Fort Glass

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Fort Glass
Suggsville, Alabama in United States
Fort Glass and Madison.jpg
Sketch of Fort Glass and Fort Madison
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Fort Glass
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Fort Glass
Coordinates 31°31′19″N87°43′08″W / 31.52194°N 87.71889°W / 31.52194; -87.71889 [1]
TypeStockade fort
Site information
OwnerPrivate
Controlled byPrivate
Open to
the public
No
Site history
BuiltJuly 1813
Built byMississippi Territory settlers
In use1813
Battles/warsCreek War

Fort Glass was a stockade fort built in July 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War (part of the larger War of 1812). [2]

Contents

History

Background

The Creek War of 1813 began as a civil war between supporters of the Creek national government and a rebel faction called Red Sticks. Americans, who were already engaged in the War of 1812 against Britain, joined the Creek war in the hope of breaking Creek power and depriving the British of a potential ally. [3]

The American settlers became fearful after these Creek attacks and were unsure if the United States would protect them due to fact they were squatters on public lands. To protect themselves the settlers built temporary stockades, and most were named for the person who owned the land the stockade was built on. After the Creek War, most of these forts were dismantled. [2]

Creek War

Fort Glass was built in 1813 by and named for Zachariah Glass. [4] The fort was rectangular in shape, sixty yards by forty yards, and constructed of hewn pine logs. [5]

After completion, Samuel Dale stopped at Fort Glass on his way to Georgia. The occupants asked him to stay and he was given command of Fort Glass for a brief time. [6]

En route from Fort St. Stephens to intercept Peter McQueen's party of Red Sticks who were returning from Pensacola with supplies, Colonel James Caller stopped at Fort Glass after passing through Jackson. [7] Upon leaving Fort Glass, additional reinforcements joined Caller including a party of volunteers from Fort Glass led by Dale. These volunteers participated in the Battle of Burnt Corn on July 27, 1813. [8]

After the Battle of Burnt Corn, General Ferdinand Claiborne feared swift revenge on part of the Red Sticks. Claiborne sent Colonel Joseph Carson with two hundred mounted soldiers to Fort Glass as reinforcements to protect the settlers in the surrounding area. These soldiers arrived at Fort Glass on August 10, 1813. [9] Soon after their arrival, the soldiers began construction of a new fort located two hundred and twenty-five yards northwest of Fort Glass. This new fort was named Fort Madison in honor of then-President James Madison. [10] Soldiers remained in Fort Glass and Fort Madison, but Fort Madison was made the headquarters for the surrounding military district after it was constructed. [11] This district included the territory between the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. [12]

After the Red Stick attack on Fort Sinquefield, the settlers who occupied Fort Sinquefield fled to Fort Glass and Fort Madison for protection. Ten men from Fort Glass went to Fort Sinquefield to recover bodies of the slain and to assist with burials. [13] After news of the Fort Sinquefield attack reached Fort Glass, Jeremiah Austill traveled by horseback to inform General Claiborne at Mount Vernon, stopping overnight at Fort Carney. [14]

Present day

Nothing remains at the site of Fort Glass today. In 1858, the Fort Madison Church was built on the site of Fort Glass. [15] The approximate site of Fort Glass has been identified and archaeological surveys have been made of the area, but no defining features have been found. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creek War</span> 1813–14 US Indian War

The Creek 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 the tribes of the Muscogee, but the United States quickly became involved. British traders and Spanish colonial officials in Florida supplied the Red Sticks with weapons and equipment due to their shared interest in preventing the expansion of the United States into regions under their control.

Red Sticks —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 United States. Made up mostly of Creek of the Upper Towns that supported traditional leadership and culture, as well as the preservation of communal land for cultivation and hunting, the Red Sticks arose at a time of increasing pressure on Creek territory by European American settlers. Creek of the Lower Towns were closer to the settlers, had more mixed-race families, and had already been forced to make land cessions to the Americans. In this context, the Red Sticks led a resistance movement against European American encroachment and assimilation, tensions that culminated in the outbreak of the Creek War in 1813. Initially a civil war among the Creek, the conflict drew in United States state forces while the nation was already engaged in the War of 1812 against the British.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Stoddert</span> U.S. colonial fort (1799–1814) in present-day Mount Vernon, Alabama

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 Alabama Rivers. It served as the western terminus of the Federal Road which ran through Creek lands to Fort Wilkinson in Georgia. The fort, built in 1799, was named for Benjamin Stoddert, the secretary to the Continental Board of War during the American Revolution and Secretary of the Navy during the Quasi War. Fort Stoddert was built by the United States to keep the peace by preventing its own settlers in the Tombigbee District from attacking the Spanish in the Mobile District. It also served as a port of entry and was the site of a Court of Admiralty. While under the command of Captain Edmund P. Gaines, Aaron Burr was held as a prisoner at the fort after his arrest at McIntosh in 1807 for treason against the United States. In July 1813, General Ferdinand Claiborne brought the Mississippi Militia to Fort Stoddert as part of the Creek War. The 3rd Infantry Regiment was commanded by General Thomas Flournoy to Fort Stoddert following the Fort Mims massacre. The site declined rapidly in importance after the capture of Mobile by the United States in 1813 and the establishment of the Mount Vernon Arsenal in 1828.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Mims massacre</span> Part of the Creek War (1813)

The Fort Mims massacre took place on August 30, 1813, during the Creek War, when a force of Creek Indians belonging to the Red Sticks faction, under the command of head warriors Peter McQueen and William Weatherford, stormed the fort and defeated the militia garrison. Afterward, a massacre ensued and almost all of the remaining mixed Creek, white settlers, and militia at Fort Mims were killed. The fort was a stockade with a blockhouse surrounding the house and outbuildings of the settler Samuel Mims, located about 35 miles directly north of present-day Mobile, Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Sinquefield</span> United States historic place

Fort Sinquefield is the historic site of a wooden stockade fortification in Clarke County, Alabama, near the modern town of Grove Hill. It was built by early Clarke County pioneers as protection during the Creek War and was attacked in 1813 by Creek warriors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Strother</span> United States historic site

Fort Strother was a stockade fort at Ten Islands in the Mississippi Territory, in what is today St. Clair County, Alabama. It was located on a bluff of the Coosa River, near the modern Neely Henry Dam in Ragland, Alabama. The fort was built by General Andrew Jackson and several thousand militiamen in November 1813, during the Creek War and was named for Captain John Strother, Jackson's chief cartographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canoe Fight (Creek War)</span> Skirmish with Native Indians

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Claiborne</span> United States historic site in Alabama

Fort Claiborne was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Monroe County, Alabama during the Creek War.

Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Armstrong (Alabama)</span> United States historic site

Fort Armstrong was a stockade fort built in present-day Cherokee County, Alabama during the Creek War. The fort was built to protect the surrounding area from attacks by Red Stick warriors but was also used as a staging area and supply depot in preparation for further military action against the Red Sticks.

Fort Carney was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinnabee, Alabama</span> Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States

Chinnabee, also spelled Chinneby or Chinnibee, is an unincorporated community in Talladega County, Alabama, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Dale</span> Stockade fort built in present-day Butler County, Alabama, United States

Fort Dale was a stockade fort built in present-day Butler County, Alabama by Alabama Territory settlers. The fort was constructed in response to Creek Indian attacks on settlers in the surrounding area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Easley</span> United States historic site in Alabama

Fort Easley was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War.

Fort Landrum was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War. The fort was located eleven miles west of Fort Sinquefield. Fort Landrum, like many other forts built around the same time, was built in response to Red Stick attacks on settlers in the surrounding area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Leslie</span> American historical site in Alabama

Fort Leslie was a stockade fort built in present-day Talladega County, Alabama, in 1813 during the Creek War. After the Creek War began, protective stockades were built by settlers and Creeks who were allied with the United States to protect themselves from hostile Creek attacks. Fort Leslie was the focal point of the Battle of Talladega but was soon abandoned after the end of the Creek War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Madison (Alabama)</span> United States historic site in Alabama

Fort Madison was a stockade fort built in August 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama, during the Creek War, which was part of the larger War of 1812. The fort was built by the United States military in response to attacks by Creek warriors on encroaching American settlers. The fort shared many similarities to surrounding stockade forts in its construction but possessed a number of differences in its defenses. The fort housed members of the United States Army and settlers from the surrounding area, and it was used as a staging area for raids on Creek forces and supply point on further military expeditions. Fort Madison was subsequently abandoned at the conclusion of the Creek War and only a historical marker exists at the site today.

Fort Montgomery was a stockade fort built in August 1814 in present-day Baldwin County, Alabama, during the Creek War, which was part of the larger War of 1812. The fort was built by the United States military in response to attacks by Creek warriors on encroaching American settlers and in preparation for further military action in the War of 1812. Fort Montgomery continued to be used for military purposes but in less than a decade was abandoned. Nothing exists at the site today.

Fort Pierce, was two separate stockade forts built in 1813 in present-day Baldwin County, Alabama, during the Creek War, which was part of the larger War of 1812. The fort was originally built by settlers in the Mississippi Territory to protect themselves from attacks by Creek warriors. A new fort of the same name was then built by the United States military in preparation for further action in the War of 1812, but the fort was essentially abandoned within a few years. Nothing exists at the site today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turner's Fort</span> United States historic site in Alabama

Turner's Fort, also known as Fort Turner, was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War. Turner's Fort, like many other forts built around the same time, was built in response to Red Stick attacks on settlers in the surrounding area.

References

  1. "GNIS Detail - Fort Glass". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form". Department of the Interior. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  3. Braund, Kathryn. "Creek War of 1813-1814". Alabama Humanities Alliance. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  4. Harris 1977, pp. 109.
  5. Halbert & Ball 1895, pp. 109.
  6. Owen 1898, pp. 96.
  7. "Forts and Battle Sites Alabama" . Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  8. Rowland 1921, pp. 35.
  9. Pickett 1878, pp. 526.
  10. Ball 1994, pp. 318.
  11. Eggleston 1878, pp. 121.
  12. Rowland 1921, pp. 61.
  13. Eggleston 1875, pp. 17.
  14. Halbert & Ball 1895, pp. 200.
  15. Ball 1994, pp. 571.
  16. Braund 2012, pp. 250.

Sources