90 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE ri;Tii.AN.N]'.i 



choo, under Mcintosh, another half-breed fhi(>t', were fricMidly, and 

 acted with the Cherokee and tlie Americans against their own brethren. 



It is not our purpose to give a history of the Creek war, but only 

 to note the part which the Cherokee had in it. The friendly Lower 

 Creeks, under Mcintosh, with a few refugees from the Upper towns, 

 operated chieHy with the army under General Floyd whicii invaded 

 the southern part of the Creek country from Georgia. Some friendly 

 Choctaw and Chickasaw also lent their assistance in this direction. 

 The Cherokee, with some friendly Creeks of the Upper towns, acted 

 with the armies under Generals White and Jackson, whicli entered 

 the Creek country from the Tennessee side. While some hundreds 

 of their wai'riors were thus lighting in the field, the Cherokee at home 

 were busily collecting provisions for the American troops. 



As Jackson approached from the north, about the end of October, 

 1813, he was met by runnel's asking him to come to the aid of Path- 

 killer, a Cherokee chief, who was in danger of being cut oS l)y the 

 hostiles, at his village of Turkeytown, on the upper Coosa, near the 

 present Center. Alabama. A fresh detachment on its way from east 

 Tennessee, under General White, was ordered by Jackson to relieve 

 the town, and successfully performed this work. White's force con- 

 sisted of one thousand men. including four hundred Cherokc^e under 

 Colonel Gideon Morgan and John Lowrey.' 



As the army advanced down the Coosa the Creeks retired to Tallasee- 

 hatchee, on the creek of the same name, near the present Jacksonville, 

 Calhoun county, Alabama. One thousand men under General Coifee, 

 together with a company of Cherokee under Captain Kichard Brown 

 and some few Creeks, were sent against them. The Indian auxiliaries 

 wore headdresses of white feathers and deertails. The attack was 

 made at daybreak of November 3, 1813, and the town was taken after 

 a desperate resistance, from which not one of the defendei's escaped 

 alive, the Creeks having been completely surrounded on all sides. 

 Says Coffee in his official report: 



They made all the resistance that an overpowered soldier could do — they fought as 

 long as one existed, but their destruction was very soon completed. Our men rushed 

 up to the doors of the houses and in a few minutes killed the last warrior of them. 

 The enemy fought with savage fury and met death with all its horrors, without 

 shrinking or f<jmplaining — not one asked to he spared, but fought as long as they 

 could stand or sit. 



Of such fighting stufi' did the Creeks prove themselves, against over- 

 whelming numljers, throughout the war. The t)odies of nearly two 

 hundred dead warriors were counted on the field, and tlie general 

 reiterates that ''not one of the warriors escaped.'' A niunber of 

 women and tliildren were taken prisoners. Nearly every man of the 

 Creeks had a bow with a bundle of arrows, which he used after the 



1 Drake, Indian-s, pp. 395-396, ISSO; Pickett, Alabamii, p. .5.56, reprint of 1.H96. 



