Pickett's History of Alabama - Chapter 41 - Battles of Emucfau,
Enitachopco and Calbec

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                 Albert James Pickett: HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
                  (Kindly contributed by William C. Bell)
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                                CHAPTER XLI.
                                      
                BATTLES OF EMUCKFAU, ENITACHOPCA AND CALBEC
                                      
   Since the battle of Talladega, Jackson had encountered innumerable
   difficulties and mortifications, owing to the failure of contractors
   and the mutiny of his troops, who were finally reduced to one hundred
   men by the expiration of their time of service. He was now compelled
   to employ Cherokees to garrison Fort Armstrong, upon the Coosahatchie,
   and protect the stores at Ross's. Almost alone, in a savage land, he
   yet constantly rode between Fort Strother and Ditto's Landing to
   hasten supplies for the new army, which he had employed Governor
   Blount to raise for him. At last two regiments, one of them commanded
   by Colonel Perkins and the other by Colonel Higgins, numbering
   together eight hundred and fifty men, who had only enlisted for sixty
   days, reached Fort Strother. Jan. 14 1814: Well understanding the
   character of minute men like these, who must be constantly employed,
   Jackson immediately marched them across the Coosa to the late battle
   ground of Talladega, where he was joined by two hundred Cherokees and
   Creeks, who evinced great alarm at the weakness which the command
   presented. Jan. 16: Continuing the march towards the Tallapoosa, the
   army encamped at Enitachopco, a Hillabee village, and the next day
   fell into many fresh beaten trails, indicating the proximity of a
   large force. Jan. 21 1814: Here Jackson determined to halt for the
   purpose of reconnoitre. Before dark his encampment was formed, his
   army thrown into a hollow square, his pickets and spies sent out, his
   sentinels doubled, and his fires lighted some distance outside of the
   lines. About ten o'clock at night one of the pickets firing upon three
   of the enemy succeeded in killing one, and at the hour of eleven the
   spies reported a large encampment three miles distant, where the
   savages were whooping and dancing, and, being apprised of the approach
   of the Americans, were sending off their women and children. 
   
   Jan. 22: About six o?clock in the morning the Indians suddenly fell
   upon Jackson's flank, and upon the left of his rear, maintaining a
   vigorous attack for a half hour. General Coffee, AdjutantGeneral
   Sitler, and Inspector-General Carroll rode rapidly to the scene of
   action as soon as the firing commenced, animating the men, who firmly
   kept the assailants at bay. Morning shed its light upon the exciting
   scene, enabling Captain Terrill's infantry to reinforce the left
   flank, when the whole line was led to the charge by General Coffee,
   supported by Colonels Higgins and Carroll and the friendly Indians,
   which forced the savages to abandon the ground in a rapid manner. They
   were pursued with slaughter for two miles. Coffee being then ordered,
   with four hundred men and the friendly Indians, to burn up their
   encampment, advanced, and, finding it strongly fortified, returned for
   the artillery. Shortly afterwards, a body of the enemy boldly advanced
   and attacked the right wing of Jackson's encampment. Coffee again
   charged, but, through mistake, only forty-five men followed him,
   composing his own company of volunteer officers; but the friendly
   Indians were sent by Jackson to his support. Dismounting his men, he
   now pursued the "Red Sticks" to the swamp of a creek.*
   
   * The Indian war-party were often called the "Red Sticks," because
   their war-clubs were invariably painted red.
   
   Jackson had ordered his left flank to remain firm, and now the Indians
   came rushing with yells against it. Repairing to that point, and
   ordering up Captain Terrill to his support, the whole line received
   the enemy with intrepidity, and, after a few fires, advanced to the
   charge under the impetuous Carroll. Again the Red Sticks fled before
   the bayonet, the Americans pursuing some distance, and marking their
   trails with blood. In the meantime, Coffee kept the enemy, who had now
   returned upon him from the swamp, at bay until Jackson strengthened
   him with a reinforcement of a hundred friendly warriors, at the head
   of whom was Jim Fife. Coffee again charged, when the Red Sticks once
   more gave way, and the pursuit was continued for three miles, with the
   loss of forty-five savages. 
   
   The brave Creeks had now been repulsed in every attempt, but they
   exhibited a ferocity and courage which commanded the serious
   consideration of Jackson, whose force was weaker than he desired. The
   horses had been without cane and without corn for two days, and but
   few rations remained for the men. The wounded were numerous, and the
   enemy would doubtless soon be reinforced. Jackson determined to return
   to Fort Strother with all possible despatch. The remainder of the day
   was employed in collecting and burying the dead, dressing the wounded
   and fortifying the camp; but the morning dawned without another
   attack.*
   
   * The battle of Emuckfau was fought near a creek of that name, which
   runs south into the Tallapoosa river, in Tallapoosa county, Alabama.
   
   The army began the retrograde march about ten o?clock a.m., bearing
   the wounded, among whom was Coffee, in litters, constructed of the
   hides of the slain horses. Jan. 23 1814: Jackson reached Enitachopco
   before night without molestation, and fortified himself at a place a
   quarter of a mile from the creek, around which the Red Sticks prowled,
   but refrained from attack. Dreading an onset at the ford of the creek,
   by which his army had passed a few days before, and which afforded
   great facilities for Indian ambuscades, the commander despatched spies
   in search of a less exposed crossing place. Jan 24: Six hundred yards
   lower down was selected, and thither he advanced his troops in the
   morning. Carroll commended the rear guard, Colonel Perkins the right
   column, and Colonel Stump the left. In case of attack, Carroll was to
   face about, display and maintain his position, while the other two
   colonels were to face outward, wheel back on their pivots, and attack
   the Red Sticks on both flanks.
   
   The wounded and the front guard had passed the creek, and as Jackson
   was upon the eastern bank, superintending the crossing of the army, an
   alarm gun was heard, which was succeeded by a fierce attack of the
   savages upon the rearguard of Captain Russell's spies. Colonel Carroll
   ordered the rear-guard to halt and form, when the right and left
   columns, seized by a sudden panic, fled without firing a gun, drawing
   after them most of the centre, with their officers foremost in the
   flight, at the head of whom was Colonel Stump, who came plunging down
   the bank, near the exasperated commander-inchief, who made an
   unsuccessful effort to cut him down with his sword. With only
   twenty-five men, under Captain Quarles, Carroll gallantly checked the
   advance of the Red Sticks. The artillery was under the command of
   Lieutenant Armstrong, in the absence of Captain Deadrick, who now
   ordered his company, armed with muskets, to advance to the top of the
   hill, while he, with Constantine Perkins and a few others, dragged up
   the six-pounder from the middle of the creek. Instantly in their
   position, they maintained it against ten times their number, until
   Armstrong reached them with his piece. Jan. 24 1814: Discovering that,
   in the hurry of separating the gun from the limbers, the rammer and
   pricker had been left tied to the latter, with wonderful presence of
   mind, and while Indian bullets rattled like hail around them,
   Constantine Perkins and Craven Jackson, two of the gunners, supplied
   the deficiency. Perkins took off his bayonet, and rammed the cartridge
   home with his musket, and Jackson, drawing his ramrod, employed it as
   a pricker, priming with a musket cartridge.* The six-pounder was thus
   twice charged, pouring grape among the savages, then only a few yards
   distant. Several comrades of these men fell around them, and, after
   the second fire, the little artillery company furiously charged on the
   assailants, who became more cautious in their approaches. Captain
   Gordon's spies, in front of the army when the alarm was given, made a
   circuit and attacked the left flank of the Indians. At the same time,
   a number of the rear-guard and flankers, rallied by Jackson,
   re-crossed the creek and joined in the fight. The savages, finding
   that the whole army was now brought against them, fled, throwing away
   their packs and leaving upon the field the bodies of twenty-six
   warriors.
   
   * Constantine Perkins was born in Knox county, Tennessee the 17th
   August, 1792 He graduated at Cumberland College in 1813, and was with
   Jackson at the battle of Talladega in Carroll's Advance guard, where
   he greatly distinguished himself. Refusing to abandon Jackson in a
   hostile land, he remained with the small number who adhered to him In
   the two battles at Emuckfau, he fought side by side with the bravest.
   When the Creek war was at an end, he studied law at Nashville. He was
   elected solicitor of one of the Tennessee circuits but, removing to
   Alabama in 1819, was elected solicitor of the third circuit, which
   office he held until 1826, when he was elected attorney-general In
   1834, the people of Tuscaloosa county placed him in the State Senate
   of which he was a member until the 17th September, 1836, when he died.
   
   One hundred and eighty-nine bodies of the enemy were counted upon the
   fields of Emuckfau and Enitachopco. The loss of the Americans was
   twenty killed and seventy-five wounded, several of whom afterwards
   died. Major A. Donaldson was killed at Emuckfau. Captain Hamilton,
   Lieutenant Armstrong, Bird Evans, Hiram Bradford and Jacob McGivock
   were severely wounded. The first named afterwards died. Jackson, in
   his report, spoke in the highest terms of the bravery of these men,
   and also of that of Captains Sitler, Quarles, Elliott and Pipkin, and
   Colonel Higgins. He also mentioned the gallantry of the venerable
   Judge Cocke, who, at the age of sixty-five, was in the midst of these
   battles.
   
   The army continued its march to Fort Strother, where Jackson ordered
   the sixty day volunteers to march to Huntsville for honorable
   discharge, at the same time granting to Coffee and his officers the
   privilege of returning home, until the government again demanded their
   services, to all of whom he addressed a kind letter, commending their
   patriotism and bravery. Jan. 28 1814: A court martial acquitted
   Colonel Perkins of the charge of cowardice, at the battle of
   Enitachopco; but Colonel Stump was found guilty, and cashiered.*
   
   * Kendall's Life of Jackson, pp. 252-264. Waldo, Eaton, etc
   
   Such is the American account of these engagements. The brave natives
   of Alabama had no writers among them to record their achievements.
   Several Chiefs and leading warriors, who were in the battles of
   Emuckfau and Enitachopco, have stated to us that they "whipped Captain
   Jackson, and run him to the Coosa river." The authors who have written
   upon these campaigns speak of the weakness of the American force. It
   consisted of seven hundred and sixty-seven men, with two hundred
   friendly Indians. We are enabled to state, with confidence that the
   force of the Red Sticks, in these battles, did not exceed five hundred
   warriors, for the larger body had assembled below, to attack Floyd,
   while others were fortifying the Horse-Shoe, and various other places.
   
   It has been seen that the Georgia army, after the battle of Auttose,
   retired to the Chattahoochie. There, for more than six weeks, it had
   reposed, for the want of expected supplies. When General Floyd
   recovered from his wound, he again marched to the seat of war, with a
   force of twelve hundred and twenty-seven, rank and file, besides a
   company of cavalry and four hundred friendly Indians. His destination
   being the town of Tookabatcha, he established posts upon the route,
   for the purpose of keeping up a communication and facilitating the
   transportation of supplies. Marching from post to post, as they were
   established, he at length encamped on the Calebee Creek, upon the high
   lands bordering its swamp.*
   
   * This creek runs in a northwestern direction, through Macon county,
   Alabama.
   
   Jan. 27 1814: At twenty minutes past five o?clock in the morning, the
   Red Sticks, who had secreted themselves in the swamp during the latter
   part of the night, sprung upon the Georgians like tigers, driving in
   their sentinels, and taking the whole army by surprise. In twenty
   minutes the action became general, and the front right and left flanks
   of the Americans were closely pressed, but the enemy was met at every
   point. The front line was preserved by the steady fire of the
   artillery, under Captain Thomas, aided by the riflemen of Captain
   Adams. These troops suffered severely, for the enemy rushed within
   thirty yards of the cannon. Captain John Broadnax, who commanded one
   of the picket guards, maintained his post, until a party of Indians
   had cut off his retreat to the main army. In this desperate situation
   his resolute band cut their way through to their friends, assisted by
   Timpoochy Barnard, a half-breed, at the head of some Uchees. The other
   friendly Indians, with a few exceptions, taking refuge within the
   lines, remained alarmed and inactive while the battle lasted. When day
   appeared the battalions of Majors Watson and Freeman were ordered to
   wheel up at right angles. Those of Majors Booth and Cleavland, who
   formed the right wing, received the same order, while Captain
   Hamilton's cavalry was instructed to form in the rear of the right
   wing, to act as circumstances required. A charge was now made, and the
   Red Sticks gave way before the bayonet. The cavalry, falling upon
   them, made considerable havoc, and followed by the friendly Indians
   and the rifle companies of Merriweather and Ford pursued them through
   Calebee swamp. From the traces of blood and the number of head-dresses
   and warclubs found in various directions, the loss of the enemy must
   have been considerable. In the commencement of the action Colonel
   Newnan was wounded by three balls, which deprived the commander of the
   services of that gallant and useful officer. Adjutant-General Narden,
   whose horse was wounded under him, performed important services, while
   the aid-de-camp of Floyd also had his horse killed under him His
   additional aids, General Lee and Major Pace, acted in a manner highly
   honorable to themselves and useful to the army. The loss of the
   Americans was seventeen killed and one hundred and thirty-two wounded,
   to which must be added the loss of the friendly Indians, who had five
   killed and fifteen wounded. The Georgians fought with great
   resolution; but, assailed before day, with no fortifications around
   them, the Indians, until the charge was made, had the advantage, and
   made use of it.* The large number of wounded Georgians, the proximity
   of the enemy, who continued to hover around them, indicating a
   disposition to renew the attack, were reasons deemed sufficient by
   Floyd for relinquishing the main object of the expedition, retracing
   his steps, and awaiting further reinforcements. He accordingly marched
   from Calebee to Fort Hull, one of his newly erected posts, and the
   next night the Indians were in possession of the battle field. Feb. 2
   1814: Leaving at Fort Hull a small garrison, he returned to Fort
   Mitchell, upon the Chattahoochie, which he believed, from information,
   was soon to be attacked. Although the Georgia army had gallantly
   maintained their ground at the battle of Calebee, the Indians stopped
   their further march into the nation, and caused them in a few days to
   retreat.*
   
   * Zachariah McGirth, hearing a despatch from General Claiborne to
   Floyd, passed through the Calebee swamp late in the night, while it
   must have been filled with the enemy, and strangely reached the
   American camp in safety.
   ** Russell's History of the Late War, pp. 242-243. Waldo's Life of
   Jackson, pp. 124-126. Kendall's Life of Jackson, p. 240.
   
   General Jackson had employed the few militia who remained with him at
   Fort Strother, after the battles of Emuckfau and Enitachopco, in
   constructing flat-boats to descend the Coosa with stores for the use
   of the new army then being raised in Tennessee, which was to operate
   below. Feb.15 1814: The Kialigee Chiefs, whose neutrality Jackson had
   viewed with suspicion, becoming alarmed, paid him a visit, and
   disclosed that the Ufaulas, New-Yaucas and Ocfuskes, the remnant of
   the Hillabees, the Fish Ponds, and many Red Sticks from other towns,
   were then in a bend of the Tallapoosa, and on an island near Emuckfau,
   where they had resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity.
   This information determined him to march upon them.
   
   March 15-16: When the army arrived at Fort Strother, he embarked the
   stores in the flat-boats, which were to proceed down the Coosa in
   charge of the thirty-ninth regiment, and, leaving a garrison of four
   hundred and fifty men in Fort Strother, under the command of Colonel
   Steele, he began the march, for the third time, toward the seat of
   war. Within five days, Jackson reached the mouth of Cedar Creek,
   having been retarded by the cutting out of thirty miles of the road.
   The boats, in descending the river, meeting with some obstructions,
   finally reached this point also, where a fort was immediately
   commenced, which Jackson called Fort Williams, in honor of the
   commander of the thirty-ninth regiment. Mar. 22: A detachment returned
   to the camp, and reported that they had burned two Indian towns, lower
   down, but had seen no Red Sticks.
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