One Promiscuous Ruin

This novel follows the events of the Fort Mims Massacre in the Alabama frontier in 1813. This massacre had far-reaching effects on how the young United States treated Native Americans for the first half of the 19th century and eventually led to the defeat and exile of the Creek Nation under Andrew Jackson.

In the summer of 1813, an increasingly crowded group of settlers gathered in an improvised fortification located on the Alabama River in what is now Baldwin County. They strived to avoid attack by hostile "Redsticks," Creek warriors who yearned to return to a way of life free from the advancing European and American cultures. Embracing the policies of Shawnee chief Tecumseh, these warriors, led by William Weatherford, banded together to inflict one of the most serious military defeats in American history. Such a victory was not inevitable or even likely. Rather, it was achieved due to a combination of hubris, ignorance, racism, and fickle fate. This is the story of that defeat. It is a work of historical fiction, but the broad outline of events and most characters depicted are based upon recorded history.

James Sturdivant lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where he is a practicing attorney who specializes in white collar defense and complex government investigations. His family is made up of his lovely wife Susan, four sons, and one granddaughter. This is his first novel.