William Weatherford William Weatherford , also known as " Lamochattee " ( Red Eagle ) by the Creek ( c . 1780 or 1781 – March 24 , 1824 ) , was a Creek ( Muscogee ) chief of the Upper Creek towns who led the Red Sticks ' offensive in the Creek War ( 1813 – 1814 ) against the United States . Representative of Southeast Indian tribes who intermarried with European traders and later colonial settlers , William Weatherford was of mixed Creek , French and Scots ancestry . He was raised in the matrilineal Creek nation and achieved his power in it , through his mother ' s family of the prominent Wind Clan as well as his father ' s trading connections . After the war , he rebuilt his wealth as a slaveholding planter in lower Monroe County , Alabama . " Note : " Several sources state that Weatherford was born in 1765 , and that IS the date recorded on his tombstone , located in Little River , Baldwin County , Alabama . Many sources state that his mother , Sehoy III , was born in 1759 . Also , his siblings were born in the 1780s . It seems most likely that Weatherford ' s year of birth would be closer to 1780 or 1781 . Early life and education . William Weatherford was born near the Upper Creek towns of Coosauda ( a Koasati Indian Town , now Coosada ) and Hickory Ground ( Wetumpka ) , to Sehoy III , a high - status woman of the Wind Clan ( " Hutalgalgi " ) , and Charles Weatherford , a Scots trader . His mother was of Creek , French and possibly Scottish descent . As the Creek were a matrilineal culture , Sehoy III ' s children were absorbed into the tribe despite their European ancestry . Her clan status , the same as her male clan relatives , secured the status of her children . Property and inheritance were passed through the maternal line . Because he belonged to the same clan , a boy ' s maternal uncle was more important to his upbringing than his biological father . Benjamin Hawkins , first appointed as United States Indian agent in the Southeast and then as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the territory south of the Ohio River , lived among the Creek and Choctaw , and knew them well . He commented in letters to President Thomas Jefferson that Creek women were matriarchs and had control of children " when connected with a white man . " Hawkins further observed that even wealthy traders were nearly as " inattentive " to their mixed - race children as " the Indians " . What he did not understand about the Creek culture was that the children had a closer relationship with their mother ' s eldest brother than with their biological father , because of the importance of the clan structure . As a boy William ( " Billy " ) Weatherford was called " Lamochattee " , or " Red Eagle " , by other Creek . After he handled himself well as a warrior , he was given the " war name " of " Hopnicafutsahia " , or " Truth Teller . " He was the great - grandson of Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand , the French commanding officer of Fort Toulouse and his wife Sehoy , a Creek of mixed race . He was also a nephew of the Creek chief , Alexander McGillivray , who was prominent in the Upper Creek towns . Weatherford was a cousin of William McIntosh , a chief of the Lower Creek towns , through his mother ' s family . The Lower Creek , who comprised the majority of population , had some generations of intermarriage with European Americans and were adopting more of their ways , as well as getting connected to the market economy . Career . " Lamochattee " , or " Red Eagle , " learned traditional Creek ways and language , as well as English from his father . As a young man , he acquired a plantation in the Upper Creek territory , where he owned slaves , planted commercial crops , and bred and raced horses . He generally had good relations with both the Creek nationals and European Americans for years , but worried about the increasing number of the latter , who were encroaching on Creek land . The Creek of the Lower Towns were becoming more assimilated , but the traditional elders and the people of the Upper Creek towns were more isolated from the European - American settlers . They kept more traditional ways and opposed the new settlements . Weatherford and other Upper Creek leaders resented the encroachment of settlers into their traditional Creek territory , principally in what the United States of America called the Mississippi Territory , which included their territory in present - day Alabama . After the Americans improved the Trading Path as the National Road in 1811 , more Americans settlers came into the hunting territory and lay claim to their own homesteads . Although various bands of Creeks , especially in the Upper Creek , resisted in a number of armed conflicts , most of the more assimilated Lower Creek towns were forced to make land concessions in 1790 , 1802 , and 1805 . The Lower Creek were among the Five Civilized Tribes who adopted some European - American style farming practices and other customs . As a result , most of the Creek managed to continue as independent communities while slowly becoming almost indistinguishable from other frontier families . The Upper Creek towns resisted the changes in the territory . In these debates , " Lamochattee " counseled neutrality in the rise of hostilities , but conflict broke out within the Creek Nation between the elements adopting assimilation and those trying to maintain the traditional leadership . Leaders of the Upper Creek began engaging in diplomacy with Spanish and British colonial officials . In the debates in Creek councils , those advocating war became known as Red Sticks , who soon became the dominant faction in Creek national politics . Red Stick bands went to Florida to collect arms . Americans learned that the Red Sticks were bringing back arms from Florida . Hastily organizing a militia , the American frontiersmen intercepted and attacked a Red Stick party at Burnt Corn Creek as the later were returning to the Upper Creek towns with arms purchased from the Spanish in Pensacola in present - day Florida . While the Alabama militia tried to secure the arms and ammunition in the Indian baggage train , the Red Sticks regrouped and fought off the Americans . In reaction to the United States attack on its men , the Creek declared war on the United States . Already involved in the War of 1812 against the US , the British encouraged the Creek resistance . Weatherfood joined the Red Sticks along the frontier , where they tried to repulse American settlers from Creek territory . In late August 1813 , with Peter McQueen and other Red Sticks , Weatherford participated in a retaliatory attack on Fort Mims . It was a hastily built civilian stockade on the lower Alabama River , about 35 miles north of present - day Mobile , Alabama . Frontier American families and Lower Creek had retreated to the fort , which was ineptly guarded . The Red Sticks made their way into the fort and massacred the Lower Creek , as well as European - American settlers , including women and children . Estimates are that up to 500 were killed and some 35 individuals survived . As a prominent leader , Weatherford was held responsible for the massacre , although there are reports he tried to prevent it . An Alabama militia followed up with another Ranger unit and maneuvered the Red Sticks into battle at the Battle of Holy Ground . Red Eagle ( Weatherford ) barely escaped capture , by jumping from a bluff into the Alabama River while on horseback . Having repelled the Red Stick invasion in a number of skirmishes and forced them on the defensive , the Americans regrouped for a final offensive . The federal government did not have forces to spare . Colonel Andrew Jackson led a combined army of state militia from Tennessee , Georgia , and Alabama . Jackson ' s army finally isolated the main Red Stick Army along with hundreds of American hostages . Red Eagle played a decisive role in rallying his forces and trying to save the hostages from death . In the finale of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , Red Eagle ’ s rapid responses allowed various small bands of Red Sticks to regroup and fight a rear guard action , but the remainder of the Red Sticks were destroyed . Although the majority of the hostages were saved , dozens of hostages were killed by the retreating Red Sticks . Meanwhile , Red Eagle and some other 200 Red Sticks managed to escape . Most of the Red Sticks retreated to Florida , where they joined the Seminole . Red Eagle turned himself in at Fort Jackson ( formerly Fort Toulouse ) . Colonel Jackson spared Weatherford ' s life and used his influence to bring the other Upper Creek chiefs to a peace conference . Weatherfood engineered a new peace , negotiated a new treaty , which although permanently reducing Creek territory , was lenient in allowing them to retain much of it including most of their homes . Weatherfood subsequently moved to the lower part of Monroe County , Alabama , where he regained his status as a wealthy planter . He died there in 1824 . Marriage and family . He married Mary Moniac ( c . 1783 - 1804 ) , who was also of mixed race . They had children : Charles and Mary ( Polly ) Weatherford . After her death , he married Sopathe Thlanie ( c . 1783 - 1813 ) ; she died after the birth of their child , William Weatherford , Jr . , born 25 December 1813 . About 1817 , Weatherford married Mary Stiggins ( c . 1783 - 1832 ) , who was of English and Natchez heritage . Their children were : Alexander McGillivray Weatherford ; Mary Levitia Weatherford ; Major Weatherford , who was killed as a child ; and John Weatherford . His nephew , David Moniac , was the first Native American graduate of the United States Military Academy . William ' s distant descendant is the American anthropologist Jack Weatherford .