Red Eagle and the Fort Mims Massacre

In 1811, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, with the help of a comet and an earthquake, convinced some of the Upper Creek towns of the Muscogee to turn against the white civilization they had begun to embrace. This led to one of the worse massacres on American soil. The Battle of Fort Mims was orchestrated by William “Red Eagle” Weatherford, and, as news of the massacre spread, Americans found themselves in a war against the angry Creek. Although the massacre at Fort Mims served to ignite war with the United States, was this really the beginning? What happened to make William Weatherford and his Red Sticks attack Fort Mims and what was the outcome? Although accounts of the massacre at Fort Mims served to ignite war with the United States and the Creeks, the militia attack at the Battle of Burnt Corn angered the Red Sticks, which is what ultimately led to the slaying of approximately 300 people that day at Fort Mims. In October, 1811, the great Shawnee leader, Tecumsah, arrived in Muscogee or Creek territory (present day northeast Alabama) with his brother, Tenskwatawa, who was known as The Prophet. Several thousand Creek warriors came to hear Tecumsah speak in this area known as Hickory Ground. Tecumsah was trying to rally tribes to stop the encroachment of Americans onto Native American lands. Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, the Indian agent, was not worried about Tecumsah’s influence over the Muskogee as they were regarded as one of the “Civilized Tribes” of the southeast. Many of them had been baptized into the Christian faith and accepted the Anglo-American culture as their own.[1] The young men of the Muskogee nation were enthralled with Tecumsah whose reputation was already well-known to them. The Prophet, trying to make inroads with the medicine men of the tribe, played on their superstitions by telling of a fiery omen that would soon appear in the night sky. Tenskwatawa had learned of a coming comet from British soldiers. Tecumsah noted that the Muskogee

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