Outdoor Life and Indian Stories / Making open air life attractive to young Americans by telling them all about woodcraft, signs and signaling, the stars, fishing, camping, camp cooking, how to tie knots and how to make fire without matches, and many other fascinating open air pursuits. Also, stories of noted hunters and scouts, great indians and warriors, including Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, General Custer, Pontiac, Tecumseh, King Philip, Black Hawk, Brandt, Sitting Bull, and a host of others whose names are famous; all of them true and interesting

by Edward Sylvester Ellis

CHIEF OF THE CREEK CONFEDERACY

LIVING at the time of Tecumseh, was a chief of strong ability, though inferior to the great Shawanoe in the nobler qualities. He was Weatherford, the Creek leader, whose name recalls one of the most terrible incidents in the history of the frontier.

It will be remembered that Tecumseh visited the Creeks, and when his burning appeals failed to rouse his listeners as he expected, he declared in his impatience that when he got home he would stamp the ground and it should shake. His return was followed by the historical New Madrid earthquake.

But for the fatal blunder of The Prophet, in bringing on the battle of Tippecanoe, while Tecumseh was absent, the Creeks as a body would have joined the confederacy. As it was, the younger warriors were swept off their feet by the Shawanoe's eloquence, though many of the elders urged them to keep out of the war that was sure to bring suffering and disaster to them.

Withal, in the face of bad traits, Weatherford was brave, eloquent and tactful. He required a strong occasion to rouse him to bursts of oratory, and he was too wise to cheapen his gifts by speaking too often. His wisdom was the admiration of the old, while his vices made him the idol of the young and vicious. He was tall, straight, well-proportioned, with pleasing features; and the impression of any one looking upon him for the first time was favorable. He was avaricious and took for himself one of the finest tracts of land belonging to the tribe among whom he made his home. To sum up, he was the corner-stone of the Creek confederacy.

The Creeks and Seminoles, living within the limits of Florida, began a series of outrages against the white settlements at the opening of the War of 1812. Numerous runaway slaves took refuge in the swamps and morasses where they were welcomed by the Indians and were safe against pursuit and recovery by their former masters. These negroes intermarried with the Indians and the mongrel population was of the most degraded character. Their forays became so harassing, that the militia of the Southwest were called out, and marched against the savages. A large number of the inhabitants fled to Fort Mimms, a stockade on Lake Tonsas, Alabama. Knowing the peril to which these refugees were exposed, Governor Claiborne sent one hundred and seventy-five volunteers to its defence, and placed them under the command of Major Beasley. In his anxiety the governor visited the fort, and tried to impress Beasley with the imminence of the danger to which all were exposed.

"I look upon it as almost certain you will be attacked; Weatherford is one of the most daring leaders the Indians have ever had; his spies are watching you at this moment, as they have been doing from the first; nothing that you can do will escape him; if you give him the first encouragement, he will massacre everyone of you."

The officer assured the governor that he would be vigilant, but the fear of the executive was not removed. Fort Early was the farthest advanced in the Indian country, and he went thither with his escort to impress the same watchfulness upon the garrison there. While on the road, he wrote a letter to Major Beasley, warning him again of his peril, and reminding him that the life of every one of the women and children who had fled to the post was in his keeping.