The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-23
A Page From the Early
 History of Alabama.
The ramea aRed Eagle" Who Captured stronshold of the wAites But Could Not Prevent Massacre as
 womsn and cAlldreA.
sy win T. sheeaam.


 Mobile, Nov. 22.--(Staff Correspon- dence )-The school child of Alabama knows of King Pnillip, the Massachu- setts chieftain. He Is familiar with the name of Powhatan who sentenced John smith to death; he has read in history of the eloquence and bravery of Tecumsech, but the name Will liam Weatherford, the name Red Eagle" suggests nothing to him. The books he has read tell of other chiefs, and other Indian struggles. The romantic story of Weatherford and his Indian warriors and their unsuccessful stand against the encroachment of the white mans civilization is yet to be learned by the children of the State. The northern man, until recently wrote the books of the Alabama child and published them. This explains why a chapter could be devoted to King Philip and not a line to Red Eagle. It is yet to be explained why the scholars of the State can reclte glibly extracts from Miles Standish. but probably never heard of the splendid poem by Benjamin F. Meek. Red Eagle and which has Weatherford for It's hero. The poem is of a high order of literary merit. and it's beauty is the beauty of Alabama. It is of Ala bama soil and of Alabama atmosphere. The poem is sown with metaphors, with illustrations plucked from the streams. the fields and the forests of the authors own State.
 But conditions are changing. The new educational movement Is bringing the impressionabIe mind of the child into closer relations with the history and the literature of Alabama. The old conditions have however, endured oSn fn n ha a YAnTnaHh the people of Alabama.
 The very record of Weatheford's life Is a picturesque story, romantic chapter. No story, no history that comes to us of pioneer days in Massa- chusetts, in Virginia. or in Ohio sur passes in interest the life of the war leader of the Creeks. Much of the history is yet to be written. His de- scendants proudly nurse the traditions of the chieftain.
 A knowledge of his career a famil- iarity with his deeds gave me an open welcome from the weatherfords of today. It was the traditional free hospitality of the Indians that was given the stranger who knew of Red Eagle, his encounters and adventures.
 Charles weatherford, his grand son, is the family authority on the chieftain, He is now over sixty-fve years of age and is veteran Confederate soldier. As 0 leader of scouts he belonged to the 18th Alabama Cavalry.
 william Weatnerford, properly speaking. was not a chiefs said the grandson He was descended on his mothers side from a family which a1- ways exercised a powerful influence in the council of Indians. Weather ford in truth, was the. leader of the war party of the Indians
 He took the lead with great re- iuotance. He had many white friends among the settlers and he feared the outcome would be the destruction of his mothers people. The belligerent chiefs taunted him with being a coward while they were at council. He stepped to the center and said proudly. I am Red Eagle If there Is one among you who believes that l wear white feathers let him stand forth and attempt to pluck them out."'
 weatherford was unquestionably a remarkable man. Notwithstanding g the part he took in war. .notwithstand- ing the fact that he was the leader of the blood-thirsty warriors who per petrated the massacre at Fort Mims, he was in the later years of his life held in the highest esteem by his white
 
 l character, enterprise, diplomacy and courage. These characteristics won the esteem of the white men, when the motives which induced Weatherford to engage in the war were better under stood. and when the bitter hatred en- gsnderid by the short but sanguinary struggle had passed away.
 Weatherford's boyhood was spent in the Indian towns above Montgomery. It is not generally known that Tecum- l sch. considered the greatest Indian that ever fought or favored the white man was born within a few miles of the Capitol of Alabama. He first saw the light at the Indian village of Savanwagola on the Tallapoosa river which some years later became the white town of Little Augusta. a few miles from Mt Meigs. and a few miles from Montgomery.
 Tecumseh when a child was carried to Ohio, by his mother. There he became the leader of the Indians and the ally of the British in the war of 1912.
 A distinct policy of the British fin this war was a foment trouble among the Indians and the American settlers. It was their policy to arouse the Indi-