River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-06-12
;oin in the war and destroy the white


they broke out in hostility, and on the
30th of August, their great leader,
| Weathersford, or the Red Eagle, as
| they called him, stormed Fort Minis,
the strongest fort in the southwest. He
took the fort by surprise, with, "a thou
sand warriors behind him, and after
five hours of terrible fighting destroyed
it, killing about five hundred men,
women and children.
This was the news that startled the
| settlers in the region where the Alaba-
ma and Tombigbee rivers come together.
| 1t was certain, after such a massacre as
| that, that the Indians meant to destroy
4 the settlements, and kill all the white
people without mercy.
| In order TO protect themselves and
their families, the settlers built rude
forts by setting timbers endwise in the
ground, and the people hurried to these
places for safety Leaving their homes
/ to be burned, their crops to be destroyed
and their cattle to be killed or carried
\ off by the Indians, the settlers hastily
got together what food they could, and
took their families into the nearest
1 forts.
One of the smallest Of these stockade
| forts was called Sinquefeld. It stood
in what is now called Clarke County,
Ala, and, as that region was very thin
| " settled, there were not enough men
to make strong force for the defence
| of the fort But the brave farmers and
hunters tho't they could hold the place,
and so they took their families there as
quickly as they could.
Two families, numbering seventeen
! persons, found it was not safe to go to
Sinquefeld on the Ind of September,
and so, as they were pretty sure that
there were no Indians in their neighbor-
hood, they made up their minds to stay
one more night at house a few miles
from the fort. That same night they
were attacked, and all but five of them
were killed. Those who got away car
ried the news of what had happened to
the fort, and party was sent out to
bring in the bodies.
The next day all the people In Fort
Sinquefeld went to bury their dead
friends in a valley at some little distance
from the fort, and strange as it may
seem they took no arms with them. Be
lieving that there were no Indians near
the place they left the gates of the
fortress open, and went out in body
without their guns.
As matter of fact there was large
body of Indians not only very near them
but actually looking at them all the
time. The celebrated Prophet Francis
was in command, and in his sly way lie
kept as near the fort as possible to look
for good chance to attack it. Making
his men lie down and crawl like snakes,
he had reached point only a few hun
dred yards from the stockade without
alarming the people; and now while
they stood around the graves of their
friends without arms to defend them
selves with, host of their savage enc
mics lay looking at them from the grass
and bushes on the hill.
AS soon as he saw the right moment
had come, Francis had sprung up with
savage war-cry and at the head of his
warriors made a dash for the gates. He
had seen that the men outside We're UNI
armed and his plan was to get to the
gates before they could reach them and
thus get all the people Of the place at
his mercy in an open field and without
arms to fight with
The fort people were quick to see
what his purpose was, and the men
hurried forward with all their might,
hoping to reach the fort before the
savages could get there BY running
at the top of their speed they did this,
and closed the gates in time to keep the
Indians out. But to their horror they
then saw that their wives and children
were shut out too.--Unable to run as
fast as the men, they had fallen behind,
and now the Indians were between
them and the gates!
Seeing that he had missed his chance
of getting possession Of the fort, Fran
els turned upon the women and chill
dren with savage delight in the thought
of butchering these helpless creatures
in the sight of their husbands, fathers
and brothers.
1t was a moment of terror. There
were not half enough white men in the
fort to master so large force of Indians
and if there had been it was easy to see
| that by the time they could get their ri
| fies and go to the rescue it would be too
| late.
| AT that moment the hero of this bit
| of history came upon the scene. This
was young man named Isaac Haden.
| He was notable huntsman, who kept
famous pack ofhounds fierce brutes,
thoroughly trained to run down and
seize any living thing that their master
chose to chase. The young man had
been out in search of stray cattle, and
just at the moment when matters were
at their worst, he rode up to the fort in
company with his sixty dogs.
Isaac Haden had cool head and a
very daring spirit. He was in the habit
of taking in situations at d glance, de-
Gliding quickly what was to be done,
and then doing it at any risk that might
be necessary As soon as he saw. how
the men and women were placed he
cried out to his dogs, and at the head of
his believing pack, charged upon the
flank of the Indians. The dogs did the
work with spirit equal to the masters.
For each to seize a red warrior and
drag him to earth was the work of a
moment, and the whole body was soon
in confusion. For a moment they had
all they could do to defend themselves
against the unlocked assault of the
fierce animals, and before they could
beat off the dogs the men of the fort
came out and joined in the attack, SO
that the women and children had time
to make their way inside the gates, only
one of them Mrs. Phillips, having
been killed.
The men, of course, had to follow the
women closely, as they were too weak
in numbers to risk a battle outside. If
they had done so, the Indians would
have overcome them quickly, and then
the fort and everybody in it would have
been at their mercy, so they hurried in
to the fort as soon as the women were
safe
But the hero who had saved the peo-
pie by his quickness and courage was
left outside, and not only so, but the
savages were between him and the fort.
He had charged entirely through the
war party, and was now beyond their
line, alone, aud with no chance of help
from any quarter.
His hope of saving himself was very
small, indeed; but he had saved all
those helpless women and children, and
he was brave enough fellow to die will
ingly, for such purpose as that, if he
must. But brave men do not give up
easily, and young Haden did not mean
to die without last effort to save HIM
self Blowing a loud blast upon his