Studying Military History: Horseshoe Bend Battlefield

Studying military history as a required topic in WOILO was initially a tedious proposition; I simply felt there was no good way to make military history interesting. The staff ride to Horseshoe Bend Battlefield disabused me of that notion, because it provided me a fascinating snapshot of the challenges the combatants faced as they readied for this decisive battle, with a perspective I could not comprehend merely from learning about it in the classroom.
For instance, viewing the battlefield on a map does little to indicate how critical the terrain was in the outcome of this battle. It was not until we were clustered around the trees in Stand Three that I was able to visualize how doomed the Red Sticks were when they decided to fight from
behind the huge barricade they had constructed. While the barricade was nearly impenetrable, it also served to effectively trap the Red Sticks with no alternative means of escape, save for taking to the water that surrounded them on three sides. In fact, hours after the battle commenced, that body of water proved to be the Red Sticks’ undoing, as Native Americans from General Coffee’s Army stealthily crossed the river and attacked the Red Sticks from the rear; at that point, the barricade became another obstacle for the doomed Red Sticks, as they were trapped between Jackson’s forces on land and Coffee’s troops who had approached from the rear. Another facet to consider about the terrain on the battlefield was the inherent danger in traversing the landscape. Merely walking the battlefield today from Stand One to Stand Two was a treacherous maneuver. Two personnel from our group fell after stepping into a substantial hole in the ground. One can only imagine how treacherous the terrain was in 1814, when the number of combatants was so great, and their positions so confined, that to experience any kind of fall would likely have resulted in the soldier being trampled by his fellow comrades-in-arms as they charged forward into battle.
Another aspect of military history that I had not previously considered was how unit cohesion can affect the outcome of a battle.
On the side of the Red Sticks, it appeared the morale and cohesion of the assembly vanished when the spiritual leader and prophet, Monahee, perished after being shot through the mouth with a load of grapeshot. The irony of the prophet suffering a mortal wound in the very vehicle from which he had been delivering messages of supernatural strength and victory is something we simply cannot overlook. On the other side of the battle, we saw the opposite effect when leaders incurred wounds from the battle. For example, Major Lemuel Montgomery form the 39th Infantry was so motivated by the Americans’ cause that when Jackson issued the order to charge the barricade, Major Montgomery was the first man to scale the obstacle. Unfortunately, he was also the first official casualty of the battle, dying from a gunshot to the head. His men were undeterred by the death; in fact, Montgomery’s death seemed to galvanize the troops, and they engaged in the battle with renewed fervor. Another less deadly, but no less motivational instance occurred when a young ensign named Sam Houston incurred a vicious leg wound from an enemy arrow. Undaunted, Houston forcibly compelled one of his lieutenants to remove the arrow, and then returned to the fracas despite orders from Jackson to vacate the battlefield. To me, these two instances of courage under fire epitomize unit cohesion that contributed to the decisive victory for the
Americans.
Considering terrain and unit cohesion were only two of the intriguing lessons I learned from the Staff Ride to Horseshoe Bend. The experience inspired me to do additional research on the battle, something I never quite anticipated doing.