The Panic of 1813
Throughout the summer of 1813 there was great fear in western Mississippi that the hostilities of the Creek nation would involve the Choctaws, or a part of them, and bring upon the ancient Natchez district the horrors of an Indian war, from which it had been exempt for over eighty years. This fear was particularly felt after the Fort Mims Massacre, and in Jefferson and Claiborne counties, bordering on the Choctaw lands. In September, when the troops were being enrolled to go to the Tombigby, the apprehensions of the timid regarding being left alone, joined to the rumors of Choctaw sympathy with the hostile Creeks, started a panic, that swept over the two counties with startling effects. It was declared that the red men, in war paint, had been seen at Rocky Springs, or at Grindsone Ford; smoke of burning homes could be seen by the more imaginative. Women and children and movable effects were loaded in wagons and sent to Washington. Port Gibson was practically deserted. The men capable of bearing arms gathered to meet the fore. There was a recovery before many of the domestic caravans reached Washington, and most of them were turned back short of the destination. To restore confidence, it was determined to organize for defense.
Col. Daniel Burnet presided over a meeting at Port Gibson, on the 13th, at which a committee, composed of Maj. Clarke, Harmon Blennerhassett, H. Harmon, Col. Ragan, Capt. P. Briscoe, Wm. Briscoe and Thomas Barnes, reported that the alarm was groundless, but three stockades should be built and one strong fort at a central point. A frontier committee was appointed, and a central committee, which later included Samuel Gibson, Harmon Blennerhassett, Daniel Burnet, Thomas Farar and Judge Leake.
According to a reminiscent article by John A. Watkins, the fortification consisted of four blockhouses, protected by strong palisades, called Fort Shaw. The Tennessee troops bivouacked there one night in 1815. Later, one of the blockhouses was used for a school house.
