Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1883 — THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS. [ARTICLE]

THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS.

A terrible bit of news was carried Jrom mouth to mouth through the region that is now Alabama at the beginning of September, 1813. The country was at that time in the midst of the second war with Great Britain, and for a long time British agents had been trying to persuade the Creeks—-a powerful nation of half-civilized but very warlike Indians who lived in Alabama—to join in the war and destroy the white settlements in the Southwest. For some time the Creeks hesitated, and it was uncertain what they would do. But during the summer of 1813 they, broke out into hostility, and on tlie BOtli of August, their great leader, Weatherford, or the Bed Eagle, as they called him, stormed Fort Mims, the strongest fort in the Southwest. He _took the fort by surprise, with 1,000 ; warriors behind him r and after five hours of terrible fighting destroyed it, killing about 500 men, women and children. This was news that r startled the settlers in the region where the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers come together. It was certain, after such a massacre as that, that the Indians meant to destroy the settlements, and kill all the white people without mercy. In order to protect themselves and their families the settlers built rude forts by setting timbers endwise in the ground, and the people hurried to these places for safety.—Leaving their homes to be burned, their crops to be destroyed, and their cattle to be killed <>r carried off by the Indians, the settlers hastily got together what food they could and took their families into the nearest forts. One of the smallest of these stockade forts was called Sinquefield. It stood in what is now Clarke county, Ala., and as that region was very thinly settled, there were not enough men to make a strong force for the defense of the fort. But the brave farmersand hunters thought they could hold the place, and so they took their families there as quickly as they could. Two families, numbering seventeen persons, found it was not easy to go to Sinquefield on the 2d of September, and so, as they were pretty sure that there were -no Indians in their neighborhood, they made-up JtJwir minds to stay °ne more night at a house a fewmiles from the fort. That night they were attacked, and all but five of them were killed. Those who got away carried the news of what had happened to the fort 7 and a party was sent out to bring in the bodies. The next day all the people in Fort Sinquefield went out to bury their dead friends in a valley at some distance from the fort,and,strange as it seems, they took no arms with them. Believing there were no Indians near the place, they left the gates of the fortress open, and went out in a body without guns. As a matter of fact there was a large body of Indians not only very near them, but actually looking at them all the time. The celebrated Prophet Francis was in command, and in his sly way he had crept as near the fort as possible to look for a good chance to attack it. Making his men lie dowm and crawl like snakes, he had reached a point only a few hundred yards from the stockade without alarming the people, and now, while they stood around the graves of their friends without arms to defend themselves with, a host of their savage enemies lay looking at them from the grass and bushes on the hill. As soon as be saw the right moment had come, Francis sprang up with a savage war-cry, and at the head of his Warriors made a dash at the gates. He had seen that the men outside were unarmed, and his plan was to get to the gates before .they could reach tiiem. and thus get all the people of the’place at his mercy in ojien field and without arms to fight with. The fort people were quick to see what his purpose was, and the men hurried forward with all their might, hoping to reach the fort before the savages could get there. By running at the top of their speed they did this, and closed the gates in time to keep the.lndians out. But-to their horror they then saw that their wives and children were shut out too. Unable «P run so fast as the men had done, the women and children had fallen behind

and now the Indians were between them and the gates! Seeing that he had missed the chance of getting possession of the fort, Francisturned upon the women and children With savage delight in the thought of butchering these helpless creatures iu the sight of their husbands, fathers and brothers. It was a moment of terrors There was not half enough white men in the fort to master so large a force of Indians, and if there had beefi it was easy to see that by the time they could get their rifles and go to the rescue it would be too late. ' 4 At that moment the hero of this bit of history came upon the Scene. This was a young man by the name of Isaac Haden, He was a notable huntsman, who kept a famous pack of hounds—tierce brutes, thoroughly trained to run down and seize any live thing their master chose to chase. The young man had been out in search of stray cattle, and just, at the .moment when matters were at their worst, he rode up to the fort, followed by his sixty'ddgsi Isaac Haden had a cool head and a very daring spirit. He was in the habit of taking in a situation at a glance, deciding quickly what was to be done, and then doing it at any risk that might be necessary. As soon as Jie saw how the women and children were placed he cried out to his dogs, and at the head of the bellowing pack, charged upon the flank of the Indians. The dogs did--their work with a sp’rit equal to their master's. For each to seize a red warrior and drag him to the earth was the work of a moment, and the whole body of savage; was soon in confusion. Tor a time they had all they could do to defend tlflmiselves against the un-looked-for as-ault of the tierce animals and before they could Leat off the dogs the men of the fort came out and' joined the attack, so that the women and children had time to make their way inside the gates;—only one of them, a Mrs. Phillips having been killed. The men of course had to follow the women closely, as they were much too weak in numbers to risk a battle outside. If they had done so the Indians , would have overcome them quickly, and the fort and everybody in it would have been at their mercy, so they hurried into the fort as soon as the women were safe. . But the hero who had saved the people by. his quickness and courage was left outside; and not only so, but the savages were between him and the fort. He had charged entirely through the war party, and was now beyond their line, alone, and with no chance of help from any quarter. His hope of saving himself was very small indeed; but he had saved all those helpless women and little children, and he was a brave enough fellow to die willingly for such a purpose as that if he must. But brave men do not.gixmnp -easily,and young Haden did not mean to die without a last effort to save himself. Blowing a long blast upon his hunt-ing-horn to call his remaining dogs around him, he drew his pistols one in each hand—and plunged spurs into his horse’s, flanks. In spite of the numbers against him, lie broke through the mass of savages, but the gallant horse that bore him fell dead as he cleared the Indian ranks. Haden had fired both his pistols, and had no time to load them again. He was practically unarmed now, and the distance he still had to go before reaching the gates was considerable. _ His chance of escape seemed smaller than ever, but he quickly sprang from the saddle, and ran with all his might, hotly pursued, and under a terrific fire from tho rifles of the savages. The gate was held a little way open for him to pass, and when he entered the fort his nearest pursuers were so close at his heels that there was barely time for the men to shut the gate in their faces. Strangely enough, the brave young fellow was not hurt in any way. Five"bullets had passed through his clothes, but his skin was not broken. — Harper's Young People.