<br > ar! Rumors of battle were spreading like wildfire<br > through the small town of Winchester， Tennessee.<br > Davy Crockett and his good friend Georgie<br >Russel stood with an excited crowd in front of the court-<br >house， waiting for the official news. Farmers， hunters，<br >mule drivers， carpenters， and some local Cherokee Indian<br >people joined them.<br > Everyone knew that since the previous year， 1812，<br >the British had been fighting the Americans up north，<br >near Canada， but this latest struggle was reported to be<br >down south， close to Tennessee. Had the British moved<br >their forces south， or had something else happened?<br > A lawyer named Sam Jones climbed the courthouse<br >steps and faced the crowd. "Gentlemen，" he cried，<br >"there has been a massacre! Five hundred people have<br >been killed in Alabama! Not two weeks ago on August<br >30 in this year of our Lord， 1813， Creek Indian warriors<br >murdered men， women， and children in Fort Mims!"<br >