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Show MOOXEY] BATTLES OF TALLADEGA AND HILLABEE 1813 91 first fire with his gun. The American loss was only five killed and forty- one wounded, which may not include the Indian contingent. 1 White's advance guard, consisting chiefly of the four hundred other Cherokee under Morgan and Lowrey, reached Tallaseehatchee the same evening, only to find it already destroyed. They picked up twenty wounded Creeks, whom they brought with them to Turkeytown.* The next great battle was at Talladega, on the site of the present town of the same name, in Talladega county, Alabama, on November 9, 1813. Jackson commanded in person with two thousand infantry and cavalry. Although the Cherokee are not specifically mentioned they were a part of the army and must have taken part in the engagement. The town itself was occupied by friendly Creeks, who were besieged by the hostiles, estimated at over one thousand warriors on the outside. Here again the battle was simply a slaughter, the odds being two to one, the Creeks being also without cover, although thfcy fought so desperately that at one time the militia was driven back. They left two hundred and ninety- nine dead bodies on the field, which, according to their own statement afterwardsj was only a part of their total loss. The Americans lost fifteen killed and eighty- five wounded. 8 A day or two later the people of Hillabee town, about the site of the present village of that name in Clay county, Alabama, sent messengers to Jackson's camp to ask for peace, which that commander immediately granted. In the meantime, even while the peace messengers were on their way home with the good news, an army of one thousand men from east Tennessee under General White, who claimed to be independent of Jackson's authority, together with four hundred Cherokee under Colonel Gideon Morgan and John Lowrey, surrounded the town on November 18, 1813, taking it by surprise, the inhabitants having trusted so confidently to the success of their peace embassy that they had made no preparation for defense. Sixty warriors were killed and over two hundred and fifty prisoners taken, with no loss to the Americans, as there was practically no resistance. In White's official report of the affair he states that he had sent ahead a part of his force, together with the Cherokee under Morgan, to surround the town, and adds that '' Colonel Morgan and the Cherokees under his command gave undeniable evidence that they merit the employ of their government."* Not knowing that the attack had been made without Jackson's sanction or knowledge, the Creeks naturally con- 1 Coffee, report, etc., in Drake, Indians, p. 396, 1880; Leasing, Field Book of the War of 1812, pp. 762,768 [ n. d. ( 1869)]; Pickett, Alabama, p. 668, reprint of 1896. * Ibid., p. 666. » Drake, Indians, p. 396,1880; Pickett, op. cit., pp. 664, 666. « White's report, etc., in Fay and Davison, Sketches of the War, pp. 240. 241; Rutland, Vt, 1815; Low, John, Impartial History of the War, p. 199; New York, 1816; Drake, op. cit., p. 897; Pickett, op. cit., p. 667; Lossing, op. cit., p. 767. Low says White had about 1,100 mounted men, " including upward of 300 Cherokee Indians." Pickett gives White 400 Cherokee. |