Talk:Canoe Fight (Creek War)

Article review

I appreciate your work on the Creek War. The map was very helpful. It's still C class because there are a few places where I was not sure who was doing what. Here are my observations. Djmaschek (talk) 06:29, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

• Consider changing the name from Canoe Fight to Canoe Fight (Creek War).
• The introduction should be expanded to explain a little more about the fight.
• Under Background, it would be helpful if there was a brief explanation who the Red Sticks were. (A warlike faction of the Creek Nation?) Someone not familiar with the history might want to know.
• It says the men were on the southern bank and then it says the east bank. You probably should keep it consistent (change south to east) so the reader can more easily follow the action.
• The account starts on Nov. 11 yet it says the battle occurred on Nov. 12. It did not say at what point in the narrative they camped overnight. So I made an edit that made this clear.
• I also added "(see map Brasier's)" so readers will know that the narrative's "French's" and the map's "Brasier's" are the same place.
• The account suggests that after killing the Red Sticks in the canoe, the party returned to the east bank to pick up the other 8 volunteers in order to return everyone to the west bank. This needs to be clearer.

Thanks for the review! I've applied all these changes. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions or what else I can do to make this B-class. Dofftoubab (talk) 03:15, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

B class. Nice work. Djmaschek (talk) 04:32, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Canoe Fight (Creek War)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Tomobe03 (talk · contribs) 16:48, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

I'll have a look at this nomination.--Tomobe03 (talk) 16:48, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

Sources

I'd like to start with a review of sources here before proceeding to other elements of GAR. I took a look at the references here and I have the following questions:

• What makes War History Online site a reliable source? It appears to me that the author (Knighton) is describing himself as a writer of fiction and I found no published peer-reviewed works of his in the field or any reliable source establishing him as a reliable source.
  • Thanks for starting the review! In regards to this source, I've deleted it and added the citation for the previous reference (The Encyclopedia of Alabama article on the Creek War) as the information is also found there.Dofftoubab (talk) 02:22, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
• Source referred to as Bunn, Mike; Williams, Clay. "The Canoe Fight". The Creek War and the War of 1812 seems self-published. However, the cited authors are also wrote Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812 mentioning this information [1]. The preview unfortunately provides no page numbers, but the information concerned is found one page ahead of Across the Chattahoochee chapter. It says "A historic marker commemorating the event stands on County Road 35 (Morning Star Road) near the community of Suggsville in southeastern Clarke County, Alabama." I think that the source is acceptable because the authors have clearly otherwise published a work in the field. However. Morning Star Road (Co Rd 35) and the Madison Rd (Co Rd 33) are about 10 miles apart. Was the marker moved? Can you find any other source to back up either of the two?--Tomobe03 (talk) 17:37, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
  • I think Bunn and Williams started the website to provide images of their sites listed in their book and for publicizing their book/speaking engagements. The GPS coordinates they have on their site line up with the coordinates for the Historical Marker Database entry on the Canoe Fight, even though Bunn and Williams erroneously have the marker being on Morning Star Road. Can't verify the marker on Google Maps, since the most recent street view from that site was captured in April 2011 and the marker was placed in 2013. Even though some of the site info was partially wrong on Bunn and Williams' site, I'd like to keep the link to their site since it has such good images for other important sites of the Creek War.Dofftoubab (talk) 02:22, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Also looks like multiple sites mistakenly use Co Rd 35 instead of Co Rd 33. Clarke County Museum even lists the marker as being on Co Rd 35 in the directions: "Take Co. Rd. 29 to Gainestown. Turn at Overstreet’s Store onto Co. Rd. 35. Marker is approximately a mile on the right." Overstreet's Store can be confirmed on Google Maps at the corner of Co Rd 33 and Co Rd 29: 31°26′43.7″N 87°41′36.2″W Dofftoubab (talk) 02:35, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

Alright then - I'll re-read everything through and I hope to finish the review over the weekend. Cheers--Tomobe03 (talk) 16:40, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

There is are two minor issues regarding referencing:

• Halbert, Henry; Ball, Timothy (1895). The Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Chicago, Illinois: Donohue & Henneberry. ISBN 9781375702775. -- this edition had no ISBN (it has oclc number 457563269 only). The ISBN shown points to a 2017 reprint. Since that does not appear to be a different edition, and since you linked the 1895 edition using the url= parameter, if I were you I'd omit the isbn= and use oclc= parameter instead. However, the reference as is does not point to any different book, so I think this is fine as regards GAR and I'm just posting this for future reference.
• A similar situation exists regarding Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers. ISBN 9780781251136. -- although there is no url= link to the first edition so, this is even less of an issue than the above. -- no action required for both of these as far as I can tell.--Tomobe03 (talk) 10:45, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay - RL stepped in. I expect to be editing tomorrow.--Tomobe03 (talk) 10:59, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

Prose

• The "firendly" vs "hostile" Creek warriors seems non-neutral to me because the expressions assume the reader is viewing the information from the point of view of the US. While the source books certainly were written for the US readers, it would be better to modify these expressions to "Creek warriors hostile/allied/friendly/etc to the US/British" as appropriate.
• Is the distinction between the Red and White Sticks only hostility towards the US?
  • Comment: No, it was not. Note that "White Sticks" is a modern invented term, not attested anywhere AFAIK before the late 1990s. The "Red Sticks" or rebel faction were opposed by the Creek National Council and its "light horse" police commanded by William McIntosh. The 1813-14 Creek war was a civil war with religious overtones in which Creek rebels interpreted U.S. military losses to the British in 1812 as an opportunity to overthrow what they saw as a corrupt and co-opted National Council. Georgia and Tennessee grandees then took the Red Stick rebellion as an occasion to invade the Creek Nation and annex land. When these state-led invasions bogged down, the U.S. Army came to the rescue, incidentally commissioning Andrew Jackson, who exceeded his orders in imposing a cession treaty on the Creeks, then invading neutral Spanish Florida in pursuit of Creeks and their Seminole allies. Casting the conflict in terms of "friendly" and "hostile" Indians enshrines U.S. military reports as the only authoritative interpretation of the war. — ℜob C. alias ALAROB 18:52, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
• Was the hostility caused by encroachment on the Creek lands? If so, why were some Creek warriors still friendly?
• Move wikilink to Mississippi Territory to the first instance of the name.
  • Removed wikilink in the background section as it's linked in the first sentence of the article. If it should also be linked in the first section of the article, I'll do that too.Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• It would probably be a good idea to give an idea where Creek lands are for readers unfamiliar with the topic. No need to be overly specific though.
  • Corrected all the above points in the background section. Hope that clarifies everything!Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• In ...crossed the river at French's (see Brasier's on map) Landing... are French's Landing and Brasier's Landing the same place only under the same name? If so, I'd make this clearer, for example "crossed the river at French's Landing (depicted as Brasier's Landing on the map published in the Lossing's book)".
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• The map should have an improved caption stating where the map comes from, eg. "Map of Alabama during the War of 1812 published by Benson Lossing. The site of the Canoe Fight is located in the center/Brasier's Landing."
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Edited. — ℜob C. alias ALAROB 18:27, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
• In ...Dale and his volunteers ambushed a band of warriors who were preparing food... was it really an ambush? If the warriors were on the move, I'd have no problem here, but can one really ambush another while preparing food? I would say here more neutral "attacked", but I'm not native speaker of English, so please correct me if I got the meaning wrong.
  • I've always taken "ambush" as just being a "surprise attack on an unsuspecting enemy". I thought it added a little more emphasis on the fact that the warriors were unaware of Dale and his volunteers--hence the fact they were preparing food instead of expecting any confrontation. As an aside, even though you're not a native speaker you have an awesome use of the English language. I would've never known you weren't a native speaker if you had not said anything. You're doing great!Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• Something's missing in These twelve were preparing some of the captured food when they heard the men from the west bank warn they were surrounded by warriors. Could it be "These twelve were preparing some of the captured food when they heard the men from the west bank warn them they were surrounded by warriors.?
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• In Captain Dale called for eight of the soldiers... "Captain" is redundant as it has already been established as his rank in the text above. I'd drop it from the sentence.
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk)
• In The smaller canoe, paddled by a free black named Caesar,... judginng from use in African Americans, Black should be capitalised. You might want to recheck this though.
  • Done. The article Free Negro capitalizes it, so thanks for pointing that out!Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• I'd suggest changing "company" in The company marched two more miles up the west bank... with "group", "force" or something else to avoid potential confusion with Company (military unit).
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• In Dale became a hero and was afterwards known as "The Daniel Boone of Alabama. it would be good to describe briefly hero to whom - i.e. among the local population, in the Mississippi Territory or nationally.
  • Done. Just added "to early Alabamians" as is listed in the source.Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• Per MOS:SURNAME, drop first names in Jeremiah Austill served as a clerk... James Smith continued to fight...
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• The same applies to ...murals for Mobile's Old City Hall in 1936 that showed Jeremiah Austill and Caesar during the fight.
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• The entire Location section seems a bit odd to me. Its primary purpose seems to be to discuss the marker. I'd recommend you to move the entire contents of this section to the end of the Legacy section since the marker really belongs there and there is no specific location of the battle discussed in the eponymous section.
  • Done. Combined both sectionsDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
• The lede is brief, but there is not much to summarize. However, I believe it would be worth mentioning Dale in the lede considering that the skirmish earned him the name of a hero, and I'd include some legacy info (no more than a sentence) there too since that part of the prose seems to be missing in the lede.
  • Added a sentence to the end of the lead. Let me know if it needs to be modified.Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

MOS

• There are couple of things regarding MOS:SURNAME in the prose comments above.
• Per MOS:SANDWICH, avoid placing images on both sides of the text sandwiching prose between them. Specifically, I'd suggest moving the mural image further below to the legacy section.
  • DoneDofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Tools

• No duplicate links found - no action required.
• Earwig's Copyvio Detector reports no issues - no action required.
• Checklinks reports no broken links - no action required.
• Dablinks reports no disambiguation links - no action required.

Images

• Images have suitable licences - no action required.
• All images except the map have appropriate captions. The comments regarding the map caption are included in the prose section.
• There is a sandwiching issue regarding a couple of immages set out in the MOS section.

Nice work overall. There are few thing that need to be tweaked, so I'm placing the review on hold.--Tomobe03 (talk) 16:29, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

• • Responded to all the suggestions. Thanks so much for reviewing the article and working on it. I appreciated your thoroughness and attention to detail! Dofftoubab (talk) 02:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response. I'll take a final look at it in few hours and get back to you.--Tomobe03 (talk) 13:19, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Had another look: The article complies with GA criteria now, therefore passing. Good work!--Tomobe03 (talk) 12:50, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

Not just a war story

This article treats the Canoe Fight, which it acknowledges was not military significant, solely as a military event. Most of the article is tactical. What remains unexplained is why this incident was remembered at all, when no doubt there were many other skirmishes between fighters in the region in 1813-14. Our sources date from 38 or more years after the event. Also, more could be said about the significance of this story in the state of Alabama, where it was for a long time a patriotic legend taught to schoolchildren. — ℜob C. alias ALAROB 18:58, 20 June 2023 (UTC)