Black Warrior Town / The Escape

Black Warrior Town was one of the northernmost settlements of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, with its center on the eastern side of the confluence of the Sipsey and Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River. At the border of Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek territory, it was a place where members of these tribes came together to trade and rest from hunting. During the War of 1812, General Andrew Jackson ordered the town destroyed as part of the campaign against the Creek Indians. Tennessee militia led by Colonel John Coffee, with Davy Crockett among them, camped on ridges surrounding the town in preparation for a raid. At daybreak on October 13, 1813, 800 militiamen attacked but found the town deserted, with embers still burning and food left uneaten while every man, woman, and child was gone. Creek Chief Oceochemotla had maneuvered his people around the Tennessee militia, and General Coffee then ordered the town burned. In 1816, Crockett fell ill while traveling through the area, and legend held that he was warned in a dream never to return to the village he had helped burn. Later, either in error or on purpose, Crockett placed the location of Black Warrior Town in the area that still retains the name Tuscaloosa.

Alabama · United States