March 27, 1814

U.S. forces under the command of Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated Chief Menawa and his Upper Creek warriors at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. With an army of 3,300, Jackson surrounded the fortified village of Tohopeka and outgunned the 1,000 warriors, who then attempted to escape across the Tallapoosa River. About 850 Upper Creek died in action, including 300 shot in the river. The battle effectively ended the Creek War of 1813-14 and led to the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which ceded 21 million acres of Creek land to the United States, most of which helped form the Alabama Territory three years later. Horseshoe Bend is now a National Military Park, a designation that was the result of a push by Alabama Power and others.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Daviston. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Historic Horseshoe Bend map denoting the location of the monument dedicated in 1914. Alabama Power Company Archives.

Tour Road at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Visitor Center, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

Treaty with the Creeks, Fort Jackson (1814). (The New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Wikimedia).

Creek Chief Menawa. Portrait is from Charles Bird King’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America. (Wikimedia).

Portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. (The White House, Wikimedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.