THE STOCKADES
THE writers who have treated of the " Creek
War" briefly are many. Those who have gone
much into the details are few. And these few seem
to have had influences bearing upon them which led
them to take different views of the same facts or
sometimes to disagree in regard to the facts. Claiborne,
to whose large work reference has already been made,
doubtless meant to be, as he says in his Introduction
that he has striven to be " truthful and impartial ;"
but it is difficult to read several things in his "Mississippi," without thinking that bis strong feelings
and sympathies and his love for that brilliant rhetoric, which he knew how to command, have unduly colored some of his statements. He objects
strongly to the view which Colonel Hawkins, the
, Government Agent among the Creeks, took of Tecumseh, as Claiborne himself gives that view, and of
Colonel Hawkins' claim that there would not be
much war if the Creeks were let alone. He says
that General Flournoy was misled by Colonel Hawkins' representations concerning the degree of civilization attained by the Creeks and their peaceful
disposition towards the whites: He makes this statement: "Even after the massacre at Fort Mims, R. .
Colonel Hawkins reiterated these assurances, laid the
blame of that affair on the Tombigbee people, and
declared that the war would be i a civil war among
the Creeks and not on the whites,' if let alone."
Claiborne adds: " Unfortunately General Flournoy adopted these views and forbade any aggressive
movement on the savages."
Pickett also speaks of Colonel Hawkins as* having been "strangely benighted," not properly realizing the danger that existed. It is not designed to
suggest, here, who had the most accurate knowledge
of the real state of affairs among the Creeks, — some
of Brewer's statements will appear in other chapters, and the readers will have other facts before
them on which to form their own opinions — but it is
certain that the inhabitants of these river settlements, these pioneers along the Mobile and Tensaw
and the Alabama and Tombigbee, saw a dark looking war cloud rising to the eastward, and that they
felt it needful, and that it was needful, for them to
do the best which they could do in preparing for
self-defense. They therefore erected as speedily as
possible stockades, which they called, in the language
of war, forts, in which they spent quite a little time
in the summer and fall of 1813. No dates have
been found giving the exact time of the erection of
the stockades in Clarke county, but it is evident
that some were erected in July.
An enumeration and some description of these
forts is the object of this chapter, including also
some erected long before 1813.
1. Fort St. Stephens, established by the French?
probably about 1714, held afterwards by the Spanish, who made there a settlement about 1786,
given up by the Spaniards to the Americans
in 1799, has been already mentioned. So far as
the Creek Indians were concerned, this was considered an impregnable fortress. As this locality,
the old St. Stephens, will be again more fully mentioned, it needs no further notice here, only the
statement that it was on the west bank of the Tombigbee, on a high bluff, at the head of sloop navigation.
2. Fort Stoddart, as established by United States
troops in July, 1799, has also been named, with its
stockade and bastion. As this was for some years a
government post, held by United States troops, and
became a port of entry where the Court of Admi
ralty was held, it was of course a strong point. In
1804 Captain Schuyler of New York was commander here, with eighty men, Edmund P. Gaines
was Lieutenant, and Lieutenant Reuben Chamberlain
was paymaster. At Fort Stoddart duties were exacted on imports and exports.* Four miles west of
Fort Stoddart was Mount Vernon.
3. Passing down the river, a strong fort was located at Mobile called Fort Charlotte. Another
was also constructed here, Fort Bowyer.
4. Going now northward, on the east side of the
Alabama, two miles below the u cut off," a quarter of a mile from the Tensaw Boat Yard, was the ill-fated Fort Mims.
*A beautiful, or at least an instructive and strong example of
the effect of duties on articles reaching the consumer was shown
here in 1807. In that year the Natchez planters in the western part of the Mississippi territory paid for Kentucky flour four
ollars per barrel, and the same flour brought round by Mobile
and there subjected to Spanish duties, and coming up the river
past the Port Stoddart port of entry, cost the Tombigbee planters
sixteen dollars a barrel.
This was built in the summer of
1813 and will be again noticed. When the erection
of this stockade was commenced is uncertain, perhaps in July, and, according to Pickett, its last block
house was never finished.
This might be called No. 1 of the stockades
erected especially for protection against the Creeks,
bat the former notation will be continued.
5. Fort Pierce was a small stockade some two
miles south-east of Fort Mims. It took its name
from two brothers, William Pierce and John Pierce,
who came from New England and made there their
home in Spanish times. William Pierce was a weaver and John Pierce a teacher.
6. Crossing the Alabama and coming into the
new Clarke county, we reach Fort Glass, built sometime in July at the home of Zachariah Glass by
himself and his neighbors, Nah-hee, called a Tory
Creek, an intelligent Indian, employed in the Creek
war as a scout, assisting, it is said, in the building.
7. Fort Madison was in the north-east corner of
section one, township six, range three east of the St.
Stephen's meridian, on the water-shed line, which
was then the eastern boundary of Clarke County.
As will be seen from the accompanying cut, it was
north of Fort Glass only two hundred and twenty-five yards, and the two stockades constituted one
locality, being the center of the quite large Fort
Madison neighborhood. The first store in this
region was about due east from Fort Madison, on the
Alabama River, distant six miles, opened, probably,
in 1812; and one of the first grist mills was built about the same time, perhaps about four miles north;
and in 1813 the first cotton gin in the vicinity was
erected some two miles north.
This was one of the
seven principal settlements in the then new Clarke
county and the region west of the Alabama. As is
evident from the mention of the store and the mill
and the gin, and the plantations that were opened
around these, it was an important locality for these
settlers to hold.
Fort Madison contained not quite an acre of
ground, having been, as will be seen from the cut,
sixty yards square. A trench three feet in depth
was dug around the outside and bodies of pine trees
cut about fifteen feet in length were placed perpendicularity in the trench side by side, making thus a
wall of pine wood twelve feet in height. Port
holes were cut at convenient distances so as to en-
able the inmates to look out, and in case of an attack
to fire upon the besiegers. In about the same way
all these stockades of 1813 were constructed. They
were lighted at night by means of the abundant
pitch pine placed upon scaffolds, covered with earth,
erected for the purpose. Additional securities were
added at Fort Madison and an improved method of
lighting introduced, which will be by and by mentioned. Within this enclosure, bearing the name of
the President of the United States, were the tents
and cabins of the settlers of that neighborhood, and,
after its erection, the date not certain, Fort Glass
was occupied by the soldiers.*
* From information gathered in Clarke county, in the region
occupied by several of these forts, it seems that when General
Claiborne reached Mount Vernon, July 30th, he immediately
ascertained what could then be learned about the Burnt Corn action, and in regard to the stockades around the residences of
Glass, Lavier, Sinquefield, White, Easley, and Carney, which of
course were then already erected; and that he sent Colonel Carson
with two hundred mounted men to Fort Glass; and that after
their arrival Fort Madison was immediately constructed. This
fixes the date some time in August. It may be added here that
General Claiborne also sent Captain Scott with a company of
men to St. Stephens, to occupy the old Spanish block-house.
Fort Sinquefield was about ten miles north of
Fort Madison, on the western side of Bassett's
Creek, a large stream of water for a creek, on section
thirteen, township eight, range three east, a smaller
stockade built very much in the same manner. As
the map in this book will show, it was about five
miles south-east from the present town of Grove Hill,
formerly called Macon, the county seat m of Clarke
county. This fort stood on atable-lanclor height of
ground extending for a mile north and south. Eastward is a gentle slope which terminates finally in
the Bassett's Creek valley. Westward are deep
valleys and narrow, between large, high ridges of
land. No actual hill is within miles of this
locality, yet the ascent from the valleys to the top of
the ridges or table, might be called going up hill.
The spring which supplied this stockake with water
is south of west, in one of the deep valleys, distant
two hundred and seventy-five yards.
Ninety feet distant from the once stockaded
ground, in a north-west direction, are some graves.
A few rods eastward of the fort ground is supposed
to be an old burial place, although here the traces of
the graves were not distinct in 1879. * One of the
principal highways of Clarke county runs directly
by this locality, but, as it has been for many years a
family home, no traces of the stockade outlines can be found here which are still so distinct at forts
Glass and Madison.
9. Fort White was a small stockade a short distance north-east of the present Grove Hill.
10. Landrum's Fort was eleven miles west from
Fort Sinquefield; on section eighteen, township
eight, range two east.
11. Mott's Fort was in the same neighborhood.
These both were small.
12. Going now to the Tombigbee River and northward, Fort Easley was on section ten or eleven, township eleven, range one west, at what is now called
Wood's Bluff. This fort was named, as were nearly all
others, from a prominent settler in the neighborhood,
and the bluff took its name from Major Wood, an officer in the Burnt Corn expedition. This stockade was
on a small plateau containing about three acres. On
the side next to the river the bluff is almost a perpendicular wall, there is "a bold spring of water flowing
from its side," and the descent is quite abrupt from
this plateau above and below the stockade ground,
making this fort a naturally strong position.
General Claiborne visited this stockade about the
last of August, having received a report that it
would be attacked by the Indians. It is possible
that some of the Creeks started this report to call
attention away from the real fort which they designed to attack, that Fort Mims, which was fifty
miles south and twelve miles east from Fort Easley.
13. Turner's Fort was some eight miles south
and five west, in the west bend of the Tombigbee
River, near the residence of Abner Turner. This
fort was built of split pine logs doubled and contained two or three block-houses. It was held by
the citizens of the neighborhood, thirteen men and
some boys forming the garrison that expected to
protect the women and children. Two or three miles
distant, on the river, was a Choctaw reservation
known as Turkey Town, called by the Choctaws
" Fakit Chipunta," Little Turkeys. In this stockade
were members of the Turner, Thornton, Pace, and
other families, early settlers in what became the
delightful West Bend neighborhood. Here for a
time resided Tandy Walker, who is mentioned
in the Gaines records, who was "a most experienced and daring backwoodsman ;" but in the summer of 1813 he was connected with the affairs at
Fort Madison.
The inmates of the two forts, Turner's and Easleys', held religious services in their fort life. At
Fort Easley a camp-meeting was held, probably in
August, which some from the other stockade attended. The "love feast " on Sunday morning was
held outside the fort, but guards were stationed to
give warning if any attacking party of Indians appeared.*
14. Passing, now, down the river, on the west
side, five miles below Coffeeville, about a mile from
the river, was Cato's Fort.
* Among those attending this meeting from West Bend was
lira. Martha Pace, known in her later life as Aunt Patsy, born
about 1800, then a girl of thirteen, with whom I became acquainted in 1859, and who mentioned the incident of the " love
feast/' when she was about eighty years of age, a very active,
even then, and noble hearted woman. In this West Bend neighborhood* at the home of Hon. Eli 8. Thornton, among those who
were in the Turner fort and their descendants, I spent nearly two
years.— T. H. B.
Still further west, in Washington county, was
Rankin's Fort, quite a large stockade, and the most
western one of the River Group.
16. McGrew's Fort was in the corner of section one, township seven, range one west, about
three miles north of Fort St. Stephens, in Clarke
county, five miles north and eighteen west from Fort
Madison. It is claimed that the area here enclosed
with palisades was about two acres. Some of the
posts were remaining in 1879, and around the fort
locality was an old field. Here two brothers, William McGrew and John McGrew, British royalists
then, refugees, probably, from the Atlantic coast,
made an early settlement near the Tombigbee River.
McGrew's Reserve, an old Spanish grant, is still
a landmark in Clarke county. These brothers left
the reputation of having been exemplary men, and
of having become good Americans. How many
families were in this fort is not known.
17. Six miles south from Jackson, at Gullet's
Bluff, was Fort Carney, on the line of travel to
Mount Vernon. This fort was built by Josiah Car-
ney, who settled on the river in 1809.*
18. Three miles south of Fort Carney, near Oven
Bluff, was Powell's Fort, where were about six
families, including those of John McCaskey, James
Powell, and John Powell.
* At this stockade an incident occurred illustrating the statement that skill, acquired through disobedience, may be useful, in one of the families was a girl about fourteen years of age who
found the large water course attractive, but whose father, knowing nothing about the management of a boat, fearing no doubt
for her safety, had forbidden her to go to the river. One day an
alarm was given that the Indians were near, and the families
hurriedly sought safety on the west side of the river, But how should this family cross, when the father could neither paddle
nor row? The daughter procured a boat, and, to the astonishment of her father, took them all rapidly over the river. And
then the fact came out that she had slipped off secretly to the
river when opportunities offered and by practice had learned to
take a boat across that current. What her father said or did
tradition has not preserved, but that girl, surely not generally
disobedient nor wayward, grew up to womanhood, became Mrs.
Blackwell, one of the highly respected women of Clarke county,
and died near Jackson in the fall of 1879, eighty years of age. If
disobedient she was at least, in her girlhood, a heroine, and in
her womanhood we may be sure she did not encourage disobedience.
19. Lavier's Fort, written sometimes by mistake
or misprint Rivier's, was built, so far as has been
ascertained, (the only authority is an aged colored
man, Dick Embree), near the residence of Captain
Lawson Lavier, who traded with the Choctaw
Indians. It was built by himself and a few neighbors, but its locality is not known. Pickett names
it, but no resident of Clarke County was found in
1877 who knew anything of it.
20. At Mount Vernon, to which as General
Claiborne's headquarters we now come, and where
was a United States arsenal, were two forts. An
arsenal was maintained here until 1861, and since
1865 this has been held as a United States post,
where a few officers and soldiers may always be
found. Near the parade ground are some of those
beautiful trees known as live oak, and the long leaf
pine growth extends a long distance northward.
The landing place on the river, known .as Arsenal
Wharf or Fort Stoddart, four miles distant, the early
United States "port of entry," is distant from Mobile
by the river channel forty-five miles, and five miles
further north by the river brings one to the head of
the Mobile River, the union of the Alabama and Tombigbee. The Mobile River, of the formation of
which, judging from the school maps of Guyot and
others, many must be ignorant, is fifty miles in
length. Mount Vernon is distant now from Mobile
by railroad only twenty-nine miles. As a place
supposed to be very secure the two forts there, in
the summer of 1813, are said to have been "packed."
How many people were in these different stockades
at any one time is not certain. But after the alarm
caused by the massacre at Fort Mims there were at
Forts Madison and Glass more than one thousand
citizens and soldiers. At Fort Carney there were
about four hundred. Rankin's Fort contained five
hundred and thirty. How many hundred were at
St. Stephens and at Mount Vernon is not known.
In these river settlements there were at that
time, it has been already stated, about two thousand
whites and two thousand blacks, taking for the basis
of authority the United States census of 1810.
Besides these twenty or twenty-one forts, so
called, which were in the line of the river settlements
proper, two forts, named Roger's and Patton's, were
constructed in what is now Wayne county, Mississippi, Patton's Fort at Winchester and Roger's Fort,
six miles above. There was little use for these, however, and no real need, for the Creeks were not
likely to cross the Tombigbee and go into the Choc
taw territory. In fact families of Clarke county
instead of trusting themselves in the stockades and
enduring the inconveniences of thus living, for even
a few weeks, crossed the Tombigbee and selected
camping grounds far enough west to be, as they
thought, out of danger. Among some such was the
family of Mrs. Cathell, a widow with four sons and
four daughters, having come into Clarke county
from Georgia in 1812. Two of her sons went as
soldiers against the Indians. She dreaded to have
them leave her, saying that she had lost two brothers
in the Revolutionary War and she felt sure these sons
would fall in the coming conflict. And they did fall
with so many others at Fort Mims. Disliking fort life
for herself, as she had experienced it in her girlhood
in the war of the Revolution, she with the other
members of her family and ten or twelve other fam-
ilies crossed the river and went into camps.
NOTES.
1. Soon after the return of the Cathell family
into Clarke County, one of the daughters, Jane Cathell, was married to Captain William R. Parker, and
with her, eighty-four years of age in April, 1879, the
writer of this chapter became acquainted. She had
good use of her faculties, was intelligent and sprightly in mind, her eyes rather dim, but her hearing
good.
She died suddenly in May, 1879, falling "lifeless
to the floor, from the chair in which she was sitting."
2. That this fort life, although a necessity with
many for a time, was to many mothers with their
little children not pleasant, is evident from the statements of Mrs. Mary Cammack, with whom also this
writer was acquainted. She was born in April,
1789, in South Carolina, was married in Kentucky
in 1804, came into the Mississippi Territory in 1810,
and when visited by the writer in August, 1874, then
eighty-five years of age, was active, intelligent, cheerful, and recounted with a ready recollection
the events of her earlier life. In 1810, for some five
weeks, five hundred Choctaw Indians had camped
within sight of her husband's cabin, near the Clarke
county water-shed line. She reported them as well
behaved, drinking no whiskey, not attempting to
steal or plunder. Their chief was the noted Pushmataha. But when the Indian troubles commenced
sixteen out of the seventeen of her husband's pack
horses were taken by the Creek Indians, and the family were all soon obliged to seek safety in Fort Madison.
But Mrs. Cammack expressly said/she did not think
the behavior of some of the white people in the fort
was equal to the conduct as she saw it of Pushmataha's Choctaws. The practices of some of them
she very much disliked. And it is very evident,
however virtuous these pioneer settlers were, as they
had lately come from Georgia and the Carolinas,
from Tennessee and Kentucky, that life in a crowded
stockade, to sensitive mothers and little children,
could not be pleasant.
Mrs. Mary George Cammack, in 1813 twenty-
four years of age, then the mother of four children,
was a woman of more than ordinary physical and
mental endowments, as many of our pioneer women
were, and hers I consider to be first class testimony,
as an observing and unprejudiced woman, for all
facts within her range of knowledge connected with
the Creek Indian troubles of 1813.
3. This note is for the lovers of curious facts.
Mrs. Cammack was the mother of thirteen children, and these facts appear in examining the years
in which they were born. The first birth was in
1805, and then the births were in each odd year, or
every other year, until the year of the fort life, the
year of dangers and alarms. As one illustration of
the alarms, fifteen Indians, before fighting had commenced, called one day at her home, and so startled
her that she took refuge in the home of a neighbor. No child was born in 1813. Then beginning
with December, 1814, the other children were all
born in the even years, thus: 1805, 1807, 1809, 1811,
—1814, 1816, 1818, 1820, 1822, 1824, 1826, 1828,
1830. What could be more regular in birth years?
A new England writer of note, some years ago,
questioned the statement of a Sunday-school man
in regard to families in the South having as many as
eight and twelve children. Many of our questionings doubtless display our ignorance rather than
our knowledge, for it is well known by those who
have the means of knowing that many such large
families were and still are in the South.
