In an 1834 Congressional report on a claim for service during the Creek War it was stated Edmondson “… went express to convey an order from Gen. Edmondson, with provisions, a well-filled purse, etc., etc., set out for Nashville.” (Each of the persons named was in the habit of visiting the trading house for supplies of salt, coffee, sugar, etc.) This task occupied me nearly all night. Edmondson to furnish him with their best horse and take care of the horse he would leave until his return from Nashville, then bring or send me their bills for payment. A.) Jim Brown, Natchez road George Colbert, chief of the Chickasaws, Colberts’ Ferry and others beyond the Tennessee River requesting them on the arrival of Mr. … I wrote a letter to Charles Juzon (he lived near Lauderdale Springs) and William Starnes at Oknoxubee (near Macon) John Pitchlynn, mouth of Oktibbeha George James, residing at or near the present Egypt (M. Jackson to march down with his brigade of mounted men and save the Tombigbee settlement. Blount, communicating the massacre of Fort Mims and the defenseless condition of our frontier, appealing to Gen. I immediately sat down and wrote letters to Gen. Gaines said that she would prepare provisions for him. Gaines recalled Edmondson’s ride in an 1872 newspaper article: “Mrs. He then turned and looking at Samuel Edmondson said, “If I could induce a cheerful man to go as express to Nashville, Tennessee, I have a fine horse ready and can manage by writing to persons I know on the path to have a fresh horse ready for him every day.” Edmondson agreed to go. In the best American tradition, Gaines asked for a volunteer to ride express to Nashville and get help. A scattering of Euro-Americans, mixed bloods, free Blacks and Indians lived at intervals of half a day to a days ride apart along the road. It connected the Chickasaw villages on the Natchez Trace (present-day Tupelo) with the St. Running north and south on the west side of the Tombigbee (roughly the route of present day Highway 45) was a road known as the St Stephens Trace. In 1813, east Mississippi and west Alabama were still Indian Territory. However, they were 500 miles away in Nashville. Stephens, knew he had to send to Andrew Jackson and Tennessee Gov. It was in that atmosphere, a day after the Fort Mims massacre, that George Gaines, Choctaw Indian Factor (of the Choctaw trading house) at St. Our settlement is overrun, and our country, I fear, is on the eve of being depopulated.” The Indians have broken in upon us, in numbers and fury unexampled. The horror of the opening of the Creek Indian War phase of the War of 1812 at Fort Mims that August day is best shown in a letter written by Mississippi Territorial Judge Harry Toulmin a few days after the destruction of the fort: “The dreadful catastrophe, which we have been some time anticipating, has at length taken place. Andrew Jackson to bring the Tennessee Militia to the aid of the Tombigbee settlements and save them from destruction by the Creeks. ![]() Stephens (across the Tombigbee from present day Jackson, Alabama) to Nashville to appeal to Gen. ![]() The next day Edmondson was dispatched from the fort at St. 30, 1813, Creek Indians had attacked and burned Fort Mims in the Tensaw area north of Mobile, killing more than 250 men, women and children. Last week marked 206 years since Samuel Edmondson, riding “hellbent for leather,” passed this way spreading a warning of death and destruction.Įdmondson was on a 500-mile ride through Indian territory seeking the aid of Andrew Jackson.
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