Fort Easley was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day

Clarke County, Alabama Clarke County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,087. The county seat is Grove Hill. The county's largest city is Jackson. The county was created by the leg ...

during the

Creek War The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...

(part of the larger

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

History

Creek War

Fort Easley was built in 1813 on the east side of the

Tombigbee River The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties int ...

to provide local settlers protection from hostile

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

(known as

Red Sticks Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs), the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th-century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made u ...

) attacks. The fort was a

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

fort and encompassed three acres and a spring. The fort was named for an early settler of the area. The bluff Fort Easley was built on (Woods Bluff), was named for a Major Wood, who owned the surrounding land and fought in the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek. A

camp meeting The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier d ...

was held at Fort Easley in early August 1813, prior to the Fort Mims massacre. Guards were stationed around the fort to prevent a surprise attack by Red Stick warriors. On August 21, 1813, a

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

warrior from the nearby village of Turkey Town named Bakers Hunter arrived at Fort Easley with news of an impending Red Stick attack. The Red Sticks reportedly had four hundred warriors waiting around twelve miles north of Fort Easley and planned to attack Fort Easley, then

Fort Madison Fort Madison is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of the 2020 census. Located along the ...

, with the assistance of Choctaw warriors from Turkey Town. This news was further corroborated to Fort Easley's commander, Captain Cassity, by a settler who lived among the Choctaw. These reports were forwarded to Fort Madison the next day, then on August 23 reached General

Ferdinand Claiborne Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne (March 9, 1772 - March 22, 1815) was an American military officer most notable for his command of the militia of the Mississippi Territory during the Creek War and the War of 1812. Early life Born in Sussex County, Vi ...

at St. Stephens. The next day more than one hundred settlers who were fleeing Fort Easley arrived at St. Stephens, leaving approximately six to fifteen soldiers to defend Fort Easley. Based on these reports, Claiborne felt it necessary to send reinforcements to Fort Easley, and he personally led twenty

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

s and sixty soldiers to defend the fort. After Claiborne decided Fort Easley was in no further danger, he planned to return to

Fort Stoddert Fort Stoddert, also known as Fort Stoddard, was a stockade fort in the U.S. Mississippi Territory, in what is today Alabama. It was located on a bluff of the Mobile River, near modern Mount Vernon, close to the confluence of the Tombigbee and Al ...

. En route, he was met with news of the massacre at Fort Mims and immediately set out for the

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

. In early October 1813, Colonel William McGrew (who also participated in the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek) left St. Stephens and traveled towards Fort Easley with twenty-five militia members after hearing reports of Red Stick warriors in the area. Near Fort Easley, the party was ambushed by Red Sticks resulting in the deaths of McGrew and three additional militia members. This incident became known as the

Bashi Skirmish The Bashi Skirmish in the Creek War was fought in what became Failetown, Alabama. A Clarke County historical marker which stands on Woods Bluff Road between Alabama 69 and Cassidy Hill marks the location of the incident which resulted in the de ...

. Soon after, General Thomas Flourney, commander of the

7th Military District 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, commanded Claiborne to carry out an expedition to the same area. Claiborne's forces consisted of volunteers, some militia companies, and dragoons under Lieutenant

Thomas Hinds Thomas Hinds (January 9, 1780August 23, 1840) was an American soldier and politician from the state of Mississippi, who served in the United States Congress from 1828 to 1831. A hero of the War of 1812, Hinds is best known today as the namesake ...

. Prior to arriving at Fort Easley, the force discovered the bodies of McGrew and the three militia members. Three of Hinds' men were also wounded when they were ambushed by Red Sticks. Many of the soldiers on this expedition became disgruntled (including Jeremiah Austill, who would soon become known for his participation in the

Canoe Fight The Canoe Fight was a skirmish between Mississippi Territory militiamen led by Captain Samuel Dale and Red Stick warriors that took place on November 12, 1813 as part of the Creek War. The skirmish was fought largely from canoes and was a vic ...

), and dubbed the affair the "Potato Expedition". Claiborne stayed at Fort Easley for approximately one month, but did not encounter any additional Red Stick warriors, then returned to St. Stephens. Some time after Claiborne left, Fort Easley was abandoned.

Present day

Nothing remains at the site of Fort Easley today. The

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

operates the Woods Bluff Public Access Area near the former site of Fort Easley. A community known as Woods Bluff formed around the site and operated a post office under the name Woods Bluff from 1835 to 1937.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{cite book , last1=Weir , first1=Howard , title=A Paradise of Blood: The Creek War of 1813-14 , date=2016 , publisher=Westholme , location=Yardley, Pennsylvania , isbn=978-1-59416-270-1 , page= Pre-statehood history of Alabama Buildings and structures in Clarke County, Alabama Easley Easley Easley Creek War