96 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.anx.W 



three hundred were shot in the water. How many more there may 

 have been can not be known, but Jackson hhiiself states that not more 

 than twcnity could have escaped. There is no mention of any wounded. 

 About three hundred prisoners were taken, of whom only three were 

 men. . The defenders of the Horseshoe had been exterminated.' 



On the other side the loss was -itj Americans killed and 1(>7 wounded, 

 IS Cherokee killed and 36 wounded, 5 friendly Creeks killed and 11 

 wounded. It will be noted that the loss of the Cherokee was out of 

 all proportion to their numt)ers, their tio-hting- having been hand t<j 

 hand work without protecting cover. In view of the fact that Jack- 

 son had only a few weeks before been compelled to retreat before this 

 same enemy, and that two hours of artillery and rifle fire had producinl 

 no result until the Cherokee turned the rear of the enemy by their 

 daring passage of the river, there is considerable truth in the boast of 

 the Cherokee that they saved the day for Jackson at Horseshoe bend. 

 In the number of men actually engaged and the immense proportion 

 killed, this ranks as the greatest Indian battle in the history of the 

 United States, with the possible exception of the battle of Mauvila, 

 fought by the same Indians in De Soto's time. The result was decisive. 

 Two weeks later Weatherford came in and surrendered, and the Creek 

 war w^as at an end. 



As is usual where Indians have acted as auxiliaries of white troops, it 

 is diflicult to get an accurate statement of the number of Cherokee 

 engaged in this war or to apportion the credit among the various 

 leaders. Cottee's ofiicial report states that five hundred Cherokee 

 were engaged m the last great battle, and from incidental hints it 

 seems probalde that others were employed elsewhere, on garrison duty 

 or otherwise, at the same time. McKenney and Hall state that Kidge 

 recruited eight hundred warriors for Jackson,- and this may be near 

 the truth, as the tribe had then at least six times as many fighting men. 

 On account of the general looseness of Indian organization we com 

 monly find the credit claimed for whichever chief may be best known 

 to the chronicler. Thus, McKenney and Hall make Major Ridge the 

 hero of the war, especially of the Horseshoe fight, although he is not 

 mentioned in the official reports. Jackson speaks particularly of the 

 Cherokee in that battle as being "headed by their gallant chieftain. 

 Colonel Richard Brown, and conducted by the brave Colonel .Mor- 

 gan." Coffee says that Colonel Gideon Morgan " commanchnl the 

 Cherokees," and it is ]\Iorgan who makes the official report of their 

 part in the battle. In a Washington newspaper notice of the treaty 



1 Jackson's report and Colonel Morgan's report, in Fay and Davison, Sketches of the War, pp. •25.'j, 

 266, 259, 1815. Pickett makes the loss of the white troops 32 killed and 99 wounded. The Houston 

 reference is from Lossing. The battle is described also b.v Pickett, Alabama, pp. 588-691, reprint 

 of 1896; Drake, Indians, pp. 391, 4011, 1S.S0; McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, ii, pp. 98, 99, 1858. 



2 McKenney and Hall, op. cit, p. 98. 



