William Weatherford - Career

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.