Under Andrew Jackson's Orders, Colonel Requisitions Camp Equipment for Occupying Forts in Alabama During Creek War

From Nashville, Colonel Philip Pipkin requisitions wagons and camp equipment for one thousand men to occupy forts in the Creek country, on orders of Major General Andrew Jackson.

[ANDREW JACKSON.] Philip Pipkin, Autograph Document Signed, to William B. Lewis, June 13, 1814, Nashville, Tennessee. 1 p., 7.875" x 8". Tears on folds, affecting one word; general toning; very good.

Complete Transcript
Nashville June 13th 1814
Wm B. Lewis Dy Q. Master
Sir I am ordered by Ma Genr Andrew Jackson to draw on you for the necessary camp equipage together with the means of Transportation for one thousand Infantry to be stationed at the forts established in the creek nation. Pursuant to said order you will furnish me with ten good Waggons & teams of four horses each at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on the 20th Inst also camp equipage for one thousand men, and Stationaries for the field Staff, & commissioned officers which you will cause to be delivered to the Regimental quartermaster Jacob Thompson
Philip Pipkin Col Comd / of a Detachd Regt. T M

Historical Background
The Creek War began as a civil war among different factions of the Creeks, especially the Red Sticks, a war party that opposed the Creek Confederacy Council's policies of peaceful coexistence with the United States. In July 1813, the first clash between the Red Sticks and a group of territorial militiamen occurred in southern Alabama, which came to be known as the Battle of Burnt Corn. On August 30, 1813, Red Sticks attacked Fort Mims, north of Mobile, and killed 400 to 500 people, including many white settlers. Responding to this attack became a rallying cause for the American militia.

Tennessee Governor Willie Blount called out a force of 2,500 men from west Tennessee under Colonel Andrew Jackson and 2,500 more from East Tennessee under Major General John Alexander Cocke. The Georgia and Mississippi militia likewise responded, as did friendly Lower Creek under Major William McIntosh (who aided the Georgia militia). Andrew Jackson's advance in late 1813 was hampered by supply shortages and short enlistments. New recruits arrived in January 1814, and Jackson led them to two indecisive battles against the Creeks before returning to Fort Strother. In February, the 39th U.S. infantry arrived, which provided Jackson with a disciplined core for his forces. In the spring of 1814, Jackson advanced with new Tennessee militia and established a new outpost at Fort Williams. On March 27, 1814, he led his troops to attack the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend. His decisive victory there effectively ended the war.

Major General Thomas Pinckney, the commander of American forces in the South during the War of 1812, asked Governor Blount to man Forts Williams, Strother, Armstrong, Ross, Old Deposit, and New Deposit in the Alabama territory. On May 20, 1814, Governor Blount ordered Jackson to seek volunteers or draft 1,000 militia for terms of six months to be commanded by a colonel to man these forts.

This requisition comes in the interlude between the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the Treaty of Fort Jackson. That treaty, signed on August 9, 1814, ceded more than 21 million acres to the United States government. It covered approximately half of modern Alabama and part of southern Georgia. Jackson likely wanted to reinforce the forts that he had established during the campaign to assert American control over the region and protect American settlers from Creek reprisals.

The 1,000 men mustered at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on June 20, and were organized into a regiment of nine companies. They left Fayetteville on June 26 and manned and repaired the forts from June 1814 to January 1815.

In the provisions of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, Jackson made no distinction between his Lower Creek allies and the Red Sticks who fought against him. He then turned his attention to the Gulf Coast, invading Spanish Florida and driving a British force from Pensacola in November and then marching westward to defeat the British forces at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815.

Desertions from the forts became common, and on September 20, approximately 180 of the nearly 500 men at Fort Jackson left for Tennessee. Pipkin sent the names and counties from which they enlisted to Tennessee newspapers, offering a $10 reward for their detention and return. By early November, most had been returned, either voluntarily or under arrest. In December the regiment was ordered to Mobile for the trial of the deserters and mutineers. The court martial adjourned on December 18 and sent the proceedings to Jackson, then at New Orleans for approval. He approved the findings of the court on January 28, 1815. Six men were sentenced to be shot, and nearly two hundred received lesser sentences, while two officers were dismissed from the service.

Philip Pipkin (1770-1841) was born in North Carolina and around 1790 migrated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he married Margaret Brown (d. 1808) and became a planter. He was liable for militia service and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1798 and a captain in 1800. During the Creek War of 1813-1814, Pipkin served as captain of a company from December 1813 to February 1814. He may also have served in the First Seminole War under Jackson in 1818. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he died in August 1841.

William B. Lewis (1784-1866) was born in Virginia and moved in 1809 to Nashville, Tennessee, where he became a longtime friend and associate of Andrew Jackson. He served as a quartermaster under Jackson during the War of 1812. He later assisted Jackson in his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1823 and his presidential campaigns. He served as a member of Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet," and Jackson appointed him as the second auditor of the treasury, a position Lewis retained into the late 1840s.

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