92 MYTHS OK THK CHEKOKEK [kth.an.n.19 



eluded that peace overtures were of no avail, and tlieneefortli until 

 the elo.se of the war th(>re was no talk of siirrend(>r. 



On Nov(>inher 29, 1.S13, tlie Georgia army under (iencral Floyd, 

 consisting of nine hundred and fifty American troops and four hun- 

 dred friendly Indians, ehietly Lower Creeks under Mcintosh, took 

 and destroyed Autosse(> town on the Tallapoosa, west of the present 

 Tuskegee. killing about two hundred warriors and burning four hun- 

 dred well-built hous(>s. On I)eceml)er 23 the Creeks were again 

 defeated by (leneral Claiborne, assisted by some friendly Choctaws, 

 at Eeanaehaca or the Holy Ciround on Alabama river, near the pivsent 

 Benton in Lowndes county. This town and another a few miles away 

 were also destroyed, with a great quantity of provisions and other 

 pi-o])erty. ' It is doubtful if any Cherokee were concerned in either 

 action. 



Before the close of the year Jackson's force in northern Alabama 

 had been so far reduced by mu<:inies and expiration of service teiins 

 that he had but ow hundred soldiers left and was oliliged to employ 

 the Cherokee to garri-son Fort Armstrong, on the upper Cocsa, and to 

 protect his provision depot. '■ With the opening of the new .rear, 181-1, 

 having received reinforcements from Tennessee, together with about 

 two hundred friendly Creeks and sixty-live more Cherokee, he left his 

 camp on the Coosa and advanced against the towns on the Tallapoosa. 

 Learning, on arri\ing near the rivei', that he was wichin a few miles 

 of the main body of the enemy, he halted for a reconnoissance and 

 camped in order of liattle on Enmkfaw creek, on the northern bank of 

 the Tallapoosa, only a ihort distance from the famous Horseshoe bend. 

 Here, on the morning of June 24, 1814, he was suddenly attacked by 

 the enemy with such fury that, although the troops charged with the 

 Vjayonet, the Creeks returned again to the tight and were at last broken 

 only by the help of the friendly Indians, who came upon them from 

 the rear. As it was, Jackson was so badly crippled that he retreated 

 to Fort Strother on the Coosa, carrying his wounded, among them Gen- 

 eral Coffee, on horse-hide litters. The Creeks pursued and attacked 

 him again as he was crossing Enotochopco creek on January 24. but 

 after a severe hght were driven Ijack with dischai'ges of grapeshot from 

 a six-pounder at close range. The arnn' then continued its reti'eat to 

 Fort Strother. The American loss in these two battles was about one 

 hundred killed and wounded. The loss of the Creeks was nuich greater, 

 but they had compelled a superior force, armed with bayonet and 

 artillery, to retreat, and without the aid of the friendly Indians it is 

 doubtful if Jackson could have saved his army from demoralization. 

 Th(^ Creeks themselves claimed a victory and boasted afterward 

 that they had "whipped Jackson and run him to the Coo.sa river." 



1 Drake. Indians, pp. 391. 398, 1880; Pickett, Alabama, pp. .5.57-5.59, 572-676, reprint of 1.896. 

 - Ibid., p. .579: Lossing, Field Book of the War of 1812, p. 773. 



