USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 18
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 18
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 18
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their efforts against him, and often an Indian and an Ameri- can would plant their guns across the same port-hole, to shoot at each other. Bailey encouraged the whole population in the fort to fight, assuring them that Indians seldom fought long at one time, and, by holding out a little while longer, many would be saved. Failing in his entreaties to prevail upon several to rush through the enemy, to Fort Pierce, only two miles distant, there procure reinforcements, and attack the assailants in the rear, he resolved to go himself, and began to climb over the pickets for that purpose ; but his neighbors, who loved him dearly, pulled him back.
About three o'clock, the Indians, becoming tired of the contest, plundered the additional part of the fort, and began to carry off the effects, to the house of Mrs. O'Neil, which lay three hundred yards distant, on the road to the ferry. Wea- therford overtook them, on a fine black horse, and brought them back to the scene of action, after having impressed them by an animated address. About this time, Dr. Osborne, the surgeon, was shot through the body, and carried into Pa- trick's loom-house, where he expired, in great agony. The women now animated the men to defend them, by assisting in loading the guns and bringing water from the well. The most prominent among these was Mrs. Daniel Bailey, who, provoked at the cowardice of Sergeant Mathews, severely punctured him with a bayonet, as he lay trembling against the wall. Many instances of unrivalled courage could be enumerated, if our space permitted it. One of Jack's sol- diers retreated to the half-finished block-house, after his com-
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mander and all his brothers-in-arms had fallen, and, from that point, discharged his gun at intervals, until he had killed over a dozen warriors. James and Daniel Bailey, the brothers of the gallant Captain, with other men, ascended to the roof of Mims's dwelling, knocked off some shingles, for port-holes, where they continued to shoot the lusty warriors on the out- side of the picketing. But the superior force of the assail- ants enabled them constantly to bring fresh warriors into the action. They now set fire to the main building, and many of the out-houses. The shrieks of the women and children went up to high heaven.
To Patrick's loom-house had been attached some extra picketing, forming what was improperly termed a bastion. Hither Captain Bailey, and those of his command who sur- vived, entered, and continued to pour upon the savages a most deadly fire. Many citizens attempted to reach that spot, now the only one of the least security. The venerable . David Mims, attempting to pass to the bastion, received a large ball in the neck ; the blood gushed out : he exclaimed, "Oh God. I am a dead man!" and fell upon his face. A cruel warrior cut around his head, and waved. his hoary scalp exultingly in the air. Some poor Spaniards, who had de- serted from the Pensacola garrison, kneeled around the well and crossed themselves, and, while interceding with the Most HIGH, were despatched with tomahawks. "TO THE BASTION ! TO THE BASTION !" was now the fearful cry of the survivors. Soon it was full to overflowing. The weak, wounded and feeble, were pressed to death and trodden under foot. The
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CHAPTER spot presented the appearance of one immense mass of human XXXIII. beings, herded together too close to defend themselves, and, like beeves in the slaughter-pen of the butcher, a prey to those who fired upon them. The large building had fallen, carrying with it the scorched bodies of the Baileys and others on the roof, and the large number of women and children in the lower story. The flames began to reach the people in the bastion. Dr. Thomas G. Holmes, an assistant surgeon in the garrison, seized an axe, cut some pickets in two, but did not take them down, suffering them to remain until a suitable opportunity offered to escape. The brave Dixon Bailey now cried aloud that ALL WAS LOST, that his family were to be butchered, and begged all to make their escape, if pos- sible. His negro man, Tom, (still living, at Sisemore's plan- tation,) took up his favorite son, who was thirteen years of age, but feeble with the fever, and bore him through the pickets, which Hohines now threw down, and gained the woods in safety. But, strange to say, the infatuated negro presently brought back the poor boy to a squad of hostiles, who dashed out his brains with war-clubs. Little Ralph cried out, " Father, father, save ine !" Of his HEAVENLY FATHER the poor little heathen had probably never heard.
In front of the northern line of picketing was a fence, fifty yards distant, in every lock of which many warriors had placed themselves, to cut off all retreat; besides which, others stationed themselves, at various points, to shoot those who should run. Dr. Hohines, Captain Bailey, and a negro wo- man named Hester, the property of Benjamin Steadham,
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were the first to escape through the aperture. Holmes re- CHAPTER ceiving, in his flight, several balls through his clothes, but no XXXIII. 1813 August 30 wounds, strangely made his way over the fence, gained the swamp, and concealed himself in a clay hole, formed by the prostration of an immense tree. Bailey reached the swamp, but, being badly wounded, died by the side of a cypress stump. Hester received a severe wound in the breast, but reached a canoe in the lake, paddled to Fort Stoddart that night, and was the first to give intelligence to General Clai- borne of the horrible affair.
Returning again to the fatal spot, every house was seen to be in flames. The bastion was broken down, the helpless inmates were butchered in the quickest manner, and blood and brains bespattered the whole earth. The children were seized by the legs, and killed by beating their heads against the stockading. The women were scalped, and those who were pregnant were opened, while they were alive, and the embryo infants let out of the womb. Weatherford had, some time previous, left the horrid scene. He had implored the warriors to spare the women and children, and reproached them for their barbarity ; but his own life was threatened, for interposing, many clubs were raised over his head, and he was forced to retire. In after years, he never thought of that bloody occasion without the most painful emotions. He had raised the storm, but he could not control it.
The British agents, at Pensacola, had offered a reward of five dollars for every American scalp. The Indians jerked the skin from the whole head, and, collecting all the effects which
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CHAPTER XXXIII. 1813 August 30
the fire had not consumed, retired to the east, one mile from the ruins, to spend the night, where they smoked their pipes and trimmed and dried their scalps. The battle had lasted from twelve to five o'clock.
Of the large number in the fort, all were killed or burned up, except a few half-bloods, who were made prisoners, some negroes, reserved for slaves, and the following persons, who made their escape and lived : Dr. Thomas G. Holmes ; Hester, a negro woman ; Socca, a friendly Indian ; Peter Randon, lieutenant of citizen's company ; Josiah Fletcher ; Sergeant Mathews, the coward; Martin Rigdon ; Samuel . Smith, a half-breed; - Mourrice, Joseph Perry, Mississippi volunteers ; Jesse Steadham ; Edward Steadham ; John Ho- ven ; - Jones ; and Lieutenant W. R. Chambliss, of the Mississippi volunteers.
Dr. Holmes lay concealed in the clay hole until nine o'clock at night. The Gin-House, at the Boat Yard, had been fired, and the conflagration threw a light over the surrounding country, in addition to that still afforded by the ruins of Fort Mims. Hence, he was forced to resume his position, until twelve o'clock, when the flames died away. Remembering ' that he had never learned to swim, he abandoned the idea which he first entertained, of crossing the Alabama, and ma- king his way to Mount Vernon. He, therefore, bent his course towards the high lands. He frequently came upon small Indian fires, around which the bloody warriors lay in profound sleep. Bewildered and shocked, in every direction in which he turned, by unwelcome and fearful sights like these, he at
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length, after a great deal of winding and turning, fell back into the river swamp, hid in a clump of thick canes, and there subsisted upon water, mutton reed and roots. All this time he was in the immediate neighborhood of the scene of the tragical events we have described, and heard, distinctly, the Indians kill- ing the stock of the citizens. When silence ensued, after the fifth day, he made his way to the Race-Track, and from thence to Pine-Log Creek, where he spent the night. Reaching Buford's Island the next day, and seeing the tracks of people and horses, he determined to fall in with them, although they should prove to be hostile Indians, so desperate had he be- come from starvation. At the Tensaw Lake, Holmes found the horses tied, and, rejoicing to find that they belonged to his friends, fired off his gun. John Buford and his party, supposing the discharge proceeded from the war party, fled up into a bayou, in a boat, where they remained two days. The disappointed Holmes went to the abandoned house of Buford, where he fortunately obtained some poultry, which he devoured without cooking. Three days afterwards he was discovered by Captain Buford, and conveyed to Mount Vernon, where the other fourteen who escaped had arrived, and reported him among the slain.
Martin Rigdon, Samuel Smith, Joseph Perry, -- Mour- rice, and Jesse Steadham, escaped through the picketing to- gether. The latter was shot through the thigh, early in the action, and Mourrice in the shoulder. Leaping the fence in front of the bastion, over the heads of the squatting Indians,
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they reached the swamp, where they remained three days, when, finding an old canoe below the Boat Yard, they made their escape to Mount Vernon. Edward Steadham, who was wounded in the hand, while flying from the bastion, entered the swamp, swam the Alabama, above the Cut-Off, and arrived at Mount Vernon, four days after the massacre. All the others who escaped so miraculously made their way, with success, through the Indian ranks, and had many similar adventures, reaching the American head-quarters at the most imminent peril. Lieutenant Chambliss had received two se- vere wounds in the fort, and, in running across the field, re- ceived another. Reaching the woods, he crept into a log- heap. At night, a party of warriors set fire to it, for the purpose of smoking their pipes, and, when the heat was becoming intolerable, and he would soon have been forced to discover himself, they fortunately were called off, to another camp-fire. He left that place immediately, wandered about, and, for a long time, was supposed to be dead. He made his way, however, to Mount Vernon, and, from thence, went to Soldier's Retreat, the residence of General Claiborne, near Natchez, where Dr. John Coxe, an eminent surgeon, extracted two arrow-heads and a ball from his body .*
The day after the fall of Fort Mims, the Indians began to bury their dead, by laying their bodies between the potatoe- rows, and drawing dirt and vines over them ; but, from the great number of the dead, it was abandoned. Many were
* Claiborne's MS. papers.
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also wounded, who were put in canoes, and conveyed up the river. Others, wounded, started home on foot, and died at Burnt Corn Spring. Most of those who were unhurt remained in the neighborhood, to kill and plunder, while another party went to Pensacola, with the scalps, suspended upon poles .*
Zachariah McGirth was the son of James McGirth, who was, as we have seen, an unprincipled but brave man, and a captain of a company of tories, during the revolutionary war, called the "Florida Rangers," forming a part of a battalion commanded by his brother, Colonel Daniel McGirth. When the war terminated, Captain James MeGirth fled to the Creek nation, with his children, among whom was Zachariah. The latter married a half-breed Creek woman, named Vicey Curnells, had become wealthy, and was now an inmate of Fort Mims, with his wife and eight children. About ten o'clock, on the day of the massacre, McGirth entered a boat, with two of his negroes, and went out of Lake Tensaw into the Alabama, with the view of ascending that river to his plantation, which was situated below Claiborne, for some provisions. Reaching the Cut-Off, he heard a heavy discharge of guns at Fort Mims. With pain and anxiety, he continued to listen to the firing, and, running his boat a mile down the river, in a small
* I am indebted to Dr. Thomas G. Holmes, of Baldwin county, Alabama, for the prominent facts in the aforegoing narrative of the fall of Fort Mims. He made notes of the horrible affair a few years after the massacre took place, while the facts were fresh in his memory. I also conversed with Jesse Steadham, of Baldwin, and Lieutenant Peter Randon, the latter of whom I found in New-Orleans, who also escaped. VOL. II. 15
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bavou, resolved to remain there, being firmly impressed with the belief that the Indians had attacked the fort. Late in the evening the firing ceased, and presently he saw clouds of black smoke rise above the forest trees, which was succeeded by flames. The unhappy McGirth now well knew that all was lost, and that, in all probability, his family had perished in the flames. Being a bold man, like his father, he resolved to go through the swamp, with his negroes, to the fatal spot. When he came within a quarter of a mile of the fort, he placed the negroes in a concealed place, and approached alone. All was gloomy and horrible. Dogs, in great num- ber, ran all over the woods, terrified beyond measure. Seeing that the savages had left the ruins, he returned for his ne- groes, and, a little after twilight, cautiously advanced. Me- Girth stood aghast at the horrible spectacle. Bodies lay in piles, in the sleep of death, bleeding, scalped, mutilated. IIis eyes everywhere fell upon forms half burned up, but still cracking and frying upon the glowing coals. In vain did he and his faithful slaves seek for the bodies of his family. Pile after pile was turned over, but no discovery could be made. for the features of but few could be recognized. He turned his back upon the bloody place, crossed the swamp to his boat, and paddled down the Alabama to Mount Vernon, with a sad and heavy heart.
August 30 1813
McGirth, now alone in the world, became a desperate man, ready to brave the greatest dangers for the sake of revenge. During the Creek war, he was often employed in riding ex- presses from the Tombigby to Georgia, when no one else
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could be found daring enough to go through the heart of the CHAPTER enemy's country. After a long service, amid such dangers, a XXXIII. friend accosted him one day, in Mobile, and told him some people desired to see him at the wharf. Repairing there, he saw-a common sight in those days-some wretched Indians, who had been captured. He was asked if he knew them. Hesitating, his wife and seven children advanced and em- braced him. A torrent of joy and profound astonishment overwhelmed him. IIe trembled like a leaf, and was, for some minutes, speechless.
Many years before the dreadful massacre at Fort Mims, a little hungry Indian boy, named Sanota-an orphan, house- less and friendless-stopped at the house of Vicey McGirth. She fed and clothed him, and he grew to athletic manhood. He joined the war party, and formed one of the expedi- tion against Fort Mims. Like the other warriors, he was engaged in hewing and hacking the females to pieces, towards - the close of the massacre, when he suddenly came upon Mrs. McGirth and his foster-sisters. Pity and gratitude taking possession of his heart, he thrust them in a corner, and nobly made his broad savage breast a rampart for their protection. The next day he carried them off, upon horses, towards the Coosa, under the pretence that he had reserved them from death for his slaves. Arriving at his home, he sheltered them, hunted for them, and protected them from Indian brutality. One day he told his adopted mother that he was going to fight Jackson, at the Horse-Shoe, and that, if he should be killed, she must endeavor to reach her friends below. Sure enough,
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الانتر
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the noble Sanota soon lay among the slain at Cholocco Lite- bixee. Mrs. McGirth now being without a protector, and in a hostile region, started off on foot, with her children, for Fort Claiborne. After much suffering, they reached their de- serted farm, below Claiborne, where Major Blue, at the head of a company of horse, discovered these miserable objects, and carried them to Mobile, where the interview just related took place, with the astonished husband, who imagined that he had, some months before, surveyed their half-burnt bodies, upon the field of Fort Mims. His son was the only member of his family who had perished upon that bloody occasion .*
1813
September 9
General Claiborne despatched Major Joseph P. Kennedy, with a strong detachment, to Fort Mims, from his head-quar- ters at Mount Vernon, for the purpose of interring the dead. Upon arriving there, Kennedy found the air darkened with buzzards, and hundreds of dogs, which had run wild, gnaw- ing upon the human carcasses. The troops, with heavy hearts, succeeded in interring many bodies, in two large pits, which they dug. " Indians, negroes, white men, women and children, lay in one promiscuous ruin. All were scalped, and the females, of every age, were butchered in a manner which neither decency nor language will permit me to describe. The main building was burned to ashes, which were filled with bones. The plains and the woods around were covered with
* Conversations with Colonel Robert James, of Clarke county, Ala- bama, who often heard MeGirth relate these particulars. McGirth, in 1834, made the game statements to me.
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dead bodies. All the houses were consumed by fire, except CHAPTER the block-house, and a part of the pickets. The soldiers and XXXIII. officers, with one voice, called on Divine Providence to revenge the death of our murdered friends."*
In drawing our account of this sanguinary affair to a conclu- sion, it is proper to observe that General Claiborne was in no way to blame for the unfortunate result. He corresponded with Beasley, heard from him almost every day, and in his despatches constantly urged him to be prepared to meet the enemy. Clai- borne, from every quarter, received distressing messages implor- ing assistance, and we have already seen how judiciously he dis- tributed his forces, as far as it lay in his power, for their pro- tection, contrary to the instructions of Flournoy, who endea- vored to confine his operations chiefly to the defence of Mo- bile and the country below Ellicott's line. Just before the attack upon Fort Mims, he headed a large detachment of horse, and rushed to the defence of the people at Easley's - station, upon the Tombigby, near the Choctaw line, whom he was induced to believe a large party of Choctaws and Creeks intended shortly to attack. They, however, did not appear, and, leaving a strong guard for the defence of that fort, he hastened back to Mount Vernon, and arrived there at twelve o'clock at night, after a march of seventy miles that day. He was there shocked to learn the fate of the garrison of Fort Mims. Supposing that he had already returned to Mount Vernon, Beasley addressed him a letter, two hours,
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1813 August 24
* Major Kennedy's MS. report to General Claiborne.
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only, before the Indians entered the gate, declaring his ability to maintain the post against any number of the enemy .* The major was as brave a man as ever lived, but neither he nor his officers, attached to the Mississippi division, believed that the enemy were at hand, so often had reports reached them, which they pronounced untrue, because they were not immediately realized, as in the case of the negro who was whipped, and of the other, who was killed by the Indians, while tied up, ready to receive the lash.t
* Beasley's letter, found among Claiborne's MS. papers.
t The people at Fort Pierce, when the attack was made at Fort Mims, made their way, under Lieutenant Montgomery, to Mobile, where they safely arrived.
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
DARING OF HEATON-BLOODY SCENES-GAINES AND THE CHOCTAWS.
WHILE the larger body of Creeks were destroying the people at Fort Mims, Francis, the prophet, at the head of a hundred warriors, was spreading his depredations in the fork of the Alabama and Tombigby. Abner James and Ransom Kemball, with their large families, being inmates of Fort Sinquefield, and becoming dissatisfied at remaining among so many people, repaired to the house of Kemball, situated . two miles from the fort. Here they were living, when Fran- cis suddenly surrounded the house, about three o'clock in the evening. Abner James, his son Thomas, then fourteen years of age, and his daughter Mary, escaped, and fled to the fort. Isam Kemball, then sixteen years of age, also safely reached Sinquefields, and is now the clerk of the Circuit Court of Clarke county. All the others were despatched with war- " clubs, and scalped. After killing the stock and robbing the house, the Indians retired to the swamps. In the early part of the night, a slight rain commenced, which, it is believed, revived Sarah Merrill, the married daughter of James, whom
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1813 September 1
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the Indians had supposed to be dead. She felt among the bodies, which lay thick around her, and found her little boy, twelve months old, who also, fortunately, was alive. Some warm milk from her breast revived him more and more. Taking him in her arms, she, with difficulty, got upon her feet, and slowly walked towards the fort. Arriving with- in a half mile of that place, her bleeding wounds, weakening her at every step, forced her to place the babe by the side of a log, while she went on and communicated his hiding-place to the anxious garrison. Some generous men boldly sallied out, found the boy, and brought him to the fort. They are both now alive. The young woman was severely beaten with large clubs, and the scalp of the entire top of her head taken off. The savages slung the little fellow against the side of the house, and cut around his head, but his hair being too short, they did not pull off his scalp.
Hearing of the murders, Colonel Carson despatched from Fort Montgomery Lieutenant Bailey, with seven dragoons, and three men employed as spies, to bury the dead, and ascer- tain if the Indians were numerous. Twelve bodies were con- veyed to Fort Sinquefield, in an ox-cart, and thrown into a pit, dug fifty yards from the gate. About the time that the funeral ceremonies were closing, and while nearly the whole garrison were engaged therein, Francis suddenly rushed, with a hundred warriors, down a hill, towards them. The men snatched up the children, and every one of them reached the gate in time, except about ten women, at the spring, wlio were engaged in washing. The Indians, failing to cut off the
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retreat of the main party, perceived with delight the helpless condition of these females, and rushed in that direction, to secure them. Just at that moment, Isaac Heaton, who had been out cow-hunting, riding up, with his long whip and large pack of dogs, gave a tremendous crack, and, encoura- ging his canine army, charged upon the Indians. Such was the fury of the dogs, that the Creeks were forced to halt and fight them, which enabled Heaton to cover the retreat of the women, until they arrived safely in the fort. His horse fell under him, from the wound of an Indian gun, but rose again, and followed into the fort his heroic master, who had received no other injury than the riddling of his coat with rifle-balls. Only one poor woman-a Mrs. Philips, who was in an ad- vanced state of pregnancy-was overtaken and scalped.
Heaton deserves to be remembered for this achievement- an eminent exemplification of bravery and presence of mind. The Indians now attacked the little stockade, but a brave - resistance repelled them, with the loss of eleven warriors. Then, securing the dragoon horses, which had been tethered outside the walls, the savages rapidly retired. The Ameri- cans, having lost only one of their number, besides the unfor- tunate Mrs. Philips, the next day evacuated Sinquefield's fort, and marched to Fort Madison, for better security, where the inmates of Forts Glass and Lavier had also flocked, swelling the population to over one thousand souls, including the com- mand of Colonel Carson, of two hundred and twenty men.
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