RED EAGLE'S ATTEMPT TO ABANDON HIS PARTY.
Red Eagle, as we have already related, was the most active and efficient
leader of the war party during all the time of preparation. At last the
war which he had so earnestly sought to bring about had come, but it had
not come in the way in which he had hoped, and Red Eagle hesitated.
In the first place the war had come too soon. Red Eagle was too shrewd
and too well informed to believe the predictions of his prophets
Sinquista and Francis, who told the Creeks that if they would completely
abandon those things which they had learned of the whites and become
utter savages, not one of them should be killed in the war; that the
Great Spirit would rain down fire upon the whites, create quagmires in
their path, cause the earth to open and swallow them, and draw charmed
circles around the camps of the Creeks, into which no white man could
come without immediately falling down dead. Like many another shrewd
leader, Red Eagle was willing to make use of this sort of appeals to
superstition, while he was himself unaffected by them. He saw clearly
enough that the white men were strong, because he knew that their
numbers and resources were not limited by what he could see. He knew
that armies would come from other quarters of the country to aid the
settlers on the Tombigbee River and in the Tensaw settlement. Therefore
he did not wish to undertake what he knew would be a severe contest,
single-handed. He wanted to wait until Tecumseh, who had promised to
return, should come; he was disposed to wait also for the British to
land a force somewhere on the coast before beginning the war.
Moreover, his schemes and his advocacy of war had been from the first
founded upon his conviction that the friendship of the Creeks and
half-breeds in the lower towns for the whites would give way when they
should see that the war was inevitable. He had sought to bring about a
war in which the whole Creek nation should be united against the whites;
what he had brought about was a very different affair. He now saw that
the friendliness of the people of the lower towns, who were his nearest
friends and kinsmen, including his brother, Jack Weatherford, and his
half-brother, David Tait, was much more firmly fixed than he had
imagined. He had supposed that it was merely the indisposition of rich
men to imperil their property by bringing on a state of war; he now knew
that it was a fixed purpose to remain at peace with the white men, and
even to join them in fighting the Creeks whenever the war should come.
If he had cherished a doubt of this so long, he had proof of it in the
presence of some of these friends of his in the American force at the
battle of Burnt Corn, whither they had gone as volunteers.
All this put a totally different face upon matters. Red Eagle was eager
for a war between the Creeks and whites, but a war between a part of the
Creeks on the one hand, and the rest of the Creeks with the whites on
the other, a war in which he must fight his own brothers and his nearest
friends, was a very different and much less attractive affair.
There was still another cause of Red Eagle's hesitation at this
time--perhaps a stronger cause than either of the others. He was in
love, and his sweetheart was among the people whom he must fight if he
fought at all. He was a rich planter, and lived at this time on a fine
place near the Holy Ground, and being a young widower he had conceived a
passionate fancy for one Lucy Cornells, a young girl of mixed Indian and
white blood, who has been described by persons who knew her as very
attractive and beautiful. However that may be, it is certain that Red
Eagle's devotion to her was profound.
This girl's father, when McNac's discovery of the Indian plans spread
consternation through the settlements, fled with his daughter to the
Tensaw country and took refuge in Fort Mims; and Red Eagle had thus a
sweetheart added to the list of persons near and dear to him, whose
lives he must put in danger if he went to war. Anticipating the events
of this history somewhat, it may as well be added here that Red Eagle's
love for this maiden prompted him, when he was about to attack Fort
Mims, to give secret warning to her father, as is believed upon evidence
accepted at the time as satisfactory. Cornells left the fort before the
attack, and although he remained with the whites and fought with them in
the war, Red Eagle was permitted to carry off his daughter to the
nation.
Let us return to the time of which we write in this chapter. All these
things were strong inducements to Red Eagle to abandon his warlike
purposes, but it was now too late for him to still the storm he had
raised. Had he now preached peace among his warlike followers, his life
would not have been worth a day's purchase.
He kept his own counsel, and in his perplexity determined, about the
time of the battle of Burnt Corn, to seek the advice of his brother,
Jack Weatherford, and his half-brother, David Tait. Making his way to
their places on Little River, he laid the whole case before his
relatives. They advised him secretly to remove his family, his negroes,
and so much of his live-stock as might be, to their plantations, which
lay within the friendly district, and, quitting the nation, to remain
quietly with them until the troubles should come to an end, taking no
part in the war on either side.
After reflecting upon the matter, Red Eagle determined to act upon this
advice; and thus the Creeks were very near losing the services of that
chieftain whose genius alone enabled them to maintain their war with any
hope of success. When Red Eagle returned to his plantation to put this
plan into operation, however, he found that it was now too late. Knowing
at least some of the reasons their chief had for abandoning his support
of their cause, some of the hostile Creeks had visited his house in his
absence, and had seized upon his children and his negroes, holding them
as hostages for his fidelity. They plainly told him of their doubts of
him, and threatened to kill his children if he should falter for a
moment.
There was nothing left for him to do but yield to his fate, and boldly
lead his men to battle against the foes whom he cordially hated. His
Rubicon was crossed, his die was cast, and there was no possibility of
retreat.