Built around several structures on the plantation of prominent Tensaw District planter Samuel Mims, Fort Mims was the site of one of the greatest calamities in American military history. On August 30, 1813, the
fort was attacked and destroyed by a Red Stick force of seven hundred warriors both as a preemptory strike and as retaliation for being ambushed at Burnt Corn Creek a month earlier. Nearly 250 of the settlers, allied Creeks, and members of the Mississippi Territorial and local militias living in the one-acre facility at the time were killed in the day-long struggle. The news of the disaster jolted the nation, and galvanized Americans, especially those living in states bordering the Mississippi Territory, in support of
measures to put down the rebellion.

Fort Mims Park, operated by the Alabama Historical Commission, is located at the original fort site just off County Road 80 in northwestern Baldwin County. The park features a partial reconstruction of the fort and interpretive signage that details the battle.