The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-02

| primeval forests, furnished stage up l on which many renowned and noble h. dian actors played important roles in the awful drama of her carly life. Hero we can trace the blood-stained path | of Hernando DeSoto through the wild and savage regions in his unsuccess- full search for gold. It was here the mighty Tuscaloosa, or Black Warrior | as he was also known, with 5000 splendid warriors. unable to cope with ! the mailed hand of the Spanish cava-
 Tier, went to defeat and death amidst | the charred ruins of Maubila, the principal Indian city of the sixteenth century. the first city of Mobile Here | was fought, according to all reliable historians. the bloodest tattle ever waged on American soil.
 l From Alabamas soil sprang many 1 lllustrious contemporaries of Pushma-
 taha. The name of the brilliant Te- cumseh, the wizard of the red men of | the north who died on the battle line fighting under the British flag, is ev- erlastingly linked with Alabamas his tory not only because of his activities here but because his mother was a | native Alabamian. Alexander McGil- ! livray, the Tallyrand of his day and | naion, was born at Wetumpka, Ala ] One of the most remarkable Indian | characters of all the ages. whose name is forever connected with Fort Mims, was the nephew of McGillivray, Will l liam Weatherford, or Red Eagle, so fitly called the key and cornerstone of the Creek Confederscy.' His birth place is near Hickory Ground on the Tallapoosa river and he is buried near his old family homestead in Monroe County, Ala, where many of his direct l descendants, splendid citizens, now ro Arh l., ,fr .1 | grave have grown up, tall and beauti- ful, the stately southern long leaf pine
 through whose naarmuring foliage, the | winds of all seasons continue to sing solemn requiems for his departed soul "It must ever be recorded that he l greatly regretted the massacre at Fort l Mims, and at the time of his death 1 was beloved citizen, commanding the respect of all men. Osceola, whose dis | tinguished leadership of the brave Seminoles gives him a place in the l front rank of the great Indians of his time, was born near the town of Tus- | kegee. Sequoya, one of the really great 1 geniuses of the world, whose name must ever stand with that of Cadmus as the inventor of an alphabet and whose bronze statue now adorns Me- | morial hall at the capitol in the city of l Washington, Is said by some to have been born in that section of the Creek territory now part of Alabama. Pushmataha, though not born on Ala
 bama soil, yet 1t was there around old St. Stephens, the first capital of that | state, and amongst the Tombigb bee settlements, this great chieftain made | his illustrious record as a leader, an
 orator, a warrior and a statesman.
 Chief of the nation that prided itself | on never having shed the white mans 1 blood, having won that title by valor- ous deeds amongst his own race, so distinguished himself battling in | defense of the white mans home. that l General Jackson commissioned him a
 brigadier general in the United States
 army. Pushmataha stands out, singly | and alone, the only man of his race | who ever attained so high a rank in our army in all the Illuminating an-
 nals of it's proud existence, and I doubt
 not the records will show that he is | the only Indian who ever rose to such
 distinction in the military establish
 ments of all the nations of the world.
 Long Period of Peace
 Throughout the cyles of the years 1 intervening between Maubila in 1540,
 and the latter part of the seventeenth
 century, with the exception of the | French troubles with the Natchez | U
 our country, enjoyed his hunting
 grounds unmolested and his broad domain was rarely trod upon by the feet of the Anglo-Saxon. Little did he
 contemplate then, the onward march | of civilization, more progressive but
 less sentimental with it's teeming mil
 lions of enterprising people, who, prob
 ably, according to the pre-destined Providence, have built their homes Ina fio1I l.: | sleep.
 The lands now comprising Alabama
 and Mississippi belonged to the Choctaws and Creeks, each a branch | of the Muscogean Indians. The Choc-
 jaws claimed all east of the Misss- l sippi as far as the watershed between
 the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers The Creeks claimed all east of the Tombigbee, south of the Tennessee to
 the Qeonee river. The hunting grounds
 between the Alabama and Tombigbee | rivers, especially in Clarke county. were the source of many differences
 and disputes and the scene of many
 bloody battles between the two na tions.
 Tn the early days of the eighteenth century, the French government estab- lished a colony near the site of the
 present city of Mobile, over whose 1 people from that day to this have
 floated the flags of five nations: The French, the British, the Spanish the Stars and Stripes. and for four years
 the immortal banner of the storm
 cradled nation that fell.' After the pur- | chase of Louisiana, this government
 began to encourage development of | the southwest. Then the star of em- l pire' began it's westward course to the Mississippi. Then the stout-hearted pioneers. forsaking their comfortable
 homes in the Caro,inas. Virginia. Geor- | gian and Tennessee, determined to
 claim this beautiful Lndeveloped coun- try. planted the Tombigbee settle
 ments along those rivers which wend
 their way from the picturesque hills of north Alabama to the historic wa
 ters of Mobile bay.
 + Under Perilous Conditions
 Isolated and defenseless, no people ever labored under more perilous con- ditions than this advance Sguard of
 American civilization in Alabama. Separated from friends, relatives and
 supplies, by hundreds of families of
 trackless forests, yet within easy reach of the arrow and tomahawk of a l revengeful for, these American now,
 above all times, needed the assistance
 and friendship of the Choctaw Indian
 It was in these dark hours of danger
 and dismay, through the influence of him whom we honor today. that his
 proud warriors came to the rescue of
 the white man and saved him from ex I termination
 | When the war clouds of 1872 how cred on the horizon. hirelings of the
 British government determined to q 0a h GnA Alr<.