William Weatherford, known as Red Eagle (ca. 1781–March 24, 1824), was a Creek chief of the Upper Creek towns who led many of the Red Sticks actions in the Creek War (1813–1814) against Lower Creek towns and against allied forces of the United States.

One of many mixed-race descendants of Southeast Indians who intermarried with European traders and later colonial settlers, William Weatherford was of mixed Creek, French, and Scots ancestry. He was raised as a Creek in the matrilineal nation and achieved his power in it, through his mother's prominent Wind Clan (as well as his father's trading connections[not verified in body]). After the war, he rebuilt his wealth as a slaveholding planter in lower Monroe County, Alabama.[not verified in body]

Early life and education

William Weatherford, known as Red Eagle (Lamochattee in Creek[citation needed]), was born in 1781 (Griffith Jr. analysis), near the Upper Creek towns of Coosauda.[1]:p. 5[note 1][note 2] It is near the current Coosada, Alabama, and was then a Koasati Indian town, near Hickory Ground (current Wetumpka, Alabama).[citation needed] His mother was Sehoy III, a "daughter of a Tabacha chieftain" and from "the most powerful and privileged of all the Creek clans," the Wind Clan[1]:p. 3f (in Creek, Hutalgalgi[citation needed]). His father, Charles Weatherford, was a red-haired Scots trader and friend of the chieftain, and had married Sehoy III after the death of her first husband, Tory Col. John Tate, in the summer of 1780.[1]:p. 4 Sehoy III was of mixed Creek, French and possibly Scottish descent.[citation needed] As the Creek had a matrilineal kinship system, Sehoy III's children were considered born into her clan.[1]:p. 10[note 3] Charles Weatherford had a trading post near the Creek village, built a plantation, raised thoroughbred horses for racing, and contributed to his family as a trader.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] He commented in letters to President Thomas Jefferson that Creek women were matriarchs and had control of the children "when connected with a white man."[1]:p. 10f Hawkins observed that almost all of the traders, some wealthy, were likewise as "inattentive to their children as the Indians".[1]:p. 10f As Griffith explains (based on John R. Swanton), the lack of fatherly concern was not an "unnatural indifference," given the Creek culture and clan kinship system, and which established a closer relationship of children to their mother's eldest brother (more so than with their biological father).[1]:p. 10f[verification needed][relevant? – discuss]

As a boy William Weatherford was called "Billy"[citation needed] and Lamochattee[citation needed] (meaning Red Eagle) by the Creek. After he showed his skill as a warrior, he was given the "war name" of Hopnicafutsahia, or "Truth Teller."[citation needed] He was the great-grandson of Captain Jean Marchand, the French commanding officer of Fort Toulouse, and Sehoy, a Creek of the Wind clan.[1]:p. 3On his mother's side, he was a nephew of the mixed-race Creek chief, Alexander McGillivray, who was prominent in the Upper Creek towns.[citation needed]

Through his mother's family, Weatherford was a cousin of William McIntosh, who became a chief of the Lower Creek towns.[citation needed] The Lower Creek, who comprised the majority of population, lived closer to the European Americans and had intermarried with them, adopting more of their ways, as well as connecting to the market economy.[citation needed]

Career

Red Eagle learned traditional Creek ways and language from his mother and her clan, 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 as did his father. He generally had good relations with both the Creek nationals and European Americans for years. He 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 American settlers came into the hunting territory and laid claim to homesteads. Various bands of Creeks, especially among the Upper Creek, resisted in a number of armed conflicts. But most of the more assimilated Lower Creek towns were forced to make land concessions to the United States 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, Red Eagle counseled neutrality in the rise of hostilities. Conflict broke out within the Creek Nation between those who were adapting to assimilation and those trying to maintain the traditional leadership.

Leaders of the Upper Creek began diplomatic overtures with Spanish and British colonial officials to develop allies against the United States. In the debates in Creek councils, those advocating resistance ("war") rather than cooperation or assimilation became known as Red Sticks, and they soon became the dominant faction in Creek politics, which were highly decentralized. Red Stick bands went to Spanish Florida to purchase arms.

Americans learned that the Red Sticks were bringing back arms from Florida. Hastily organizing a militia, American frontiersmen intercepted and attacked a Red Stick party at Burnt Corn Creek. The latter were returning to the Upper Creek towns with arms purchased 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.

Weatherford 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 Mobile. Frontier American families and Lower Creek had retreated to the fort, which was ineptly guarded. The Red Sticks gained entry into the fort and massacred the Lower Creek, as well as European-American settlers, including women and children. Estimates are that they killed up to 500 persons. Some 35 individuals survived. As a prominent leader, Weatherford was held responsible for the massacre, although there are reports he tried to prevent it.[citation needed]

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, 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. Major General 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 American hostages were saved, the retreating Red Sticks killed dozens of them.

Meanwhile, Red Eagle and some other 200 Red Sticks escaped. Most of the Red Sticks retreated to Florida, where they joined the Seminole people, who had developed from Creek migrants and remnants of other tribes in the 18th century.[2] Red Eagle surrendered at Fort Jackson (formerly Fort Toulouse). Jackson spared Weatherford's life and used his influence and knowledge of Creek language to bring the other Upper Creek chiefs to a peace conference.

Weatherford negotiated a new peace through a new treaty with the US; although he had to accept a permanent reduction in Creek territory, he gained retention of most of their territory, including areas where they had homes. Weatherford subsequently moved to the southern part of Monroe County, Alabama, where he rebuilt his wealth as a planter. He died there in 1824. A decade later, the US forced removal of most of the Creek and other Indians from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory (now Kansas and Oklahoma).

Marriage and family

William Weatherford married Mary Moniac (c. 1783 – 1804), who was also of mixed race. They had two children, Charles and Mary (Polly) Weatherford.

After Mary's death, Weatherford married Sopethlina Kaney Thelotco Moniac (c. 1783 – 1813). She died after the birth of their son, William Weatherford, Jr., born 25 December 1813.

About 1817, Weatherford married Mary Stiggins (c. 1783-1832), who was of Natchez and English heritage. They also had children, Alexander McGillivray Weatherford, Mary Levitia Weatherford, Major Weatherford (who died as a child), and John Weatherford.

Weatherford's nephew, David Moniac, son of his sister Elizabeth Weatherford, was the first Native American graduate of the United States Military Academy.

William Weatherford may have been a blood relative of the Shawnee Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa whose mother and father were of Creek and Shawnee lineages. Their relationship may have been the foundation of the strong alliance between Chief Red Eagle and Chief Tecumseh during the Indian Wars.

Notes

1. Griffith's analysis of Weatherford's date of birth is based on the death of his mother's first husband in the summer of 1780, see below and Griffith Jr., op. cit., p. 5.
2. Several sources[who?] state that Weatherford was born in 1765, the date recorded on a tombstone located in Little River, Baldwin County, Alabama.[citation needed] Many sources state that his mother, Sehoy III, was born in 1759, and his siblings are documented as being born in the 1780s.[citation needed]
3. Sehoy III's children had her clan status, the same as her male clan relatives. In this kinship system, property and other inheritance were passed through the maternal line, and a boy's maternal uncle was more important to his upbringing than his biological father.[citation needed]

References

1. Griffith Jr., Benjamin W. (1988). McIntosh and Weatherford, Creek Indian Leaders (online ed.). Birmingham, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817303405. Retrieved March 6, 2017. Available via subscription, and with word search features, at questia.com.
2. "Petition 20582202: To the Honbl H M Brackenridge Judge of the Superior Court of West Florida (BRACKENRIDGE, Henry M.)", Race and Slavery Petitions Project, Escambia County, Florida: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, August 4, 1822, retrieved February 21, 2018

Further reading

• Source contending Weatherford was not at Horseshoe Bend: James, Marquis (2008). Andrew Jackson: The Border Captain. Read Books. p. 82.
• Mason, Augustus Lynch (1883). "XXI: The Romance of Red Eagle". The Romance and Tragedy of Pioneer Life: A Popular Account of the Heroes and Adventurers who, by their Valor and War-Craft, Beat Back the Savages from the Borders of Civilization and gave the American Forests to the Plow and the Sickle. Cincinnati, Ohio: Jones Brothers and Company.
• Braund, Kathryn (January 30, 2017). "Creek War of 1813-14". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Birmingham and Auburn, AL: Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University Outreach. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
• Green, Michael D. (1985) [1982]. "The Erosion of Creek Autonomy, 1540-1814 [Ch. 2]". The Politics of Indian Removal: Creek Government and Society in Crisis. ACLS Humanities E-Book (Bison books ed.). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 17–44, esp. 38f and passim. ISBN 0803270151. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
• Jones, Pam (Fall 2004). "William Weatherford and the Road to the Holy Ground". Alabama Heritage (74).
• Lewis, Herbert J. (May 12, 2015). "Canoe Fight". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Birmingham and Auburn, AL: Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University Outreach. Retrieved March 5, 2017.

External links

• Explore Southern History site
• "Greatest Native American #205" at nativevillage.org
• Self published list of the "Descendants of Thomas Weatherford" at genealogy.com.
• Self-published Creek families genealogy at rootsweb.com
• "Red Eagle" article at electricscotland.com.
• Non-authoritative, mistake-laden "Andrew Jackson" article at the dated, apparent student project, "History of Florida", at fcit.usf.edu
• William Weatherford at Find a Grave

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Red Stick War Leader of the Muscogee Creek

Weatherford, William, c.1780–1824, Native American, b. present-day Alabama, also called Red Eagle. In the War of 1812 he led the Creek war party, stirred by Tecumseh, against the Americans. On Aug. 30, 1813, he attacked Fort Mims, a temporary stockade near the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers. There his warriors, refusing to heed his plea for restraint, massacred some 500 whites. In the battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River (Mar. 27, 1814), Gen. Andrew Jackson completely broke the power of Weatherford and his nation. Weatherford was pardoned by Jackson, who admired his courage, and he lived peaceably in Alabama until his death.

See G. C. Eggleston, Red Eagle & the Wars with the Creek Indians of Alabama (1878).

See also: http://www.prophecykeepers.com/chickamaugacherokee/fortmims.html

Buried at Little River Baptist Church. Ceremony overseen by his mother Sehoy III also listed as having died March 9 1822..

William Weatherford aka Lamochattee aka Red Eagle, was born about 1780, the son of Scottish trader Charles Weatherford and a Creek chieftain's daughter. In his early thirties he became an ally of Tecumseh, and led one of the Creek factions to resist the advance of the white frontier. After an attack by white frontiersmen upon a party of Creeks returning from a trading expedition to Florida, Red Eagle assembled a force of a thousand warriors and trailed the attackers to Fort Mims, an outpost north of Mobile. On August 30, 1813, they overran the poorly defended fort and after , refusing to heed his plea for restraint ,killed about five hundred of its 550 occupants, who consisted of whites, black slaves, and Creeks loyal to the U.S. The Fort Mims massacre brought several columns of militia and regular Army troops in pursuit of Red Eagle's warriors. With Menewa and other Creek leaders, Red Eagle built a stronghold at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. On March 27, 1814, General Andrew Jackson's forces surrounded and severely defeated the Creeks. After the battle, Red Eagle boldly entered Jackson's headquarters, surrendered, and promised that if his life was spared he would spend the remainder of it working for peace. Impressed by the man's courage and intelligence, Jackson pardoned him. Red Eagle kept his word, settled on a plantation in Monroe County, Alabama, and was accepted in the community as a man of peace and strict honor. This great American Indian leader died March 9, 1822, shortly before his people underwent their mass removal to Indian Territory.

“I am a soldier, I have done the white people all the harm I could.

I have fought them and fought them bravely. If I had an army I would yet fight!”

see also :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Weatherford

Samuel Moniac was approached by Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins to go with a group of men to capture William Augustus Bowles, "a bizarre character". A Maryland Tory who resigned his British Army commission in Pensacola in 1778 to live among the Creeks, Bowles proclaimed himself "Director General" of the Creeks, and contended against Alexander McGillivray and others for Creek influence. Bowles travelled with sixty bodyguards, and despite a $4,500 reward put up by Vicente Folch, the Spanish Governor at Pensacola, "no Indian attempted to win the award" until Moniac and his group did. They traced Bowles to an Indian Council in May of 1803 at Hickory Ground. When Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins announced he had come to arrest Bowles, the Bowles supporters showed signs of resistance.

Nevertheless, Hawkins told Red Eagle and Sam Moniac to arrest Bowles, and "to the sound of scores of rifles clicking to the cocked position", Moniac and Red Eagle, with reckless courage, seized Bowles, spirited him out of the most sacred spot in Indian territory, and put him in a pirogue and paddled down the Alabama River. Four nights later, camping on an island near Salem, Bowles stole the boat and escaped, but they caught him in the cane across the River, took him to Pensacola and delivered Bowles to Spanish Governor Folch, who handed over the $4,500 reward, and put Bowles on a succession of ships which landed him in New Orleans and on to Cuba, where he died in a military hospital.

Chief Red Eagle grave site, Baldwin County marker.William "Red Eagle" Weatherford, (1765 – March 24, 1824), was a Creek (Muscogee) Native American who led the Creek War offensive against the United States. William Weatherford, like many of the high-ranking members of the Creek nation, was a mixture of Scottish and Creek Indian. His father was Charles Weatherford, a Scottish trader and his mother was Sehoy III. Due to his mother's mixed lineage and his father's Scottish heritage, Weatherford was only one-eighth Creek Indian.[1] Though the exact location is unknown, descendants of Weatherford like Rachel Weatherford generally agree that he was born in Alabama around 1781. His "war name" was Hopnicafutsahia, or "Truth Teller," and was commonly referred to as Lamochattee, or "Red Eagle," by other Creeks.[2] William Weatherford was the Great grandson of Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand, the French commanding officer of Fort Toulouse who was murdered in 1722 in a mutiny. He was a nephew of Alexander McGillivray [1], and by marriage, the nephew of Le Clerc Milfort. He was also a cousin of William McIntosh.

During the Creek Civil War, in February 1813, Weatherford reportedly made a strange prophecy that called for the extermination of English settlers on lands formerly held by Native Americans. He used his "vision" to gather support from various Native American tribes who, despite similar prophecies used before by other tribes, eventually united against tribes that did not believe his prophecy. Late in August 1813, he led a war party against Fort Mims on the lower Alabama River.

Weatherford is considered to be the architect of the Fort Mims Massacre, although one account indicates that he tried to stop the massacre after the fort was captured but was unable to do so. His grandson maintained that Weatherford was opposed to the attack because some of his own relatives had taken refuge in the stockade; however, there is no record of this to date and Weatherford did in fact participate in the battle. It is agreed that the many Red Sticks who harmed women and children did so despite his orders.

Sehoy III and Red Eagle graves in the distance with an information sign in foreground.Red Eagle also participated in the Canoe fight with Sam Dale of the Alabama Militia, the Battle of Holy Ground, where he escaped capture. William Weatherford was not at the climactic Battle of Horseshoe Bend as has been asserted in several accounts.

William Weatherford was among the 200 Red Sticks who escaped after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. However, he did not flee to Florida[3], but voluntarily turned himself in at Fort Jackson (formerly Fort Toulouse). Andrew Jackson spared Weatherford and used him to bring the other Upper Creek to a peace conference.

After the war, Weatherford became a citizen of the lower part of Monroe County, Alabama, where he became a wealthy planter. He died there in 1824.

From Wikipedia

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/i/e/Belinda-K-Pierce/G...

55. WILLIAM "RED EAGLE"7 WEATHERFORD (CHARLES6, MARTIN5, RICHARD R.4, WILLIAM WHITHEFORD/3, JOHN WHITHEFORD/2, THOMAS1 WHITHEFORD/WEATHERFORD) was born 28 Sep 1780 in Alabama River, Coosada, Elmore Co., Alabama, and died 24 Mar 1824 in Little River, Baldwin Co., Alabama. He married (1) MARY ELIZABETH MONIAC 1801 in Alabama, daughter of WILLIAM MONIAC and POLLY COLBERT. She was born Abt. 1783 in Alabama, and died 1804 in Point Tholy, Lowndes Co., Alabama. He married (2) SOPETHLINA KANEY THELOTCO MONIAC 1813 in Alabama, daughter of JOHN MONIAC and MARY TYNER. She was born Abt. 1780 in Alabama, and died Abt. 1814 in Coosasa, near Montgomery Co., Alabama. He met (3) LILA BEASLEY Bet. 1813 - 1817 in Alabama, daughter of COL. BEASLEY and UNKNOWN. She died Unknown. He married (4) MARY STIGGINS 1817 in Mt. Pleasant, Monroe Co., Alabama, daughter of JOSEPH STIGGINS and NANCY GREY. She was born Abt. 1783 in Alabama, and died 1832 in Mt. Pleasant, Monroe Co., Alabama.

Notes for WILLIAM "RED EAGLE" WEATHERFORD:

William is my third cousin, eight times removed.
William was our Creek Chief, Indian name was Lamochattee and Tustenuggee. Some researchers claim his birth to be 28 Apr 1765, but that would make his mother Sehoy a child of only six years old which of course is inconceivable. Some researchers also state that he had other children before he married Sopeth and that he had maidens and also other wives such as Lila Beasley which he supposedly had married in 1815 and supposedly had married a Miss Tunstall. I have not seen proof of this at this time. Also stated that he had maidens whom he fathered children.

Also later, on an Alabama Census for 1820, it lists Lamochattee; Tecumseh was Relative, Tecumseh and Seekaboo's mother were sisters. Seekaboo's father was a half-blood. Red Eagles War name was Hopnicafutsahia, which meant Truth Teller. This was given to him by the Red Sticks after the death of McGillivray.

Georgia Battles 1812 Autosee-Tallasee and Camp Defiance by Barbara Winge

"CAMP DEFIANCE - Jan 27, 1814 The General did not quit the army in consequence of his wound, but having partially recovered after much suffering advanced again from Fort Mitchell, in January, 1814, and was attacked before day light on the 27th of that month at Camp Defiance, by the enemy in great force, headed by the famous warrior Weatherford, and aided by Colonel Woodbine, an English officer who boasted afterwards of having planned the attack.

[This attack was to prevent a junction of the Georgia troops, under Gen Floyd, and the Tennesseans, under Gen Jackson, which was desired by both Generals. who passed letters to each other by Indian runners and spics. The junction was never formed. The success of each General rendered it unnecessary.] The Georgia troops were encamped in the form of a parallelogram, cavalry and baggage in the centre, with two pieces of artillery [four pounders, taken in the Revolution at Saratoga] on the right and left faces of the camp. The fight was furious for several hours, and nothing but the firmness of troops saved them from destruction.

The formation was bravely maintained under an incessant fire, (which was returned with great vivacity) until sunrise. The enemy were then charged and routed at the point of the bayonet, leaving a great many of their dead on the field. On their retreat, 15 were sabred by the cavalry. Our loss was considerable, and we had a great many wounded. The campaign terminated soon after the battle of Camp Defiance, and General Floyd was appointed to command the troops at Savannah, for the protection of the city. He remained in command at Savannah, until the termination of the war."

Red Eagle was at the services for the death of his great uncle Alexander. Red Eagle was dressed in his finest. He wore a black plume in mourning. After Alexanders death, Red Eagle stepped up his campaign to succeed him as emperor of the Creeks. He spoke to all councils from Mobile into Muscle Shoals on the far side of Tennessee. On his campaign trail, he was dressed in his shining white buckskins, which included a luxuriant red egret plume sweeping from the Scottish Tam of the Clan McGillivray, he was a splendid firebrand! A man who was just impossible to be ignored! This is when the young Senator Andrew Jackson began to take notice as our William stepped up his activities. Jackson would collect the information he wanted on this new Chief through a wandering riflemaker and trader by the name of Russell Bean, which Bean would deliver a story back to Jackson in 1850. As Bean sat at Emuckfau and watched as this new Chief seemed to have control of the Creek law, A young girl was accused of infidelity by her spouse. By Creek law, you are aloud to prove your innocence on the spot. The accused young maiden was taken to a wide meadow and stripped of her clothing. Fifty yards away, the eagerly waiting warriors awaited. A white stake was driven into the ground about 300 paces from her. At the signal from William, the girl bolted for the white stake with the warriors in exhilerating pursuit. With a 50 yard head start and unhindering by clothing, it was assumed the girl had a fair chance to outrun the warriors. If she reached the stake ahead of them, her husband was judged guilty of falsely accusing her and she would be allowed to set out one of a number of interesting punishments for him. But if the warriors caught her, she would be brought before the Chief who had the right to take her to his lodge and turn her over to the warriors afterwards. The chase that Bean had observed, the girl was of beautiful qualities, so the warriors chased at full-force. Bean stated that she didn't seem to be trying to hard to out-run them. They brought her to stand with downcast eyes before the stern gaze of her handsome young Chief. William then pointed toward his lodge. The girl obeyed eagerly. Within an hour of Bean whittling in the waiting, the young girl reappeared and looking very triumphant or cleansed of her shame? As he told this story to Jackson, it became quite clear that William was well respected and followed and in a better position than any white man could be with the Creeks. This in turn led Jackson to believe that he wanted to meet with this man. Bean had reasurred him that he believed he would be meeting him indeed! As you read about Beans story, you also become aware that in the Cherokee tradition, a woman being chased is part of the marital rituals. But it's the future husband that is doing the chasing... Umm...

Red Eagle goes on to participate in full in the Creek War. He participated in the Kimbell-James Massacre, the Canoe Fight with Sam Dale and his forces against Red Eagle and the Red Sticks, the Battle of Holy Ground with the Red Sticks, being lead by a half-breed prophet by the name of Paddy Welsh, mounted on Arrow, his black steed and favorite of his horses, the Battle of Talladega, to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend ( which I am to understand that he had left before the fighting here had begun. General Andrew Jackson's forces which included Davy Crockett and Sam Houston joining with the Choctaws and the other tribes against the Red Sticks and this ends the War. After the terrible defeat at Horseshoe Bend in 1814, Red Eagle does go to Ft. Jackson ( formerly known as Ft. Taulouse) and surrendered to General Andrew Jackson. General Jackson was filled with sympathy and admiration for the noble chief, so he takes Red Eagle to his own home in Nashville, TN. ( This is the information according to Dr. Marion Elisha Tarvin ( David Tates grandson). He claims the only man in Alabama to know of Red Eagle's whereabouts while Red Eagle stayed at the Hermitage.

Red Eagle lived out his days as a well to do and well respected planter in Monroe Co., AL. He died following a bear hunt and is buried next to his mother in a grave near Little Tallassee. Woodrow Wallace shares the story of Red Eagle's demise from Dreisback stating that Red Eagle goes on a hunting trip and seeing the white deer among all the brown ones and reads therein his own death, going home from the hunt, he dies three days later, dreaming of departing hand in hand with Sopath Thlaine.

The graveyard of his family is now a county park, dedicated to him. My research suggests he had three wives and only one was a full blood Creek. The state did not require that his children move to Oklahoma, but one of his sons as well as his grand daughter Josephine Howell did.

William was tall in statue, had lighter bronzed skin and he had such dark brown eyes they appeared to be black. He was a man of fine sense, great courage, and knew alot about our government and mankind in general. He had lived with his half brother, Davy Tate who had been an educated and well informed man. He had also been with his brother-in-law Sam Moniac, who was always looked upon as being one of the most intelligent half-breeds in the Nation. In his obituary, it lists his widow as being Mary, with surviving children to be Charles, Alexander, Washington and Levetia. It lists Sopeth as mother of his illigitament son William. It claims he had suffered fatigue while on a bear hunt at Lovett's Creek on the 29 of Feb after he had seen the Albino deer which I have made previous mention of.

Red Eagle was a hero who tried to free his people from oppression and to restrict land ownership on Indian lands...

More About WILLIAM "RED EAGLE" WEATHERFORD: Burial: Unknown, Red Eagle Memorial Park, North Baldwin Co., Alabama

Notes for MARY ELIZABETH MONIAC:

William took to Mary's beauty, she was the most beautiful girl in the Nation. Which he then took her for his wife. He moved about with her as his mistress in Pensacola, Mobile and New Orleans. The Americans had no idea that this beautiful couple of a very high social standard was the Red Eagle that they had been hearing about. Mary's grave was not marked before the date of 1925. It is unknown to me at this time, if it is now marked.

More About MARY ELIZABETH MONIAC:

Burial: Unknown, Coosada, Near Montgomery Co., Alabama

More About WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and MARY MONIAC: Marriage: 1801, Alabama

Notes for SOPETHLINA KANEY THELOTCO MONIAC: After William's first wife Mary Moniac had died, his second wife was Sopeth (her nickname) who was also cousin to William's first wife Mary "Polly" Moniac but Polly died in 1804 so she couldn't have been William's mother. I have seen her full name as stated to be Sopethlina Thelotco Kaney Thlaine Moniac. Researchers claim that she was a full-blood from the Fish Clan. She and William were married under Indian Law.

From a letter written on 20 April 1925 from Mrs. C.A. Sizemore addressed to the Alabama Archives, she states that Sopethlina was a Full-Blood Creek Indian and that she and William only had one child of their marriage whose name was William who later left Alabama and headed to Indian Territory and he later died in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Such as the grave of Mary, Sopeth's grave was also unmarked. Sopeth died immediately after she gave birth to William.

More About SOPETHLINA KANEY THELOTCO MONIAC: Burial: Unknown, Coosasa, near Montgomery Co., Alabama

More About WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and SOPETHLINA MONIAC: Marriage: 1813, Alabama

Notes for LILA BEASLEY:

At this time, Lila IS NOT a proven spouse of William "Red Eagle." I am placing her here for research purposes only. I have received info. stating her as a wife, but this WILL need to be researched further. She supposedly was united with Red Eagle shortly after the Ft. Mims Massacre which would have been around 1813.

More About WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and LILA BEASLEY: Partners: Bet. 1813 - 1817, Alabama

Notes for MARY STIGGINS: Mary and William were married under "white law" after the death of his second wife Sopeth. Mary is buried with other Stiggins at the Baptist Church, Little River. Her wooden marker was destroyed by a brush fire. Mary's mother Nancy "Haw" Gray was a Natchez Indian. BUT... in a letter from Mrs. C.A. Sizemore to the Alabama Archives on 20 April 1925, she claims that Williams third wife was Mary Stiggins who was a white woman. Mary may have been considered white, but she was 1/4 Indian.

Sam Dale served as Best Man at the Wedding of Red Eagle and Mary Stiggins.

More About MARY STIGGINS: Burial: Unknown, Little River Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant, Monroe Co., Alabama

More About WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and MARY STIGGINS: Marriage: 1817, Mt. Pleasant, Monroe Co., Alabama

Children of WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and MARY MONIAC are:

124. i. CHARLES8 WEATHERFORD, b. 1803, Montgomery Co., Alabama; d. 13 Jun 1894, Monroe Co., Alabama.

 ii.   POLLY WEATHERFORD, b. Bef. 1804, Alabama; d. Unknown. 

 Notes for POLLY WEATHERFORD: In the research of Mr. Tarvin, he states that William and Polly had a daughter named Polly. 

Child of WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and SOPETHLINA MONIAC is: 125. iii. WILLIAM B.8 WEATHERFORD, b. Abt. 1814, Alabama; d. Unknown, Tulsa, Tulsa Co., Oklahoma.

Child of WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and LILA BEASLEY is: 126. iv. STEPHEN W.8 WEATHERFORD, b. 1816, Alabama; d. Unknown.

Children of WILLIAM WEATHERFORD and MARY STIGGINS are:

 v.   GEORGE WASHINGTON8 WEATHERFORD, b. 1818; d. Abt. 1819. 

 Notes for GEORGE WASHINGTON WEATHERFORD: George died as an infant. 

vi. JOHN STIGGINS WEATHERFORD, b. 1819, Alabama; d. Bet. 1820 - 1830, Alabama.

 Notes for JOHN STIGGINS WEATHERFORD: John died as a child. 

127. vii. ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAY WEATHERFORD, b. 1820, Alabama; d. 1897, Monroe Co., Alabama.

 viii.   MAJOR WEATHERFORD, b. Bet. 1820 - 1821, Alabama; d. Bet. 1820 - 1830, Alabama. 

 Notes for MAJOR WEATHERFORD: Major was killed as a child. 

128. ix. MARY LEVITIA WEATHERFORD, b. 1823, Little River, Alabama; d. 1859, Sabine Parish, La..

Weatherford, William (known also as Lamochattee, or Red Eagle). A halfblood Creek chief, born about 1780; noted for the part he played in the Creek war of 1812-14, in which Gen. Jackson was leader of the American forces. There is some uncertainty as to his parentage. Claiborne (quoted by Drake, Inds. N. Am. 388, 1860) says his "father was an itinerant peddler, sordid, treacherous, and revengeful; his mother a full-blooded savage of the tribe of the Seminoles." Another authority says that a trader, Scotch or English, named Charles Weatherford (believed to have been the father of William), married a half-sister of Alexander McGillivray (q. v.), who was the daughter of an Indian chief of pure blood. In person he was tall, straight, and well proportioned, and nature had bestowed upon him genius, eloquence, and courage, but his moral character was far from commendable. He led the 1,000 Creeks at the massacre of Ft Mimms, Aug. 30,1813. Gen. Jackson having entered the field, the Creeks were driven from point to point until Weatherford resolved to make a desperate effort to retrieve his waning fortunes by gathering all the force he could command at the Great Horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa. The signal defeat his forces suffered at this point ended the war, and Weatherford, to save further bloodshed, or perhaps shrewdly judging the result, voluntarily delivered himself to Jackson and was released on his promise to use his influence to maintain peace. He died Mar. 9, 1824, leaving many children, who intermarried with the whites. It is said that after the war his character changed, and he became dignified, industrious and sober

Creek Indian

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVPD-V2S

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9193282/william-weatherford

Creek War Chief. Born the son of Charles Weatherford, a Scottish trader, and Sehoy, a Creek woman of the Wind clan, at Coosada, a Creek village in what is today Alabama. In the society of the tribe, his kin network linked him to some of the most powerful Creek of the age. Known as Billy during his childhood, after he proved himself a warrior, he was given the name of Hopnicafutsahia (Truth Teller or Truth Maker). His first appearance in the historic record was 1801, when he was part of the group to seize insurgent, William Augustus Bowles. He learned the traditional Creek ways and language from his mother, and the Anglo ways and language from his father. He acquired slaves, planted commercial crops, and bred and raced horses, but he ultimately aligned himself with the Creek when it came to conflict. By 1811, encroaching settlers infringed on Upper Creek lands who resented the intrusion, and they were then brought into conflict with the more assimilated Lower Creek. By 1813, civil war divided the Creek people, and he assumed leadership of the militaristic Red Stick faction. He, Far-off Warrior, and Paddy Walsh led the attack against the garrison at Fort Mims where on August 30, about 700 warriors destroyed the defenses and killed most of the defenders and civilian inhabitants. The tribal civil war then exploded into an American-Creek war as news of the massacre was disseminated. He and the Red Sticks established a fortified village at Econochaca where in December 1813, he led the defense of the town against an attack by General Ferdinand Claiborne the Third U. S. Infantry, Mississippi militia, and Choctaw irregulars. After completing the evacuation of the village, he escaped by famously leaping, on horseback, from a bluff into the Alabama River. He regrouped with Red Stick forces, raising some 1,300 warriors. After the Red Stick stronghold at Autossee was burned by Georgia militia, he apparently pulled out of the counter offensive after a tactical disagreement. A militia of 3,500 organized to suppress the Creek, led by Andrew Jackson, destroyed a company of Creek at Tallushatchee, and in January of 1814, proceeded to Horseshoe Bend where Weatherford was entrenched with almost 1,000 warriors. He lost almost two-thirds of his men and their ability to continue the fight. He surrendered to Jackson a few days later. Admiring his courage, Jackson released him without predjudice; and he then openly cooperated with Jackson to conclude the war. Resented by both Americans and Creek from the opposing side of the civil war, his powerful family waged a spin campaign, downplaying his part in the massacre at Fort Mims, and celebrating his bravery and horsemanship, turning his horseback leap from the bluff and his surrender to Jackson into feats of hardy heroism. He then retired to a plantation in south Alabama, distancing himself from tribal affairs. Despite its current almost universal use, the name 'Red Eagle' was not one he ever used, it first appeared in a poem by A. B. Meek, published in 1855; 'The Red Eagle: A Poem of the South,' which offered a highly romanticized saga based loosely on Weatherford's exploits.
Bio by: Iola

• Updated from RootsWeb's WorldConnect via Sopathe (Sophlena Kaney) (Sopoth Thlanie) Thlanie (Thelotco) Moniac by SmartCopy: Mar 5 2015, 3:43:06 UTC
• Native Americans, The McGillivrays, Weatherford, David Tate and Sam Moniac stories about them from 1874