Horseshoe Bend, on the upper Tallapoosa River in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, was the site of an Upper Creek Red Stick village and the last battle of the Creek or Red Stick War of 1813-14. Upper Creek followers of the Red Stick prophets built the new town of Tohopika in a bend of the upper Tallapoosa in the summer of 1813. The site was quickly settled by people from towns of the Apihka division of the tribe. It was surrounded on three sides by the river and by a stout breastwork on the fourth.
Following a series of defeats by Americans and their Indian allies, Red Sticks from towns on the Coosa and upper Tallapoosa Rivers retreated to Tohopika early in 1814. In March of that year, the town held about four hundred women and children and one thousand warriors.
A force of fifteen hundred Americans with five hundred Cherokees and one hundred "friendly" Creeks under Andrew Jackson surrounded and attacked the town on March 27, 1814. Despite inferior numbers and a lack of firearms, the defenders held off the attack until some of the Cherokees forded the river and attacked from the rear. About eight hundred Red Stick warriors were killed and three hundred fifty women and children taken captive.
This final defeat broke the Red Stick rebellion. In its aftermath, about two thousand Creek rebels fled to Florida, where they joined the Seminoles. The remaining Creeks signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, officially ending the war with the United States and ceding 14 million acres to federal authorities.
See also
Creek (Muskogee);
Red Stick War.
