Alexander Beaufort Meek (1814-1865) was a poet, historian, orator, attorney, public official, and journalist, and was the foremost literary figure in Alabama in the pre–Civil War period.


From February to May 1836, he served as an ensign (equivalent to a modern second lieutenant) in the Seminole War,



In 1855, after his legislative term ended, Meek published his most ambitious work, a book-length narrative poem, The Red Eagle: A Poem of the South, set during the Creek War of 1813–14 and with the
Creek chief William Weatherford (Red Eagle) as the hero. One of the earliest works of American literature with an Indian protagonist, Red Eagle is divided into three cantos, beginning with the Fort Mims massacre of August 30, 1813, and ending with Weatherford's surrender to General Andrew Jackson near Wetumpka, Alabama. Although the poem is built around the historical incidents of the Creek War, Meek, in true romantic style, included a love story. Red Eagle has been called one of the best long narrative poems written in the South during the pre–Civil War period.