On August 30, 1813, 700 Redstick Creeks attacked the fortified plantation home of Samuel Mims on the southern frontier of the United States in what is now Alabama. Some 250 soldiers and refugees—men, women, and children—were burned alive in buildings set ablaze by the Redsticks. It was the worst defeat for non-Indians in America’s history. Like September 11, 2001, it is a date the young republic would never forget, and it redefined the attitudes of white settlers toward Native Americans for the rest of the century.
University of South Alabama archaeologist Greg Waselkov uses both archival and physical evidence to paint a nuanced picture of the causes leading up to the atrocity and its aftermath. The Redsticks were defending their territory from the growing encroachment of the Euro-Americans. The victims included whites, Native Americans, and people of mixed heritage. All owned black slaves. This frontier multi-culturalism abruptly changed as a result of the assault, and a policy of cultural assimilation was replaced with a policy of forced Indian removal to Oklahoma. It also greatly accelerated the rise to power of General Andrew Jackson. A Conquering Spirit is a must read for anyone interested in the colonizing of the American frontier.
