Historic Markers Across Alabama
Designed for Defense
Marker ID: |
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Location: |
Battlefield Park Tour Road, Horseshoe Bend NP, Daviston AL |
County: |
Tallapoosa |
Coordinates: |
N 32° 58.502 W 085° 44.135 |
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32.97503333 -85.73558333 |
Style: |
Interpretative Sign ** |
Waymark: |
None
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Text:
Designed for Defense Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
...[The Creek] had erected a breast-work, of greatest compactness and strength-from five to eight feet high, and prepared with double rows of port-holes very artfully arranged...an army could not approach it without being exposed to a double and cross fire from the enemy who lay in perfect security behind it. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Tennessee Militia
The Red Sticks-a militant branch of Creek society-built the 400-yard-long barricade (breast-work) of dirt and pine logs. Stretching from bank to bank across the horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa River, the barricade protected Tohopeka, their temporary village.
On a dreadful March afternoon in 1814, the barricade exploded with action. Nearly 1,000 Red Stick warriors bravely fought General Jackson's army here. About a third of the warriors carried muskets. The others used bows and arrows, knives, tomahawks, and war clubs. Erected by National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior.
End of Designed for Defense
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