1814/03/27 Nicholas Gibbs Jr Died Captain Nicholas Gibbs is killed at Horseshoe Bend.

Data »

Particulars for Horseshoe Bend National Military Park:
Historic Use Battle site
Historic Use Camp
Area of Significance Conservation
Cultural Affiliation Creek
Historic Event Creek War
Owner Federal
Area of Significance Historic - aboriginal
Sight Category Historic District
Criteria Historic Event
Protected Attribute Historic Park
Area of Significance Military
Level of Significance National
Locale Type Natural Environ
Historic Use Village site



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration: 15th October 1966

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
Registry Address: Tallapoosa River, 12 mi. N of Dadeville on AL 49
Registry Number: 66000060
Resource Type: District
Owner: Federal
Architectural Style: No style listed
Area in Acres: 2040
Non-Contributing Buildings: 4
Contributing Sites: 4
Contributing Objects: 2
Other Certification: Additional documentation
Certification: Listed in the National Register
Nominator Name: National Military Park
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: National
Area of Significance: Historic - aboriginal, Conservation, Military
Applicable Criteria: Event
Cultural Affiliation: creek
Period of Significance: 1800-1824
Significant Year: 1813, 1814
Historic Function: Domestic, Defense
Historic Sub-Function: Village site, Camp, Battle site
Current Function: Recreation and Culture, Landscape
Current Sub-Function: Park Monument, Marker

History »

In March 1814, General Jackson's army left Fort Williams on the Coosa, cut a 52-mile trail through the forest in three days, and on the 26th made camp six miles north of Horseshoe Bend. The next morning, Jackson sent General John Coffee and 700 mounted infantry and 600 Cherokee and Creek allies three miles down-stream to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the bend. He took the rest of the army - about 2000 men, consisting of East and West Tennessee militia and the Thirty-ninth U.S. Infantry - into the peninsula and at 10:30 a.m. began an ineffectual two-hour artillery bombardment of the Red Sticks' log barricade. At noon, Coffee's Cherokee allies crossed the river and assaulted the Red Sticks from the rear. Jackson quickly ordered a frontal bayonet charge, which poured over the barricade. Fighting ranged over the south end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.

Though the Red Sticks had been crushed at Tohopeka, remnants of the war party held out for several months. In August 1814, a treaty between the United States and the Creek Nation was signed at Fort Jackson near the present day city of Wetumpka, Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson ended the conflict and required the Creeks to cede 23 million acres of land to the United States. The state of Alabama was carved out of this domain and admitted to the Union in 1819.

In 1828, partly as a result of his fame from the battles of Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh President of the United States. - NPS


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