Battle of Horseshoe Bend

The battle of horseshoe bend was fought in 1814 between the red sticks and European American troops. The war was fought in central Mississippi which is currently called Alabama. The greater war was known as the Creek war, and it ended with the defeat of the Indian tribes who opposed the American expansion at the time. The main objective of the American side was to expand its territory to the west side where it hoped to conquer more territories to resettle its people. The Indian tribes had the objective of protecting their land against the American invention, and that is why they fought back. The Indian tribes (red sticks) where mainly troubled by the continuing expansion of the American settlers and they feared they could lose their land to the encroaching settlers. Even though the Indian tribal leaders had taken a neutral position in the war between the United States and the Britain, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh in sighted the young warriors to rise and protect their land against the white settler's occupation CITATION Edw00 \l 1033 (Purcell, 2000).

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The Indian tribes attacked some farms and settlements while attempting to eject the settlers from the farms. The settlers incurred very heavy losses, and most of them fled the war since the home army was not available to help them at the moment. The climax of the Indian tribe's attacks came in when they attacked a small outpost north of Mobile called Fort Mims. The Indian army overruns the post massacred around 300 settlers and militia men. This act was mostly conducted by the young worriers who ignored pleas from their leader Red Eagle to refrain from killing the settlers. Red Eagle had noticed that by killing the settlers they could only be inviting trouble and he also realized that the American army was better equipped and trained than his army. Another reason which made Red Eagle to want to refrain was the fact that he knew that creeks from the west would soon join the war on the opposite side and hastens his army's defeat CITATION Cyn11 \l 1033 (Northrup, 2011).

The United States military was led by Andrew Jackson, and he received the news about the massacre while at Nashville. Jackson knew he had to fight the Indian resistance to assert the American superiority in the region as well as enabling the American settlers to expand and conquer more lands west side CITATION Jam90 \l 1033 (Holland, 1990).

Both opposing sides made some preparations before the war such as recruiting more people, convincing more allies and training as well. Andrew Jackson convinced the southern creeks to join the war on his side as well as organizing a Tennessee militia force which was comprised of more than 2000 men. The southern creeks provided about 1000 men to the war to aid in the preparations. To harden his army which comprised of new recruits who were afraid, Andrew Jackson executed some them who panicked under fire, and that worked to get the men to focus. The Indian tribes had abandoned the stand of neutrality and were busy inciting and recruiting new worriers who would be used to fight the United States Army. The Indian tribes had also fortified their areas to deter any American invasion as Andrew Jackson later acknowledged. The Indian tribes also decided to use the element of surprise and attack settlers who were unsuspecting CITATION Don081 \l 1033 (Fixico, 2008).

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Fixico, D. (2008). Treaties with American Indians : an encyclopedia of rights, conflicts, and sovereignty. California : ABC-CLIO.

Holland, J. (1990). Andrew Jackson and the Creek War : victory at the Horseshoe. Alabama : University of Alabama press .

Northrup, C. (2011). The American economy : a historical encyclopedia. California : ABC-CLIO.

Purcell, E. (2000). Encyclopedia of battles in North America, 1517 to 1916. New York : Facts on file .