The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-03
BY WILL T. sHEEHAN.

The last resting place of Weather. ford. the famous Alabama Indian of song and story. who is sleeping ms tie River in Baldwin county. will be suitably marked by the Improved Or der of Red Men, so that future Ala saman; saeat wan may yleaaer aaew tne of e Greeks buried It is possible that fine mor- ument will hc built. n,u trict Grand Deputy of the Red Men for the several tribes in Montgomery. has interested himself in the movement have Red d., Eagles M srasss ssui msreee Is cee of the most energetic Red Men in the state and 1t is his announced purpose to have his fellow Red Men so inter of Weatherford shall be marked in, a way commensurate with the influential position that Weatherfcrd held in pio- neer Alabama mariiy i to the interest that Probate Judge J. H. H. Smith. of Baldwin seSny ssaeI fals h. in iast ysars f lords life was spent in Baldwin county and there he died. By his own request he was buried by the ,d side frant or senoyii YsGi of his home on Little River. His grave and the grave of his mother are are neg. lected and unnoted. Judge smith mas reer of Weatherford and of the other a aristocratic Creeks who after Jackson had defeated the hostile Greeks maae smith is thoroughly, acquainted with with the scenes in which Weatherford spent the latter, years of his i,fe. as leader with the two neglected graves
 While in Baldwin county recently, the attention of the Stan Goryesp1notehhs ra ths unmarked grave of Red Eagle by '"ose Smith, ., ,,a be unknown to Alabamians. The neg. iected tomb of Red Eagle is now known to hundreds of perrie. to @ ms ton. but it bears no mark of identi; fication, and the neglected spot VII in years to come. be entirely forgotten. grave so marked that i, will be known to future generations.
 A Remarkable Indian. "Weatherford was one or .ne muss ths white men of America had to do. He was one of the greatest If not the greatest Indian Amer1Ga bIaod mas i hm Was large, it is true. but he lived the iiis of an Indian, and as he said he would always fought side by sids nngne w,.n 'nITe He was the chosen leader of the wariike Creeks. In council his word was law and in battle his word was, was cGmmana pm 1nrs inc Indian costume of hunting shirts
 T have been impressed with the high ford by his white neighbors here il, in the inroads of the white settlers with | met them in battle and fought until he and his warriors were unable to | fight any more. After all this he came
 amons those 9hs wSts whom hs had
 With the Greeks. Notwithstandtingg ag
 this, his wh5e hisb esteem and respect He was looked upon as good citizen,
 a brave man and a man whose Wora
 he a fought and who conquered his war | riors, always manifested warm | friendship for him and an interest in
 Kn my ssyh9Ga n fe sere n Bsld | win County and they always spoke or him in praise and commendation. T do not think that the grave or "a a | the affairs of Alabama should be per-
 mitted to remain unmarked ana uh- | noted" .
 l Judge Smith was invited by the stan | correspondent of The Advertiser to ad-
 dress a communication to the people | calling attention to the neglected grave
 of Weatherford and asking that 1t 1 be e
 marked for future generations. This
 ifs letter was shown to the District Grand Deputy of the Red Men, Dr g. II; | Saul who immediately manifested
 "In my opinion" said Dr. Saul. the
 Red Men of Alabama should mark the
 grave of Red Eagle. That That they I VIII nIado do should not take up the work. l believe | that there are sufficient Rcd Men who | feel as I do about the matter, and will make enough volunteer contributions to suitably mark the grave.
 The tenets of our order lead us to
 emulate the virtues of the red man, his l der the influences of the white man. It, 1 therefore. seems fit and proper that we
 should honor the memory ba of the greet
 His life. in its gallantry. in his 5evo' snsTSn'e, known of weatherford's D ford csreer. ca The people of Alabama should know that he
 was one of the greatest Indians Amer | lea ever claimed
 the attention of the hundreds of Red
 msn 'sa ssave ustfe tey endorse the movement we will endeavor
 to make 1t State work, for 1t should predict what the various tribes will do. | but 1 believe that they will undertake | the work with energy and enthusiasm" In his letter to The Advertiser, Judge l Hall said of the great Creek leader: WeatherfOrd, or Samochatee. =. William Weatherford. whose Indian name was Samochatee. or Red Eagle" was the grandson of Lochlin Magii- l lavry, a Scotchman, who married Sehoy, an Indian princess of The Wind fam ily' of the .Muscogee, or Creek Indians. Of hiv birth and early history little is known.
 The Wind family is so called from the fact that 1t indicates ubiquity Cor sovereignty. He -sarly identified him self with the interests of the downtrod- den people of his mother. The continu- ous aggression of the paleface, his ra- pacious greed for the acquisition of the coupled with his disposition to scorn the Indian as an aggressive dog wher- ever he offered protest to his author~ ity and injustice. fired the young heart of Red Eagle" with resentment. and driven to that last resort of good men, war.
 'On many a welI-fought field he at tested his deep and abiding interesf in all his warriors were killed and scat tered, he hied himself into the camp of Jackson, not to apologize nor ask mer- cy for himself, but to invoke protection for the wives and children of his fallen braves.
 "sehoy, the mother of the chief. be- ing only a half blood, the issue by the union between the red-headed Scotch man and herself. which was Red Eagle. proved him to have been a quadroon Scotch.
 The massacre at Fort Mimms, that page of Weatherford's history over which he Is said to have wept in after