In the summer of 1813, an increasingly crowded group of settlers gathered in an improvised fortification located on the Alabama River in what is now Baldwin County. They strived to avoid attack by hostile "Redsticks," Creek warriors who yearned to return to a way of life free from the advancing European and American cultures. Embracing the policies of Shawnee chief Tecumseh, these warriors, led by William Weatherford, banded together to inflict one of the most serious military defeats in American history. Such a victory was not inevitable or even likely. Rather, it was achieved due to a combination of hubris, ignorance, racism, and fickle fate. This is the story of that defeat. It is a work of historical fiction, but the broad outline of events and most characters depicted are based upon recorded history.
