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and when the savages quit the place they left behind them only ashes and the bodies of the dead.

The news of the massacre spread rapidly over the Territory, and caused a panic in the Natchez settlements; the entire country was thrilled with horror. The authorities at Washington saw that the British had acquired a terrible ally in the south. The Spanish governor and the British emissaries at Pensacola were delighted with the result of their intrigues.

The citizens of Clarke County, in the fork of the Tombigbee and the Alabama, were now chiefly exposed to the depredations of the Red Sticks. Francis, the "prophet," with a hundred warriors, was at work in that region, and no white man was safe outside the stockades. Pent up in these narrow enclosures, in September the settlers fell a prey to sickness; and frequently those who ventured out to gather the crops were attacked and slain by prowling Creeks. Fort Sinquefield, one of the upper stockades, was attacked, but successfully defended. Claiborne, fearing a strong attack on Fort Madison, sent Colonel Carson a discretionary order to abandon the fort. This Carson did, and marched away to St. Stephens, to the consternation of the people, who felt themselves abandoned. Eighty citizens enrolled themselves for the defence of the place, and put themselves under the command of Evan Austill and the wounded Dale.

At this juncture the Choctaws were watched with the greatest anxiety. It is hardly too much to say that hostility from that quarter would have meant the destruction of the Alabama settlements, shut in, as they would have been, between the two great branches of the Muscogee family. To Pushmataha more than to any other man it is due that the danger was averted. His influence and his eloquence were steadily exerted to befriend the whites. George S. Gaines induced him to go to Mobile, where he made an offer to General Flournoy to enlist several companies of Choctaws against the Creeks. Flournoy, for some reason, declined,

but later came to his senses and sent a messenger after the chief to accept the proposal.

A council of Choctaws was held. Pushmataha spoke at great length, and announced that he himself would join the people of St. Stephens. The warriors, slapping their breasts, declared they were ready to follow him. Colonel John McKee, agent for the Chickasaws, also succeeded in keeping those warlike Indians from joining the Red Sticks. He even raised a considerable force among them and marched against a Creek settlement at Tuscaloosa Falls, but found it deserted. Some of the Chickasaws then went to St. Stephens and joined General Claiborne's troops.

But a stronger helper than any of these was coming from the northward. The news of the fall of Fort Mims had hardly reached Nashville when the Tennesseeans were ready to take the field. At their head came Andrew Jackson, who was now about to win the proudest laurels of a great career. In October, with a strong force, he crossed the Tennessee and began his campaign against the Creeks.

Tecumseh (or Tecumthe) is perhaps the most remarkable character in the history of the North American Indians. He was distinguished both as orator and as warrior. After leaving Mississippi Territory he led the hostiles in the north, and it was probably due to his work that the British succeeded in defending Canada against the Americans. He was defeated and slain at the battle of the Thames (Canada), October 5, 1813.

QUESTIONS.

Why were the Creeks discontent? Tell about Tecumseh and his visit to the south. Relate the history of Colonel Caller's expedition. What measures of defence did the settlers take? Locate and describe Fort Mims. What measures did General Claiborne take? Describe the attack on Fort Mims. What was occurring in Clarke County? What was the attitude of the Choctaws? Of the Chickasaws? What was the effect of the fall of Fort Mims on the Tennesseeans? Tell what you know of the following: High-Head Jim; Big Warrior; Dixon Bailey; Major Beasley; Pushmataha; Fort Madison; Auttose; the cut-off; Tuscaloosa Falls.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CREEK WAR.

JACKSON came at the head of the volunteers from middle and west Tennessee. But his was only one of four armies which in the autumn of 1813 moved against the Creeks. One, as we have seen, came from the west, and was commanded by General Claiborne. Another came from east Tennessee, and was commanded by Major-General John Cocke. The fourth came from Georgia, and was commanded by Brigadier-General John Floyd. Let us first follow the men from west Tennessee.

After crossing the Tennessee, Jackson was joined by Colonel John Coffee, who had preceded him. Coffee was now sent to an Indian town on the Black Warrior River, which he found deserted. He burned it, and rejoined the main army at Thompson's Creek. Jackson established a depot at Fort Deposit, and moved over the mountains towards the Coosa.

The first important engagement was at Tallasahatchee, not far from the present Jacksonville. On November 3 a body of hostiles who had assembled at this point were attacked by Coffee (now promoted to be brigadier-general), with some five hundred whites and a party of friendly Creeks and Cherokees. The action was brief, but bloody. The Red Sticks were simply destroyed; the bodies of one hundred and eighty were counted on the field. Coffee's loss was five killed and eighteen wounded.

Jackson built another depot of supplies on the Coosa, and called it Fort Strother. His next move was to march to the relief of some friendly Creeks who were besieged in a town

called Talladega (Talatigi), situated about where the city of Talladega now stands. One of the besieged had crept through the camp of the hostiles disguised in the skin of a hog and fled to the Tennesseeans for help. Jackson and his

men reached the neighborhood of the town the evening of November 8, and made the attack early next morning. The hostiles, numbering perhaps a thousand, fought bravely, but their loss was very heavy, and in the end they were driven away, and the friendly Indians saved. Jackson's loss in killed and wounded was about one hundred. After burying his dead he marched back to Fort Strother. Here he found that the supplies he had expected for his troops had not come. This mismanagement, and the fact that many of his men had enlisted for only a short term of service, kept him inactive for two months.

Meantime, the other three armies were not idle.

General White, with a force of General Cocke's east Tennesseeans, reached Turkeytown, not far east of Fort Strother, early in November. Jackson ordered him to march to Fort. Strother to protect that place, while he himself went on the expedition to Talladega. This order General White started

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to obey, but at the command of General Cocke he returned to Turkeytown. A few days later, on November 18, he surrounded the Hillabee town, whose people were already negotiating for peace with General Jackson, killed sixty of their warriors, and took two hundred and fifty prisoners. The remaining Hillabee Indians believed that this was treachery on the part of Jackson, so they joined the hostiles and became relentless foes of the whites. After this mistake General Cocke gave up the hope of winning victory by himself, and reported at Fort Strother with some fourteen hundred men. Jackson sent him back to east Tennessee with those of his troops whose terms had expired, ordering him to raise more men and lead them into the Creek country.

By this time General Floyd and the Georgia troops had crossed the Chattahoochee and were advancing towards the Tallapoosa, guided by Abram Mordecai, a Jew who had lived many years among the Indians. On the morning of November 29 they attacked a large force of the hostiles who were assembled in the town of Auttose, on the east bank of the Tallapoosa, not many miles above its junction with the Coosa. It was intended that the friendly Indians should cross to the western side of the river and prevent the enemy from escaping; but this they failed to do. The Cowetas, under McIntosh, their half-breed chief, and the Tukabatchis, under a chief named Mad Dog, fought bravely on the side of the whites. The hostiles made a good resistance, losing probably two hundred warriors, but were driven from the town. Floyd did not pursue them, but withdrew to Fort Mitchell, where he was kept for some weeks awaiting supplies.

We now turn to General Claiborne in the southwest. During the months of October and November there were several meetings between small parties of whites and Indians in this quarter. On October 4 Colonel William McGrew, with twenty-five mounted militia, met a party of hostiles at Barshi Creek. An engagement took place in which his force was