ermission of the National Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

[20] By permission of authors, and publishers, J. B. Lippincott Co.,
Philadelphia.

ALEXANDER BEAUFORT MEEK.

~1814=1865.~

ALEXANDER BEAUFORT MEEK was born at Columbia, South Carolina, was
educated at the University of Alabama, and began life as a lawyer and
editor in Tuscaloosa, then capital of Alabama. He was a lieutenant in
the Seminole War. He was a judge, a member of the State Legislature
and Speaker of the House, and father of the public school system of
the state. His later years were devoted to literary pursuits and he
stands high as an orator, poet, and historian.

WORKS.

Red Eagle, [a poem].
Romantic Passages in South-Western History.
History of Alabama, [unfinished].
Songs and Poems of the South.
Pilgrims of Mt. Vernon, [unfinished poem].

The story of the Indian Chief, Red Eagle, or Weatherford, is one of
the most interesting traditions of our country. Judge Meek's writings
teem with the romantic and marvellous incidents of the early history
of Alabama, such as De Soto's march to the Mississippi, the Battle of
Mauville and defeat of the great Indian King, Tuscaloosa, or Black
Warrior, the Canoe-Fight of Dale, or Sam Thlucco, as the Indians
called him ("Big Sam"), and the attack on Fort Mims.

RED EAGLE, OR WEATHERFORD.

(_From Romantic Passages in South-Western History._)

The battle of Tohopeka put an end to the hopes of Weatherford. This
village was situated on a peninsula, within the "horse-shoe bend" of
the Tallapoosa. Here twelve hundred warriors . . . had fortified
themselves for a desperate struggle, assured by their prophets that
the Master of Breath would now interpose in their favor. Across the
neck of land, three hundred and fifty yards wide, that leads into the
peninsula, they had constructed powerful breastworks of hewn logs,
eight or ten feet high, and pierced with double rows of port-holes,
from which they could fire with perfect security. The selection of
this spot and the character of its defence did great credit to the
military genius of Weatherford,--and his eloquence, more than usually
persuasive and inspiriting, filled his devoted followers with a
courage strangely compounded of fanaticism and despair.

At an early hour in the morning, General Coffee's command having
crossed the river and encircled the bend so as to cut off all escape,
General Jackson opened his artillery upon the b