Stockades have served small settlements as a primitive defense against attacks. In the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama, Andrew Jackson's army assaulted Creek Indians who had fortified themselves within a timber stockade. His cannonballs bounced off the green timber, forcing him to storm the fort with infantry. 
Earlier, Creeks had attacked Fort Mims. Attacking by surprize, they seized control of the gun ports in the walls, and turned the fort into a barrel shoot. Several hundred settlers died, making it the largest massacre of Whites in North America. 