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August 30, 1813 About 35 miles north of Mobile, Alabama sat a small wooden fort named for Samuel Mims. Poorly constructed, with one gate was partially blocked open by drifting sand, the fort was a defensive structure in name only. Red Stick warriors, under the command of Peter McQueen and William Weatherford attacked the fort while the garrison was eating lunch and the sentries had been withdrawn. The warriors quickly gained access to the forts interior, trapping the garrison and some of the local settlers in several buildings. Musket fire was exchanged for about two hours, until the Red Sticks set fire to the occupied buildings.
When the fire had sufficient weakened the structures, the warriors then forced their way into the buildings, killing most of the militia defenders. When a relief column arrived a few weeks later, it counted 247 corpses of the defenders. The massacre at Ft. Mims did more to raise troops than any other event in the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans two years later can be directly ascribed to the response of citizens to the events at Ft. Mims.
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