Dr. John J. Dickey Diary, Fleming County, Ky.  Recorded in the 1870's and
beyond.  Reprinted in Kentucky Explorer, Volume 11, No  March, 1997, p.
107. By permission. Clay County.

RED BIRD
     The Indian chief for whom Red Bird Creek in Clay County was named was
probably a Cherokee from Tennessee or North Carolina.  Like others of his
race, he was a great hunter and allured by the game in this remote region
he finally took up his residence on the creek that bears his name at the
mouth of Jack's Creek in this county.  He came to his death by the avarice
of the "pale face."  There lived with him a crippled Indian named Willie. 
This man dressed the skins which Red Bird brought to their wigwam and
looked after the culinary department of their house.  Some hunters from
North Carolina, greedy and unscrupulous, came to the wigwam and murdered
Willie.  They then secreted themselves and awaited the return of the brave
chief who had long before buried his tomahawk and for years had been
living in peace with the white man, and as he approached his crude castle
the bullet of an assassin laid him in the dust.  They threw his body into
a hole of water nearaby which is still called "Willie's Hole," and from
which John Gilbert and others took him and buried him.  One tradition is
that he was sitting on the bank of a creek fishing when he was shot and
that he fell into the creek.  

Red_Bird Gilbert
=
TN NC