THE CASUALTIES
Exact casualty figures will never be known, but most authorities agree about 250 to 400 settlers and
militiamen died at Fort Mims. A settler who returned to the grisly scene four days after the battle to search for his family
reportedly saw about "250 dead bodies and the women in a situation shocking to behold or relate". Many accounts state the
death toll exceeded 500, but this apparently does not take into account the approximately 100 to 175 slaves who were captured
by the Creeks, however, among the bodies were the remains of about 20 slaves. Additionally, a few white women and children
may also have been taken prisoner.
Militia Major Kennedy commanded a detachment sent to the gruesome site to bury the dead three weeks after the massacre.
The soldiers were horrified to find throngs of vultures and wild dogs, which had been attracted to the corpses. Major Kennedy
reported he found and buried the bodies of 247 men, women and children. "Indians, Negroes, white men, women, and children lay
in one promiscuous ruin", wrote Kennedy. "All were scalped, and the females of every age, were butchered. "
In the charred remains of Mims' house, the soldiers found the bones of many victims. In the woods nearby, the
militiamen found the graves of about one hundred Red Sticks. In a letter of September 4 to Territory Governor David Holmes,
General Claiborne wrote that about 200 Creeks were believed to have been killed in the attack. Some historians believe the
Creeks may have lost 300 to 400 warriors in the fight.
