the fort commander, Major Daniel Beasley, that
they have seen Indians hiding in the tall grass out-
side the post, but Beasley ignores their warnings
and orders them flogged.
At noon the next day, 700 Red Sticks led
by Red Eagle (also known as William Weatherford)
enter the fort, whose gates have been left open. The
warriors kill more than 500 whites and White Stick
Creek, but they spare the lives of most of the slaves,
taking them as war prisoners. The Red Sticks suffer
about one hundred casualties.
The Fort Mims attack creates a panic among
settlers on the southern frontier. Militia forces
from Georgia and Tennessee, augmented by fed-
eral troops, are immediately sent out to subdue the
Creek rebels. (See also entry for MARCH 27, 1814.)
October 5Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of the
Thames.
Shawnee war leader Tecumseh, fighting alongside
British troops led by Colonel Henry Procter (see
entry for JUNE 19, 1812), is angered by British plans
to retreat before American forces invading Canada.
Accused of cowardice, Procter acquiesces to Tecum-
seh’s demand that their British-Indian force turn back
and fight. They encounter the American army on the
Thames River near what is now Moraviantown, On-
tario. The British troops soon flee the battlefield, while
Tecumseh’s warriors continue to fight. During the
battle, Tecumseh is killed, and his corpse is mutilated
and skinned. Later, Colonel Richard M. Johnson willA melodramatic depiction of the 1813 attack on Fort Mims, which left more than 500 non-Indians dead at the
hands of the Red Stick Creek (Library of Congress, Neg. no. USZ62-36279)