Letter on Gallant Estes

Hello,

I just saw your web site and thought I'd send this information to you - you may already have it but it is interesting. My family Archibald Young fought with Gallant in the War of 1812 and buried Gallant. Later they came with Gallant's son John to AR from TN - followed about 3 years after John moved there in 1848.

War of 1812 Service Records
These records were taken from Record Group 94 Records of the Adjutant General's Office, microfilm publication M602, a total of 234 rolls of film. Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) Each volunteer soldier has one Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) for each regiment in which he served.

Surname	Given Name	Company Unit Rank	Induction Rank	Discharge Rank	Misc Roll Box	Exct Roll Rec
YOUNG	Archibald	2 Regiment, Mounted (Higgins) Tenn. Volunteers	Private	Private	234	602
KNIGHT	Robert	2 Regiment, Mounted (Higgins) Tenn. Volunteers	Private	Private	119	602
ESTES	Gallant	2 Regiment, Mounted (Higgins) Tenn. Volunteers	Private	Private	67	602

Archibald Young data:

What connects this man to us is the fact that the article tells that he married Mary Barrett 24 Feb. 1826 and that he and Mary moved to Marion County, Arkansas about two years after John Estes and his wife Charlotte. The Estes' left Tenn. in 1848. Now all of this happened in Warren Co., Tenn. which is close to Cannon Co. The article also places Archibald in Wilson Co. Tenn. in 1813 because that's where he enlisted in Capt. Adam Dale's Co. of Mounted volunteers, Andrew Jackson's Regiment, Tenn. Militia. He served in the battle of Emuckfaw.

Battle of Emuckfaw information

Emuckfau and Enotochopco
(22 and 24 January 1814)

On the evening of 21 January 1814, Andrew Jackson and his volunteers (about 900 men) camped within three miles of a Creek stronghold at Emuckfau Creek on the Tallapoosa River. Around midnight, Jackson’s spies reported that the Creeks were aware of the American army’s presence and were making preparations to attack. Shortly before dawn of the 22nd, the Red Sticks struck the left and rear flanks of Jackson’s camp but were repulsed. At daylight, Jackson’s troops charged the retreating Creeks, killing scores of them. Jackson ordered General Coffee to take a detachment to destroy the nearby Creek camp, but Coffee found the Creeks too well fortified to assault (this was the same site that Jackson later attacked at Horseshoe Bend).

About thirty minutes after Coffee’s unit returned, the Creeks made a second attack on Jackson’s army by assailing the right wing as a feint for the main attack on the left. Coffee counter-attacked with dismounted troops and was wounded in the process (his aide and brother-in-law, Major Alexander Donelson, was killed). On Jackson’s left, Colonel William Carroll was ordered to repulse the Creeks, which he managed to do successfully. Meanwhile, reinforcements came to Coffee’s aid and, once again, the Creeks were put to flight.

Jackson decided to march his beleaguered army back to Fort Strother and stopped at Enotochopco Creek on 23 January, throwing up breastworks in anticipation of another attack by the Red Sticks. The night passed uneventfully and, on the morning of 24 January, Jackson resumed his march to Fort Strother. The army moved in three columns: the regiment of Colonel Nicholas Perkins on the right; the regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Stump on the left; and Colonel William Carroll commanding the rear. As the advance units of the army were crossing Enotochopco Creek, the Creeks attacked the rear of Jackson’s army. The rear guard fled, spreading panic throughout the ranks, while Colonel Carroll was left with a handful of men to stave off the attacking Red Sticks.

Lieutenant Robert Armstrong and a few members of his artillery company, known as the "Nashville Volunteers," managed to maneuver their artillery piece to a small eminence near the creek, where they fought off the Creeks in hand-to-hand combat. Armstrong fell to the ground wounded, imploring his men to "save the cannon." Several others fell beside him, but they bought valuable time for Jackson to regroup.

Jackson and the already-wounded Coffee rallied the broken columns of the army as small groups of men began to reach the artillery post. Captain John Gordon’s company of spies re-crossed the creek and bore down on the left flank of the attacking Indians. The Creeks were finally routed and fled with Jackson’s pursuing army close behind, killing what retreating Creeks they could.

At both Emuckfau and Enotochopco, Jackson claimed to have killed 189 Creek warriors, insisting that the figure was probably higher. American losses amounted to twenty killed and seventy-five wounded (a complete list of American casualties can be found in the Nashville Whig of 8 February 1814 ).

Jackson dismissed most of his army in February 1814, as new enlistments were expected to take their place. Along with the new enlistees from East and West Tennessee, a regular army unit, the 39th U.S. Infantry, under the leadership of Colonel John Williams, was ordered to join Jackson. Jackson was ready to resume the Creek campaign by mid-March, after amassing an army of about 5,000 troops along with adequate supplies.

Jackson’s renewed army left Fort Strother on 14 March 1814 and traveled sixty miles to a point on the Coosa River, where a garrison was established and given the name Fort Williams (in honor of Colonel John Williams). Preparations were made to march about fifty miles in a southeasterly direction to the Creek stronghold called Tohopeka (known to the whites as Horseshoe Bend).

Regards,

John M. Young
Red Dog