their courage, their love of country, and many of their domestic qualities. In peace he treated them with great kindness, relieved their wants, and was held by them in high regard. In war, "Big Sam," as they called him, was an object of their dread and terror.

The final and decisive conflict which ended the Creek War was fought by Jackson. The Indians concentrated all their warriors from the different towns at the bend of the Tallapoosa-called Tohopeka, or March 27, 1814. the Horseshoe, from its shape-and had strongly fortified it with logs and brush, and by erecting breast works. They numbered one thousand two hundred, one-fourth of them being women and children. Jackson's army numbered two thousand effective men.

The fire from his small cannon proved harmless, and the Indians whooped in derision as the balls buried themselves in the logs. He then stormed the breast work under a deadly fire from the Indians, and with

the bayonet soon put them to flight. General Coffee held the opposite bank of the river and prevented all escape on that side, so that the Indians were penned up in the peninsula, Jackson being in their front and Coffee in their rear. Not an Indian would suffer himself to be taken, or asked for quarter.

That evening, when the contest ended, five hundred and fifty-seven Creek warriors lay dead on the field; many more had been shot attempting to escape by swimming the river. One noted chief escaped by taking to the water in the evening, lying beneath the surface, and drawing his breath through a hollow cane, until it was dark enough for him to swim. across. General Sam Houston, then an ensign, displayed great bravery and was severely wounded in this battle. Afterwards, when a senator of the United States, he was the champion and defender of the Indians, boldly and repeatedly asserting that in our Indian difficulties, from the beginning, the Indian had never been the aggressor, but always the party injured.

GENERAL JOHN COFFEE.

This blow was fatal to the power and dignity of the Creek nation. They had contended like heroes, but against the superior numbers and weapons of the white men they fought in vain. When the chiefs appeared before Jackson to sue for pardon, he sternly told them that one condition. of their pardon was, that they must first bring in Weatherford, the cruel leader of the attack on Fort Mims, who

could on no account be forgiven.

To hold them harmless, and seeing clearly the hopelessness of prolonging the contest, Weatherford resolved voluntarily to surrender himself to the conqueror. This was, perhaps, the most striking incident of the war.

Mounting his splendid gray, with whom, when hotly pressed, he had made the daring leap from the bluff at the Holy Ground into the waters of the Alabama, he rode to Jackson's camp. He arrived

SAMUEL HOUSTON.

just at sunset. The general advanced towards him from his marquee, when the chief, sitting erect on his noble steed and with folded arms, said, "I am Weatherford, the chief who commanded at Fort Mims. I desire peace for my people, and have come to ask it."

Jackson, greatly surprised at his boldness, said to him, "How dare you ride up to my tent after having murdered the women and children at Fort Mims?"

Weatherford's memorable reply was as follows:

"General Jackson, I am not afraid of you. I fear no man, for I am a Creek warrior. I have nothing to ask 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 conduct them safely 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."

A crowd of soldiers had gathered around the general's tent. Some of them, on learning who the chief was, cried out,

"Kill him! kill him!"

"Silence!" exclaimed Jackson, adding, with great energy, "Any man. who would kill as brave a man as this would rob the dead!"

He then invited the chief to alight and enter his tent, where they held a frank and friendly talk. "The terms upon which your nation can be saved," said Jackson, “have already been disclosed. If you wish to continue the war, you are at liberty to depart unharmed; but if you desire peace you may remain, and you shall be protected."

"There was a time," said Weatherford, "when I had a choice and could have answered you. I have none now, even hope is 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, Emuckfau, and Tohopeka. I have not surrendered myself thoughtlessly. Your people have destroyed my nation. You are a brave man. I rely upon your generosity. You will exact no terms of a conquered people but such as they should accede to. You have told our nation where they might go and be safe. This is good talk, and they ought to listen to it. They shall listen to it."

Weatherford is described as being "tall, straight, and well proportioned; his eyes black, lively, and penetrating, his nose prominent, thin, and finely chiselled, while all the features of his face spoke an active and disciplined mind." Silent and reserved, except upon some great occasion, he seldom spoke in council, and when he did so he was listened to with delight and approbation. He owned a fine farm in Monroe County, Alabama, which he improved and embellished, and to which he frequently withdrew from public cares and anxieties, for the enjoyment of peaceful rural pleasures. Here Weatherford died in 1826.

The Red Sticks-as the Creek warriors were called, from the fact of their war-clubs being always painted red-exhibited in this severe contest qualities of the highest order. Their bravery, endurance, self-sacrifice, and patriotism have never been excelled. In their first engagement, at Burnt Corn, they defeated the Americans and compelled them to make a precipitate retreat. They captured Fort Mims and exterminated its numerous garrison. At Tallasahatchee, disdaining to beg for quarter, they fought till not a warrior was left alive. At Talladega, Autosse, and the Holy Ground they fought obstinately, frequently rallied, and finally made good their retreat. At Emuckfau and at Enotochopco they claimed the victory. At Calabee they threw the Georgians into confusion, and were only driven from the field by overwhelming superiority of numbers. At the Horseshoe, where they were nearly exterminated, not an Indian asked for quarter.

At last, wounded, starved, and beaten, hundreds of them fled to the swamps of Florida. They had contended not only against the armies of Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee, together with the regular troops of the United States, but also against numerous bands of Chickasaws and Choctaws, then friendly to the latter. In every engagement these brave warriors were inferior in number to their adversaries, excepting at Burnt Corn and Fort Mims. The capture of Pensacola by Jackson's Nov. 7, 1814. army convinced the Creeks that they could no longer rely upon the British, and that henceforth they must live in friendship with the United States. In the year 1815 peace was made with all the principal Indian tribes.

WE

XVIII.

THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

E now come upon a series of wars growing out of the policy of removing the Indian from his old home to the region west of the Mississippi. The preservation of peace on the frontier, and the transfer of the tribes from State to national jurisdiction were the principal reasons for this policy, which was adopted in 1830. There were at this time one hundred and twenty-nine thousand Indians within the limits of the old States, and the step seemed both wise and humane. Its authors did not imagine the rapidity with which settlements and population were to spread westward.

It was not until the war of 1812-15 with England had ended that the Mississippi Valley was thoroughly explored and emigration to it began. By the cession of their lands to the United States, the Indians were enabled to procure the means necessary to their advancement in the social scale. They bought cattle, and implements of husbandry, and founded schools, and a life of industry commenced. A new era had dawned upon

the race.

The Choctaws were the first to exchange their lands for a tract west of the Mississippi. A new and striking feature in the treaty they made was the appropriation of the proceeds of fifty-four sections of the ceded lands, each one mile square, for a school fund. Provision was also made for the support of the deaf, dumb, and blind of the tribe. The Indian Bureau-the department of the government in which Indian affairs are transacted-was established in 1824, and in the following year the plan of removal was presented to Congress by President Monroe. The first effectual steps towards removal were taken by the treaty of January 24, 1826, by which extensive cessions of territory were made by the various tribes. To some of these, especially the Creeks and Cherokees, who had made a considerable advance towards civilization, removal was extremely distasteful and was long resisted. Between the years 1820 and 1840 most of the tribes had removed.