The Red Sticks, young men who wanted to revive traditional religious and cultural practices, were already forming, resisting assimilation.

In 1813, militia troops intercepted a Red Stick party returning from obtaining arms in (Spanish colonial) Pensacola.

After leaving Fort Williams in the spring of 1814, Jackson's army cut its way through the forest to within six miles (10 km) of Chief Menawa's Red Stick camp Tehopeka, near a bend in the Tallapoosa River called "Horseshoe Bend"—located in what is now central Alabama, 12 miles (19 km) east of present-day Alexander City.

Houston was one of the first to make it over the log barricade alive and received a wound from a Creek arrow that troubled him for the rest of his life.

After the battle, Jackson's troops allegedly made bridle reins from skin taken from Indian corpses, conducted a body count by cutting off the tips of their noses, and sent their clothing as souvenirs to the "ladies of Tennessee.

"[10] Chief Menawa was severely wounded but survived; he led about 200 of the original 1,000 warriors across the river and toward safety, to join the Seminole tribe in Spanish Florida.

Eric Flint has written a series of alternate history novels, Trail of Glory, that begin with the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

In Flint's version, Houston is only lightly wounded in the battle, allowing him freedom to develop his career, in turn facilitating the author's objectives.

The main character of Paulette Jiles' novel News of the World, 'Captain' Jefferson Kyle Kidd, has a backstory that includes fighting as a youth of 16 in this battle under Jackson.