RED EAGLE'S SURRENDER.
The power of the Creek Nation was crushed at the battle of Tohopeka. The
force which fought so desperately there represented not all, but by far
the larger part, of what was left of the fighting force of the nation,
and they were so utterly beaten that there was nothing to encourage an
effort to assemble the scattered warriors again for a struggle. The
slight cohesion which tribes of Indians have was gone, and Jackson knew
very well that no more severe battles need be fought if the present one
was properly followed up with measures designed to convince the Creeks
of the uselessness of further resistance. He prepared, therefore, to
establish his army in the heart of the Creek Nation, to overawe whatever
bands might remain, to strike at roving parties, and to reduce the
tribes to submission and peacefulness.
Sinking the bodies of his dead in the river, instead of burying them, he
withdrew with his army to Fort Williams, the place he had established
and garrisoned as his supply depot, for the double purpose of putting
his wounded men into hospital and of replenishing his supply of food,
for he had carried nothing with him beyond Fort Williams except one
week's provisions in the men's haversacks.
After a tedious march lasting five days, Jackson rested his worn-out men
at Fort Williams, and there wrote the following address, which was
ordered to be read to the army:
"You have entitled yourselves to the gratitude of your country and your
general. The expedition from which you have just returned has, by your
good conduct, been rendered prosperous beyond any example in the history
of our warfare; it has redeemed the character of your State, and of that
description of troops of which the greater part of you are.
"You have, within a few days, opened your way to the Tallapoosa, and
destroyed a confederacy of the enemy, ferocious by nature and who had
grown insolent from impunity. Relying on their numbers, the security of
their situation, and the assurances of their prophets, they derided our
approach, and already exulted in anticipation of the victory they
expected to obtain. But they were ignorant of the influence and effect
of government on the human powers, nor knew what brave men and civilized
could effect. By their yells they hoped to frighten us, and with their
wooden fortifications to oppose us. Stupid mortals! Their yells but
designated their situation the more certainly, while their walls became
a snare for their own destruction. So will it ever be when presumption
and ignorance contend against bravery and prudence.
"The fiends of the Tallapoosa will no longer murder our women and
children, or disturb the quiet of our borders. Their midnight flambeaux
will no more illumine their council-house or shine upon the victim of
their infernal orgies. In their places a new generation will arise who
will know their duty better. The weapons of warfare will be exchanged
for the utensils of husbandry; and the wilderness, which now withers in
sterility and mourns the desolation which overspreads her, will blossom
as the rose and become the nursery of the arts. But before this happy
day can arrive other chastisements remain to be inflicted. It is indeed
lamentable that the path to peace should lead through blood and over the
bodies of the slain; but it is a dispensation of Providence, and perhaps
a wise one, to inflict partial evils, that ultimate good may be
produced.
"Our enemies are not sufficiently humbled; they do not sue for peace. A
collection of them await our approach, and remain to be dispersed.
Buried in ignorance, and seduced by the false pretences of their
prophets, they have the weakness to believe they will still be able to
make a decided stand against us. They must be undeceived, and made to
atone their obstinacy and their crimes by still further suffering. Those
hopes which have so long deluded them must be driven from their last
refuge. They must be made to know that their prophets are impostors, and
that our strength is mighty and will prevail. Then, and not till then,
may we expect to make with them a peace that shall be permanent."
Ten days after the battle of the Horse Shoe the army again advanced, the
men carrying provisions in their haversacks as before. A long march
brought them to the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, where
a junction with the southern army was effected and supplies were
abundant.
There Jackson established his camp and fortified it. The force of Creeks
which he had expected to strike had dispersed, and there was now nowhere
a body of Indians for him to march against or fight. His presence with a
strong army, well supplied with food and able to maintain itself there
in the very heart of the nation, did the rest. Seeing the utter
hopelessness of contending further with such an army so commanded, and
hearing through friendly Indians, who were sent out for the purpose,
that Jackson wished to make peace, the savages rapidly flocked to his
camp and surrendered themselves.
Peter McQueen, Josiah Francis, and several other chiefs fled to Florida,
but the greater number of the Creek leaders preferred to sue for
Jackson's clemency.
To them Jackson replied that he had no further desire to make war, but
that peace would not be granted to the nation until Red Eagle--or
Weatherford, for by that name only the whites called the Creek
commander--should be brought to him bound hand and foot. It was his
purpose to hang Red Eagle as a punishment for the massacre of women and
children at Fort Mims, he knowing nothing, of course, of the warrior's
daring efforts to prevent that bloody butchery, and to make of the
affair a battle, not a massacre.
News of Jackson's determination was carried to Red Eagle, and he was
warned to fly the country and make his escape to Florida, as many of his
companion chiefs had done. There, of course, he would have been safe
beyond the jurisdiction of Jackson and of the government which Jackson
represented; but Red Eagle was a patriot, and when he was told that the
fierce commander of the whites would give no terms to the Creeks under
which the women and children now starving in the woods could be saved,
except upon his surrender, that the price of peace for his people was
his own ignominious death--he calmly resolved to give himself to suffer
for his race, to purchase with his blood that peace which alone could
save his people from destruction.
Mounting his famous gray horse--the one which had carried him over the
bluff at the Holy Ground, he rode away alone toward Jackson's camp.
The author of that history of Alabama which has been quoted frequently
in these pages gives the following account of what followed, drawn, he
assures us, from Red Eagle's own narrative in conversations had with
him:
"He rode within a few miles of Fort Jackson, when a fine deer crossed
his path and stopped within shooting distance, which he fired at and
killed. Reloading his rifle with two balls, for the purpose of shooting
the Big Warrior, should he give him any cause, at the fort, he placed
the deer behind his saddle and advanced to the American outposts. Some
soldiers, of whom he politely inquired for Jackson's whereabouts, gave
him some unsatisfactory and rude replies, when a gray-headed man a few
steps beyond pointed him to the marquee. Weatherford rode up to it and
checked his horse immediately at the entrance, where sat the Big
Warrior, who exultingly exclaimed:
"'Ah! Bill Weatherford, have we got you at last?'"
"The fearless chieftain cast his keen eyes at the Big Warrior, and said
in a determined tone:
"'You ---- traitor, if you give me any insolence I will blow a ball
through your cowardly heart.'
"General Jackson now came running out of the marquee with Colonel
Hawkins, and in a furious manner exclaimed:
"'How dare you, sir, to ride up to my tent after having murdered the
women and children at Fort Mims?'
"Weatherford said:
"'General Jackson, I am not afraid of you. I fear no man, for I am a
Creek warrior. I have nothing to request in behalf of myself; you can
kill me if you desire. But I come to beg you to send for the women and
children of the war party, who are now starving in the woods. Their
fields and cribs have been destroyed by your people, who have driven
them to the woods without an ear of corn. I hope that you will send out
parties who will safely conduct them here, in order that they may be
fed. I exerted myself in vain to prevent the massacre of the women and
children at Fort Mims. I am now done fighting. The Red Sticks are nearly
all killed. If I could fight you any longer I would most heartily do so.
Send for the women and children. They never did you any harm. But kill
me, if the white people want it done.'
"At the conclusion of these words many persons who had surrounded the
marquee exclaimed:
"'Kill him! kill him! kill him!'
"General Jackson commanded silence, and in an emphatic manner said:
"'Any man who would kill as brave a man as this would rob the dead!'
"He then invited Weatherford to alight, drank a glass of brandy with
him, and entered into a cheerful conversation under his hospitable
marquee. Weatherford gave him the deer, and they were then good
friends."
Mr. Pickett discredits the accounts of this affair which were given by
persons who were present at its occurrence, but they have been accepted
by so many writers of repute, including Eaton and Meek, whose
opportunities for learning the truth were as good as his, that Mr.
Parton regards them as trustworthy at least in their main features.
Following him in this, we give the remainder of the conversation between
Jackson and the heroic chieftain. Jackson told Weatherford what terms he
had offered to the Creeks, and added:
"As for yourself, if you do not like the terms, no advantage shall be
taken of your present surrender. You are at liberty to depart and resume
hostilities when you please. But, if you are taken then, your life shall
pay the forfeit of your crimes."
Straightening himself up, the bold warrior answered:
"I desire peace for no selfish reasons, but that my nation may be
relieved from their sufferings; for, independent of the other
consequences of the war, their cattle are destroyed and their women and
children destitute of provisions. But I may well be addressed in such
language now. There was a time when I had a choice and could have
answered you. I have none now. Even hope has ended. Once I could animate
my warriors to battle. But I cannot animate the dead. My warriors can no
longer hear my voice. Their bones are at Talladega, Tallushatchee,
Emuckfau, and Tohopeka. I have not surrendered myself thoughtlessly.
While there were chances of success I never left my post nor supplicated
peace. But my people are gone, and I now ask peace for my nation and
myself. On the miseries and misfortunes brought upon my country I look
back with the deepest sorrow, and wish to avert still greater
calamities. If I had been left to contend with the Georgia army I would
have raised my corn on one bank of the river, and fought them on the
other. But your people have destroyed my nation. General Jackson, you
are a brave man; I am another. I do not fear to die. But I rely upon
your generosity. You will exact no terms of a conquered and helpless
people but those to which they should accede. Whatever they may be, it
would now be folly and madness to oppose them. If they are opposed, you
shall find me among the sternest enforcers of obedience. Those who would
still hold out can only be influenced by a mean spirit of revenge. To
this they must not and shall not sacrifice the last remnant of their
country. You have told us what we may do and be safe. Yours is a good
talk, and my nation ought to listen to it. They shall listen to it."
Jackson was too brave a man not to discover the hero in this courageous,
self-sacrificing man, who, knowing that an ignominious death had been
determined upon for him, calmly refused to save himself, and boldly
placed his life in his enemy's hands for the sake of his people. When
two men so brave as these meet there is fellowship between them, because
there is brotherhood between their souls. When Red Eagle thus faced
Jackson and offered to accept death at his hands in return for peace
for the now helpless Creeks there was peace between the two great-souled
men, who knew each other by the free-masonry of a common heroism, a
common courage, and a common spirit of self-sacrifice.
Seeing Weatherford in this transaction, do we need to remember his
battles as proof that he was a great man in the larger and better sense
of the word; that he did his duty, as he understood it, without regard
to his personal welfare; that he was a patriot as well as a soldier?