The battle of horseshoe bend was fought on a one hundred acre peninsula at the bend of the Tallapoosa River. The plot was known to the Creek Indians as Cholocco Litabixee, or “the horse’s flat foot”, which is where the American interpretation of “horseshoe bend” comes from. (Bunn & Williams, 2008) The battle was fought between General Jackson’s forces and a Native American force called the Red Sticks. Together the two forces had a combined total of around 4500 combatants and around three hundred non-combatants. Though the battle began on the morning of March 27th 1814, the conflict didn’t end until late into the next day. (Remini, 2001)
THE RED STICKS
The Red Sticks were a conglomeration of tribes that included the Okfuskee’s, Hillabees, New Yaucas, Eufalus, Acacos, Ufalees, creek Indians who would not concede to American culture and more. Though many of these tribes were …show more content…
The Red sticks erected a fortification at the open end of the peninsula with two rows of logs stacked on top of each other with heights between five and eight feet tall. The fortification was reinforced with packed earth and had portholes at three levels: one for firing from the prone, one for firing from a knee and one for firing standing. The fortification was arranged similar to two sets of stairs in a way that any enemy approaching would face fire from both flanks. Jackson would later write to General Pinckney stating “it is difficult to conceive of a situation more eligible for defense that the one they had chose, or one rendered more secure by the skill with which they had erected their breastwork…”. (Buchanan, 2001) Behind the fortification the Red Sticks had knocked over trees to fall back to in the event that their wall was breached and at the tip of the peninsula was the town of Tohopeka. On the embankment of the river the Red Sticks docked canoes as an escape