This course will provide an overview of the Creek War and the War of 1812 in the Gulf South. Brief, complex, and fiercely fought, these wars are transformative events in our nation’s past that unfortunately remain little known and greatly misunderstood. The Creek War of 1813-1814 and the related southern campaigns of the War of 1812 were actually a war within a war, fought in two phases. The first phase, the Creek War, developed from a bitter civil war within Creek society over the issue of American influence in tribal affairs into a high-stakes showdown with American forces that would ultimately determine the fate of the Creek nation. The second phase, a campaign of the larger War of 1812 in many ways closely related to the Creek War, took place along the Gulf Coast in the present-day states of Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana as British forces targeted the weakly-defended region.

Students will learn about this compelling era in our nation’s history through a discussion of events which played out to a significant degree in this area. The course will include an overview of the increasingly tense Creek/American relations during the era and the influence of European powers such as Spain and Great Britain in the Southeast at the time. It will feature a discussion of the pivotal battles that determined the outcome of the Creek War, such as the Battle of Fort Mims and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, as well as the Gulf South campaigns of the War of 1812 which culminated in the Battle of New Orleans. Included will be a discussion of the importance of the results of these military contests, which ultimately gave rise to the development of large-scale slave-based cotton agriculture in the Deep South, led to the forced removal of native tribes, secured large portions of the Gulf South against European powers and launched the career of Andrew Jackson, one of America’s most influential military and political leaders.

DATE:                           Tuesday, September 14, 2010

TIME:                            6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

LOCATION:                   GSW Student Success Center Room 2413

INSTRUCTOR:              Mike Bunn, Curator of History, The Columbus
                                      Museum,  Columbus, GA and Co-Author of 
                                      Battle for the Southern Frontier:  The Creek
                                      War and The War of 1812

FEE:                              $19                  

COURSE NUMBER:     111BSF203A