By Fred Guarino

The Selma Times-Journal

 

WHITE HALL — From the written pages of history to artifacts dug from earth, the Creek Indian War literally came to life in Lowndesboro last week.

Nearly 100 people attended the first of three lectures in a series called “In the Footprints of the Creeks” Thursday at the historic CME Church in Lowndesboro.

Dr. Kathryn H. Braund, Auburn University professor and author, shed light on errors and myths in the telling of the history of the Creek Indian War through her lecture on “The Red Stick War.”

Friday, while students from Hayneville Middle School were getting their hands dirty sifting through dirt for artifacts at the Battle of Holy Ground Park archaeology dig site near White Hall, University of South Alabama archaeology student Katie Bates unearthed metal draw pulls from a rare piece of furniture.

While the Creek Indians were mocked for their belief that magic would save them and their defenses were called a sham, “Out numbered three to one” the Red Sticks held out with “real bullets” and with “real valor” for about an hour, Braund said.

She said the Creeks abandoned the battlefield “only when it became obvious that to continue opposition meant certain death” and only after “virtually everyone could be evacuated.”

The Red Sticks may have praised the spirits, but they employed “non-spiritual defenses, as well, and pretty good ones,” Braund said.

“Holy Ground did not last long, but the spirit of that beloved town and its people endures. It is my hope as we travel through the 200th anniversary of these momentous events that we will all pay homage to the history of the Creek people and acknowledge that we haven’t always told their story correctly,” Braund said. “As we retell the stories, maybe we will correct some of the old errors, the old assumptions and leave behind the old prejudices.”

A reception followed at the historic Marengo House In Lowndesboro where Braund signed copies of her book “Deerskins & Duffels.”

The dig at Holy Ground led by Dr. Gregory A. Waselkov, professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama, wrapped up Friday.

“Everybody who had looked previously (for the battle site) had looked along the Alabama River,” Waselkov said. “And it’s probably because of this William Weatherford (Red Eagle) story of the great leap into the river to escape after the battle.”

Weatherford is said to have bravely ridden his horse off a steep cliff into the Alabama River to escape the Americans.

Waselkov said, however, a really dense artifact cluster signaled the battle site had been found at the current dig site.

Holy Ground was a creek town established around July of 1813 by the Alabama prophet, a guy named Josiah Francis,” Waselkov said. “It kind of became the headquarters of the Alabama portion of the Creek Nation.”

“Well a lot of it is just household sort of debris,” Waselkov said of artifacts found at the dig site. “There’s lots of evidence of the buildings, but also a lot of pottery and some glass bottles, nails, sort of things like that.”

However, on Friday two drawer pulls were found from a rare piece of furniture, which Waselkov said was sort of surprising. “Creeks generally didn’t have the kind of furniture that settlers would have had,” he said.

“We’ve had tremendous luck this week, I mean just hundreds of interesting artifacts to try to puzzle over and identify in the next few months here,” Waselkov said. “Some things are battled related. There have been a few brass arrow points, and some lead balls that we know are from the battle and a lot of gun parts which probably were arms of the Red Sticks who were defending the place.”

He said the dig was made possible by a grant from the Alabama Historical Commission.

Jessica Crawford, Southeast regional director of The Archaeological Conservancy, was also on the site Friday.

Her organization is a nationwide archaeological group that preserves archaeological sites for research and educational purposes and actually holds title to the Holy Ground site.