illiam Weatherford, or the Red Eagle, as the Indians called him. He is
commonly spoken of in history as a half-breed, but he was in reality
almost a white man, with just enough of the Indian in his composition to
add savage emotions to Scotch intellect and Scotch perseverance. His
father was a Scotchman, and his mother a half-breed Indian Princess. He
was brought up in the best civilization the border had, his father being
wealthy. He became very rich himself, and, despite his savage instincts,
which were always strong, his wealth, in land and slaves, made him a
conservative. At first he favored a war with the whites, but a calmer
afterthought led him to desire peace, and when he found that the
tempest he had helped to stir up would not subside at his bidding, he
began casting about for a way of escape. He was a man of unquestionable
genius; a soldier of rare strategic ability; an orator of the truest
sort, and his courage in danger was simply sublime. Such a man was
likely to be of great value to the Indians in their approaching war, and
when they began to suspect his loyalty to the nation, they watched him
narrowly. Finding it impossible to postpone the war, and not wishing to
sacrifice his fine property near the Holy Ground, he made a secret
journey to the residence of his half brother David Tait and his brother
John Weatherford, who lived among what were known as the "peacefuls,"
namely, the Indians disposed to remain at peace with the whites in any
event. His brothers, hearing his story, advised him to bring his
negroes, horses and movable property generally, together with his
family, to their plantations, and to remain there, inactive and neutral,
during the struggle. When he returned to his residence for the purpose
of doing this, however, he found that the hostile Indians had seized his
family and his negroes as hostages, and, under the compulsion of their
threat that they would kill his wife and children if he should dare to
remain at peace, he joined in the war against the whites, becoming the
fiercest of all the chieftains. He planned and led the assault upon Fort
Mims, and was everywhere foremost in all the fighting. When the Creeks
were utterly routed at the battle of the Holy Ground a month or so after
the time of which I am writing, General Jackson issued a proclamation
refusing terms of peace to the chiefs until Weatherford, whom he had
determined to put to death, should be brought to him, alive or dead.
W