Fort Sinquefield is the historic site of a wooden

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 f ...

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

in Clarke County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States, near the modern town of Grove Hill. It was built by early Clarke County pioneers as protection during the

Creek War The Creek War (also the Red Stick War or the Creek Civil War) was a regional conflict between opposing Native American factions, European powers, and the United States during the early 19th century. The Creek War began as a conflict within th ...

and was attacked in 1813 by Creek warriors. A marker was erected at the site by Clarke County school children in 1931 and it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on December 31, 1974.

History

At the time of the

, originally a civil war within the Creek nation, Clarke was a newly formed

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress of the United States. It was approved and signed into law by Presiden ...

. The Creek were divided between traditionalists in the Upper Towns and those who had adopted more European-American customs in the Lower Towns. Chiefs of the towns disagreed about the uses of communal land and other issues. The first hostilities of the war that involved Americans occurred nearby during the

Battle of Burnt Corn The Battle of Burnt Corn, also known as the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, was an encounter between United States armed forces and Red Stick Creeks that took place July 27, 1813 in present-day southern Alabama. This battle was the first engagement ...

, where white militia attacked the

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

on July 27, 1813. The next month, the Red Sticks on August 30, 1813 attacked Fort Mims, garrisoned by the Tensaw Creek. The Red Sticks believed the Tensaw had left behind core Creek values. They killed most of the several hundred people assembled inside Fort Mims, who included Lower Town Creek, intermarried whites and slaves, and other settlers, in an event that became known as the

Fort Mims massacre The Fort Mims massacre occurred on August 30, 1813, at a fortified homestead site 35-40 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, during the Creek War. A large force of Creek Indians belonging to the Red Sticks faction, under the command of Peter McQue ...

. Fort Sinquefield was used as a refuge by several pioneer families and friendly Lower Creek after the attack on Fort Mims. On September 1, 1813, Red Stick warriors led by Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo), a.k.a. Francis the Prophet, attacked the Ransom Kimbell and Abner James families, who had left the crowded fort for Kimbell's cabin nearby. Most of the men escaped back to the fort, but twelve women and children were killed and

scalped Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the taki ...

in what became known as the Kimbell-James Massacre. The bodies were retrieved for burial outside the fort the next day. The Red Sticks attacked a second time that day, catching several woman who were washing clothes at a spring away from the fort. They attempted to cut the women off from the fort, but were thwarted by settlers who released their 60 dogs from the fort. The Creek killed one woman, Sarah Phillips. The other settlers gained the fort, from where they fired at the Red Sticks. Casualties of the conflict included several warriors as well as the settler Stephen Lacey. The attack lasted two hours before the Red Sticks retreated. The survivors abandoned Sinquefield soon after, moving to the larger

Fort Madison Fort Madison is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk, Iowa, 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 ...

, several miles to the south.

References

External links

Power Point presentation on Fort Sinquefield
Official website {{Battles of the War of 1812 National Register of Historic Places in Clarke County, Alabama Sinquefield Battles of the Creek War Pre-statehood history of Alabama Sinquefield Sinquefield Sinquefield Sinquefield

History

See also

References

External links