Weatherford, William (1781?-1824), was a Muscogee, or Creek, headman, or leader. He was popularly known as Red Eagle. Weatherford is best known for leading the attack on Fort Mims in present-day Alabama during the Creek War (1813-1814).
Weatherford was born about 1781 near the Muscogee town of Coosada, north of what is now Montgomery, Alabama. He was the son of a Scotsman and a Muscogee woman. European American traders had long used the term Creek to refer to an allied group of Muscogee tribes. Weatherford became a leader of the Red Sticks, a Creek group named for the red war clubs they carried.
In 1813, the Red Sticks started a civil war against Creek leaders and the Creek governing body, the National Council. The Red Sticks resented the inequality in wealth between Creek headmen who adopted elements of white culture and those who followed traditional Creek ways of life. The Red Sticks emphasized the need for a spiritual awakening to reclaim their culture from foreign, or white, influences. The group objected to white encroachment (trespassing) on traditional Creek lands. In addition, tensions lingered over the execution of several Creeks who killed two white families on the Duck River in Tennessee.
To aid their effort, a group of Red Sticks traveled to Pensacola, in what was then Spanish Florida. They sought to acquire ammunition from the Spanish government. On their way back, however, a Mississippi militia force made up mainly of white settlers attacked them in what was then the Mississippi Territory. In response, the Red Sticks decided to attack Fort Mims. The fort had been built around part of the plantation of Samuel Mims, a white settler, in present-day Baldwin County, Alabama. Weatherford led about 700 Red Sticks in an attack against the lightly guarded fort, killing about 250 people.
The Creek War effectively ended after United States troops defeated the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend, in Alabama, in March 1814. The commander of the U.S. troops was Andrew Jackson, who later became president of the United States. Weatherford did not participate in the battle, and he never was captured. But shortly after Horseshoe Bend, Weatherford walked into Jackson’s camp and surrendered. Jackson reportedly was so impressed with Weatherford’s bravery that he let the Creek chief go free. Weatherford agreed to work for peace, and he probably remained in camp under guard for a time, for his own protection.
After the Creek War, Weatherford settled on his farm in present-day Monroe County, Alabama. He died on March 9, 1824.
See also Indian wars (Conflicts in the South).
