Existing comment:
Tohopeka in Flames
Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
In this meadow 350 women and children, sheltered in the village of Tohopeka, listened to the sounds of battle drifting back from the barricade 1,000 yards away. Alarmed, they watched as enemy Cherokee and Lower Creek warriors crossed the river, cutting off all hope for escape. In minutes Tohopeka, their only refuge, was in flames.
The village under attack, may have included as many as 300 log huts, which resembled simple log cabins. Tohopeka meant fort or fence in the Muskogee (Creek) language.
"In this bend the warriors from Oakfuskee, Oakchaya, New Youka, Hillabees, the Fishponds, and Eufala towns, apprised of our approach, had collected their strength. Their exact number cannot be ascertained; but it is said, by the prisoners we have taken, to have been a thousand...We took about three hundred and fifty prisoners, women and children and three warriors."
-- Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Tennessee Militia |