Studying Military History: Horseshoe Bend Battlefield
Studying military history as a required topic in WOILO was initially a tedious proposition; I simply felt there was no good way to make military history interesting. The staff ride to Horseshoe Bend Battlefield disabused me of that notion, because it provided me a fascinating snapshot of the challenges the combatants faced as they readied for this decisive battle, with a perspective I could not comprehend merely from learning about it in the classroom.
For instance, viewing the battlefield on a map does little to indicate how critical the terrain was in the outcome of this battle. It was not until we were clustered around the trees in Stand Three that I was able to visualize how doomed the Red Sticks were when they decided to fight from …show more content…
On the side of the Red Sticks, it appeared the morale and cohesion of the assembly vanished when the spiritual leader and prophet, Monahee, perished after being shot through the mouth with a load of grapeshot. The irony of the prophet suffering a mortal wound in the very vehicle from which he had been delivering messages of supernatural strength and victory is something we simply cannot overlook. On the other side of the battle, we saw the opposite effect when leaders incurred wounds from the battle. For example, Major Lemuel Montgomery form the 39th Infantry was so motivated by the Americans’ cause that when Jackson issued the order to charge the barricade, Major Montgomery was the first man to scale the obstacle. Unfortunately, he was also the first official casualty of the battle, dying from a gunshot to the head. His men were undeterred by the death; in fact, Montgomery’s death seemed to galvanize the troops, and they engaged in the battle with renewed fervor. Another less deadly, but no less motivational instance occurred when a young ensign named Sam Houston incurred a vicious leg wound from an enemy arrow. Undaunted, Houston forcibly compelled one of his lieutenants to remove the arrow, and then returned to the fracas despite orders from Jackson to vacate the battlefield. To me, these two instances of courage under fire epitomize unit cohesion that contributed to the decisive victory for the
For instance, viewing the battlefield on a map does little to indicate how critical the terrain was in the outcome of this battle. It was not until we were clustered around the trees in Stand Three that I was able to visualize how doomed the Red Sticks were when they decided to fight from …show more content…
On the side of the Red Sticks, it appeared the morale and cohesion of the assembly vanished when the spiritual leader and prophet, Monahee, perished after being shot through the mouth with a load of grapeshot. The irony of the prophet suffering a mortal wound in the very vehicle from which he had been delivering messages of supernatural strength and victory is something we simply cannot overlook. On the other side of the battle, we saw the opposite effect when leaders incurred wounds from the battle. For example, Major Lemuel Montgomery form the 39th Infantry was so motivated by the Americans’ cause that when Jackson issued the order to charge the barricade, Major Montgomery was the first man to scale the obstacle. Unfortunately, he was also the first official casualty of the battle, dying from a gunshot to the head. His men were undeterred by the death; in fact, Montgomery’s death seemed to galvanize the troops, and they engaged in the battle with renewed fervor. Another less deadly, but no less motivational instance occurred when a young ensign named Sam Houston incurred a vicious leg wound from an enemy arrow. Undaunted, Houston forcibly compelled one of his lieutenants to remove the arrow, and then returned to the fracas despite orders from Jackson to vacate the battlefield. To me, these two instances of courage under fire epitomize unit cohesion that contributed to the decisive victory for the