The Life of Andrew Jackson

by Robert V. Remini

The Red Sticks, stunned and frightened, backed away to conceal themselves in the thick brush that covered the ground. But the troops pursued them and gave no quarter. The killing became savage. “The carnage was dreadful,” Jackson reported.43 Some headed for their canoes to escape, splashing across the river when they found them gone, only to run headlong into Coffee’s troops. Others leaped down the river bluff and concealed themselves among the cliffs that were covered with brush and fallen trees. Hour after hour throughout the afternoon the fighting continued, the troops flushing the Indians from their hiding places and shooting them when they frantically sought new cover. Now the Red Sticks were in total disarray, scampering wildly from place to place. The soldiers systematically slaughtered them. A few Indians, under cover of darkness, managed to cross the river and escape. The next day Jackson ordered a count of the dead. Some 557 Indians were found on the ground; Coffee estimated as many as 300 Creeks dead in the river; and a few dozen bodies were later discovered in the woods—a total of approximately 900 Red Sticks killed.