Battle of Burnt Corn
{{short description|Battle of the Creek War}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of Burnt Corn
| image = Burnt_Corn_Battlefield.jpg
| caption = Sketch of the Burnt Corn battlefield
| partof = the Creek War
| date = July 27, 1813
| place = On Burnt Corn Creek in Escambia County, Alabama, near the border with Conecuh County.{{cite web | title=Creek War of 1813–14 | url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1820 | last=Braund | first=Kathryn E. Holland | publisher=The Encyclopedia of Alabama | date=October 28, 2008 | access-date=May 6, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090528200156/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1820| archive-date= May 28, 2009 | url-status= live}}
| result = Red Stick victory
| combatant1 = Red Stick Creek
| combatant2 = {{flagicon|United States|1812}} United States
| commander1 = Peter McQueen
| commander2 = Colonel James Caller
Captain Dixon Bailey
| strength1 = ~80
| strength2 = ~180
| casualties1 = 10 or 12 killed
8 or 9 wounded
| casualties2 = 2 killed
15 wounded
| campaignbox = {{campaignbox Creek War}}
}}
The Battle of Burnt Corn, also known as the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, was an encounter between United States armed forces and Red Stick Creeks that took place July 27, 1813 in present-day southern Alabama. This battle was the first engagement between the U.S. and Red Sticks in the Creek War.
Background
In July 1813, Peter McQueen, an Upper Creek (Muscogee) chief, and a large party of Red Stick warriors proceeded to Pensacola in Spanish Florida to buy munitions, with $400 and a letter from a British officer at Fort Malden. In McQueen's words, the Spanish governor gave them "a small bag of powder for each ten towns, and five bullets to each man."{{cite book |title=History of the United States of America: The second administration of James Madison, 1813–1817 |last=Adams |first=Henry |year=1891 |publisher=C. Scribner's |isbn=0-940450-35-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyunitedst42adamgoog/page/n255 228]–229 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyunitedst42adamgoog |quote=History of the United States of America henry adams burnt corn. }} The governor presented this as a "friendly present, for hunting purposes".
But Samuel Moniac, a Creek warrior, testified August 2, 1813 after the events, "High Head told me that, when they went back with their supply, another body of men would go down for another supply of ammunition; and that ten men were to go out of town, and they calculated on 'five horse-loads for every town'."{{cite web |url=http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmamcrk4/crkdox1.html |title=History of the Mississippi Valley, Volume II |author=Modette |access-date=June 30, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707140730/http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmamcrk4/crkdox1.html| archive-date= July 7, 2011 | url-status= live}}
Battle
United States soldiers at Fort Mims, having heard of Peter McQueen's mission, sent a quickly organized force, led by Colonel James Caller and Captain Dixon Bailey, to intercept McQueen's party.{{Cite book|title= Osceola and the Great Seminole War|last=Hatch|first=Thom|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2012|location=New York|pages=19}} This force was joined by volunteers from Fort Glass under the command of Samuel Dale.{{cite book|author=Mississippi Historical Society|title=Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society: Centenary series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA40|year=1921|publisher=The Society|pages=35}} The Americans ambushed the Red Sticks as they bedded down on the evening of July 27, 1813, on the banks of Burnt Corn Creek, in present-day southern Alabama (in what is now northern Escambia County, Alabama). It would become known as "The Battle of Burnt Corn" or the "Battle of Burnt Corn Creek," and would be seen as a part of the broader Creek War.{{Cite book|title= Osceola and the Great Seminole War|last=Hatch|first=Thom|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2012|location=New York|pages=19–20}}
The Americans scattered the Red Sticks, who fled to the nearby swamps. Flush with victory, the Americans began looting the Red Sticks' pack-horses. From the swamp, the Creeks noticed that the Americans had dropped their guard. The Creek re-grouped and launched a surprise attack of their own, which scattered the Americans.
Gallery
File:Creek Country 1812-1814.jpg|Map of events in Alabama during the War of 1812. Burnt Corn battle site is located in the bottom left.
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/horseshoe_bend_war_1813-14.jpg A map of Creek War Battle Sites] from the PCL Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
- [http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/crkwr2.html#anchor1364926 Account of the Battle of Burnt Corn]
- [http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/crkdox1.html#anchor773321 The Deposition of Samuel Moniac] taken in 1813.
{{Battles of the War of 1812}}
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Category:1813 in the United States
Category:Native American history of Alabama
Category:July 1813 in the United States