Category: Conecuh County Alabama

Conecuh County was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial Legislature on February 13, 1818, and was named for the Creek term “koha anaka” meaning “near canebrakes.” On July 27, 1813, the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, one of the more significant battles of the Creek War of 1813-14, took place in what was then Conecuh County. In July 1813, Peter McQueen, a Creek warrior of the Red Stick faction, secured a cache of weapons from the British and Spanish at what is now Pensacola, Florida. U.S. troops ambushed McQueen and the Red Sticks on the banks of Burnt Corn Creek (for which the present town of Burnt Corn is named) but were then routed by a Red Stick counterattack. The Red Sticks considered the act a declaration of war and retaliated with the infamous Fort Mims Massacre. Although the actual site has not been located, most sources now place it in present-day Escambia County, which was part of Conecuh County until 1868.