Compared with Fort Ticonderoga and other military installations in the North, Fort Mims barely justified the name. In reality, like many frontier forts, it was a palisaded stockade and blockhouse surrounding the house and outbuildings of a settler, Samuel Mims, for whom it was named. The conflict known as the Creek War was several years in the making, as various factions within the Creek/Muscogee Confederacy began to take sides, pro-British or Pro-American, pro-assimilation to White Society, or pro-traditionalist. As both sides prepared to defend themselves, White settlers in the area assumed that the Natives were planning an uprising against them and began congregating in stockades such as Fort Mims. Within the palisade walls would have been cabins for the Mims family and officers of the militia who used the fort as a garrison, with tents for the enlisted. As more and more people, Whites, Blacks (both slaves and free people of color) and mixed-race Natives who no longer felt welcome with the Muscogee, crowded into the fort, they would have had to make do with what makeshift shelters they could. In July, 1813, a unit of Mississippi militia intercepted Peter McQueen and his party of Red Stick warriors as they returned from Pensacola, Florida with arms, munition and other supplies furnished by the Spanish Governor of Florida. This Battle of Burnt Corn Creek brought Whites into the middle of what was an internal Native conflict. As the Mississippi contingent headed for Fort Mims, Peter McQueen, William Weatherford and other leaders began gathering their men, over one thousand Muscogee warriors. The Fort had over five hundred people crowded inside its log walls, 265 militia and the rest civilians. On August 29, 1813, two black slaves who were tending livestock outside the Fort reported to the commander that they had seen painted warriors. The commander had one of the men flogged for giving a false alarm and left it at that. The next day, a scout reported Native movement nearby and was also disregarded. There were no guards or sentries posted, the gate was routinely left open. At around midday on August 30, 1813, the Creeks descended on the Fort as the garrison was having their midday meal. The Creek warriors barged through the main gain, quickly gaining control of the walls. The garrison retreated to an enclosed portion of the Fort and held the Natives off, causing McQueen and Weatherford to halt the battle to assess whether it was worth it to continue.
It was decided that the mixed-race Creeks who had taken shelter within the Fort had to be punished and the Creeks turned their attention to these people. As the garrison sheltered in the enclosed area, the Creeks set fire to structures inside the Fort, which began to burn out of control. The Creeks forced their way into the enclosure after a skirmish of several hours and began to kill both the mixed-race civilians, as well as Whites and Blacks who otherwise had no stake in the fighting. Weatherford tried to prevent the slaughter, but could not get his men to stop. The Creeks did spare most of the Blacks, although taking them captive as well as a handful of White settlers. The Fort's commander was mortally wounded, but a few militia and civilians did manage to escape. When a relief party arrived days later, they found 247 corpses of defenders and civilians, and 100 Creek corpses.
The Muscogee Nation, already engaged in an internal war within itself, was now at war with the United States. As Settlers in the surrounding area fled to Mobile and other larger settlements, Tennessee and Georgia militia mobilized to deal with the Creek threat. That meant the arrival of Andrew Jackson, experiencing his first major Indian campaign. Fort Mims remained a charred ruin, though the site was maintained by the Alabama Historical Commission and named to the register of National Historical Places in 1972. Fort Mims has been reconstructed and reenactments take place there to commemorate the battle.
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