
The Muster at Camp Blount
September of 1813 found the United States embroiled in a desperate war with Great Britain. In the midst of the war, a civil war erupted between factions of the Creek Indian Nation.
On August 30, 1813 Red Stick Creeks attacked friendly Creeks and American militia at Fort Mims in Alabama. This attack resulted in the massacre of the soldiers and families within the fort. President Madison called upon the Tennessee militia and volunteers to quell the Red Stick threat.
Beginning in late September through early October 1813, thousands of Tennessee soldiers under the command of General Andrew Jackson assembled at Camp Blount in Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennessee.
Among those assembled with Jackson at Camp Blount were future governor William Carroll; Jackson’s most trusted subordinate, General John Coffee; and noted frontiersman David Crockett. Also volunteering to serve with Jackson was Fayetteville’s own, Dr. McKinney.
The muster at Camp Blount was the beginning of a campaign which culminated in the destruction of the Red Stick forces at Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814.
On September 28, 2013 dozens of living history reenactors
from several states, came to recreate the muster. The public thouroughly enjoyed watching cannon and musket firing demonstrations, military drills, women’s fashion from the era, lectures, arts and crafts, period music, and a "living" tableau of the "Crossroads to Destiny" painting!