John Ross (Cherokee chief)

John Ross (October 3, 1790 - August 1, 1866), also known as Kooweskoowe - "the egret", Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation.

Introduction

Between 1819 and 1866, the Cherokees became a nation state, lost their ancestral land, endured removal to the Indian Territory, and suffered destructive civil war. Throughout these tumultuous years, the dominant political figure in the Cherokee Nation was John Ross, whose leadership spanned the entire period. By "blood", Ross was seven-eighths Scottish, educated by Europeans, a poor speaker of the Cherokee language, and one of the wealthiest men of the nation. Ironically, in term of heritage, education, status, and economic pursuits, Ross more closely resembled his political foes President Andrew Jackson or Governor George R. Glimer of Georgia than he did the majority of the Cherokee Nation. In Washington social circles, it was remarked that in "manners and deportment...had in no respect differed from those of well-bred country gentleman."

The Cherokee Moses

Given Ross's background, it would seem unlikely that Ross would involve himself in Cherokee affairs, and in so doing emerge as the dominant political figure of the Cherokee Nation. However, despite a vocal minority of Cherokees and a generation of political leaders in Washington who considered Ross to be dictatorial, greedy, and an "aristocratic leader ^* sought to defraud" the Cherokee Nation, the majority of Cherokees ardently supported Ross and elected him principal chief in every election from 1828 through 1860. Ross also had supporters in Washington, including Thomas L. McKenney, a commissioner of Indian Affairs (1824 - 1830) who described Ross as the father of the Cherokee Nation, a Moses who "lead...his people in their exodus from the land of their nativity to a new country, and from the savage state to that of civilization."

Childhood

Ross was born in Turkeytown, Alabama, along the Coosa River, near Lookout Mountain, to Mollie and Daniel Ross. Ross's genealogy begins with William Shorey, a Scottish interpreter, and his "fullblood" wife Ghigooie, a member of the Bird clan. In 1769, their daughter Anna married John McDonald, a Scottish trader at Fort Loudoun, in Tennessee. This marriage produced a daughter Mollie, who in 1786 married Daniel Ross, a Scotsman who had gone to live among the Cherokee during the American Revolution.

Ross's childhood, spent in the area of Lookout Mountain, was immersed in Cherokee society, where he encountered the fullblood Cherokee who frequented his father's trading company. As a child, Ross was allowed to participate in Cherokee events such as the Green Corn Festival, however, despite his father's willingness to allow his son to partake in some Cherokee customs, the elder Ross was determined that his son receive a rigorous education. After receiving an elementary education at home, Ross studied with the Reverend Gideon Blackburn and finished his education at an academy in South West Point, Tenneesee.

Business Activities

At the age of twenty, after having completed his education, he was appointed as Indian agent to the western Cherokee and sent to Arkansas. He served as an adjutant in a Cherokee regiment during the War of 1812 and participated in fighting at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the British-allied Creek tribe.

Ross then began a series of business venture, but derived the majority of his wealth from an extensive plantation worked by slaves. (The Cherokee Nation jointly owned all land, however, improvements on the land could be sold or willed.) In 1816 he founded Ross's Landing (which was renamed Chattanooga after his departure for Oklahoma). In addition, Ross established a trading firm and warehouse. In total, Ross earned upwards on one-thousand dollars a year. In 1827, Ross moved to Coosa to be closer to New Echota, the Cherokee capital, and the other leading figures of the nation. In Coosa, Ross established another ferry and had twenty slaves cultivating 170 acres. By December 1836, Ross's property was apprasied at $23,665.75, which made him one of the five wealthiest men in the Cherokee Nation.

Rise to National Leadership

Political Apprenticeship

The years 1812 to 1827 were also a period of political apprenticeship for Ross. Before he would lead the Cherokee people he had to learn how to conduct negotiations with the United States and the skills required to run a national government. After 1814, Ross's political career, as a Cherokee legislator and diplomat, progressed with the support of individuals like Principal Chief Pathkiller, Associate Chief Charles Hicks, and Major Ridge, an elder statement of the Cherokee Nation. In 1813, as relations with the United States became more complex, older, uneducated Chiefs like Pathkiller could not effectively defend Cherokee interests. The ascendancy of Ross represented an acknowledgement by the Cherokee that an educated, English-speaking leadership was of national importance, and both Pathkiller and Hicks saw Ross as the future leader of the Cherokee Nation and trained him for this work. Ross served as clerk to Pathkiller and Hicks; working in this capacity on all financial and political matters of the nation. Equally important in the education of the future leader of the Cherokees was instruction in the traditions of the Cherokee Nation.

In 1816, Ross was named by the National Council to his first delegation to Washington. The delegation of 1816 was directed to resolve the sensitive issues of national boundaries, land ownership, and white intrusions on Cherokee land. Of the delegates, only Ross was fluent in English, making him the central figure in the negotiations; a unique position for a young man Cherokee society, which traditionally favored older leaders. Ross's first political position came in November 1817 with the formation of the National Council; a thirteen member body elected for two year terms. The National Council was created to consolidate Cherokee political authority after General Jackson made two treaties with small cliques of Cherokees representing minority factions. Membership in the National Council placed Ross among the ruling elite in the upper echolons of the Cherokee leadership.

Assumption of Leadership

In November 1818, on the eve of the General Council meeting with Cherokee agent Joseph McMinn, Ross was elevated to the presidency of the National Committee; a position he held through 1827. The Council selected Ross for this position because they perceived him to have the diplomatic skill necessary to rebuff requests to cede Cherokee lands. In this task, Ross did not disappoint the Council. McMinn offered two-hundred thousand dollars for removal of the Cherokees beyond the Mississippi, which Ross refused.

In 1819, Ross was again sent to Washington; unlike 1816, however, Ross was now assuming a larger role in the leadership. The purpose of the delegation was to clarify the provisions of the Treaty of 1817. The delegation had to negotiate the limits of the ceded land and hope to clarify the Cherokee's right to the remaining land. John C. Calhoun, the secretary of war, pressed Ross to cede large tracts of land in Tennessee and Georgia. Such pressure would continue and intensify. In October 1822, Calhoun requrested that the Cherokee relinquish their land claimed by Georgia, in fulfillment of the United State's obligation under the Compromise of 1802. Before responding to Calhoun's proposition, Ross first ascertained the sentiment of the Cherokee people, which he found to be unanimously opposed to cession of land.

In January 1824, Ross travled yet again to Washington to defend the Cherokees' possession of their land, where Calhoun offered two solutions to the Cherokee delegation: either relinquish title to their lands and remove west or accept denationalization and become citizens of the United States. Rather than accept Calhoun's ultimatum, Ross made a bold departure from previous negotiations by continuing to aggressively press their complaints, and on April 15, 1824, Ross took the dramatic step of petitioning Congress. This fundamentally altered the traditional relationship between an Indian nation and whites dating back to colonial times.

Never before had an Indian nation petitioned Congress with grievances, and in Ross' correspondences the petitions of submissive Indians were replaced by assertive defenders, able to argue, as well as whites, subtle points about legal responsibilities. This change was apparent to individuals in Washington, including future president John Quincy Adams, who wrote that "there was less Indian oratory, and more of the common style of white discourse, than in the same chief's speech on their first introduction." Adams specifically noted Ross' work as "the writer of the delegation" and remarked that "they ^* sustained a written controversy against the Georgia delegation with greate advantage." Indeed the Georgia delegation acknowledged Ross' skill in an editorial in The Georgia Journal which charged that the Cherokee delegation's letters were fraudulent because they were too refined to have been written or dictated by an Indian.

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

In January 1827, with the death of Pathkiller, the Cherokee's principal chief, Ross became principal chief protem. The year 1827 would also mark climax of political reform of the Cherokee government. During the same period that Ross was negotiating in Washington on behalf of the Cherokee, the Cherokee Council began to pass a series of laws creating a bicameral national government and in 1822 created the Cherokee Supreme Court, capping the creation of a three branch government. In May 1827, Ross was elected to the twenty-four member constitutional committee, which drafted a constitution calling for a principal chief, a council of the principal chief, and a National Committee, which together would form the General Council of the Cherokee Nation. Although the constitution was ratified in October 1827, it did not take effect until October 1828, at which point, Ross was elected principal chief, a position he would hold until his death in 1866.

The Cherokee now had a system of government with delegated authority capable of dependably formulating a clear, long-range policy to protect national rights, and a strong leader in Ross who understood the complexities of the United States government and could use that knowledge to implement national policy.

Supreme Court Litigation

On December 20, 1828, Georgia, fearful that the United States would be unable to effect the removal of the Cherokee Nation, enacted a series of oppressive laws which stripped the Cherokee of their rights and were calculated to force the Cherokee to remove. In this climate, Ross led another delegation to Washington in January 1829 to resolve disputes over non-payment of annuitites and the boundary between Georgia and the Cherokee Nation. Rather than lead the delegation into futile negotiations with President Jackson, Ross wrote an immediate memorial to Congress, completely forgoing the customary correspondence and petitions with the President.

Ross found support in Congress from individual in the National Republican Party such as Senators Henry Clay, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and Daniel Webster and Representatives Ambrose Spencer and David (Davy) Crockett. Despite this support, in April 1829, John H. Eaton, secretary of war (1829 - 1831) informed Ross that President Jackson would support the right of Georgia to extend her laws over the Cherokee Nation and in May 1830, Congress indorsed Jackson's policy of removal by passing the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to set aside lands west of the Mississippi to exchange for the lands of the Indian nations in the east.

When Ross and the Cherokee delegation failed to in their efforts to protect Cherokee lands through negotiation with the executive branch and through petitions with Congress, Ross took the radical step of defending Cherokee rights through the U.S. courts. In June 1830, at the urging of Senator Webster and Senator Frelinghuysen, the Cheorkee delegation selected William Wirt, attorney general in the Monroe and Adams administrations, to defend Chereokee rights before the U.S. Supreme Court. Wirt argued two cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Cherokee: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Worcester v. Georgia. Although the decision handed down by Chief Justice John Marshall acknowledged the Cherokee were a sovereign nation President Jackson refused to take action that would force Georgia to comply with the Court's decision.

In an unusual meeting in May 1832, Supreme Court Justice John McLean spoke with the Cherokee delegation offered his views on the Cherokee's situation. McLean's advice was to "remove and become a Territory with a patent in fee simple to the nation for all its lands, and a delegate in Congress, but reserving to itself the entire right of legislation and selection of all officers."

Ross versus the Ridge Party

McLean's advice precipitated a split within the Cherokee leadership as John Ridge and Elias Boudinot began to doubt Ross' leadership. In February 1833, Ridge wrote Ross advocating that the delegation dispatched to Washington that month should begin removal negotiations with Jackson. However, the Ridge and Ross did not have irreconcilable worldviews; both Ridge and Ross no longer believed that the Cherokee could fend off Georgian usurpation of Cherokee land. Although Ridge and Ross agreed on this point, they clashed about how best to serve the Cherokee Nation.

In this environment, Ross led a delegation to Washington in March 1834 in an attempt to negotiate alternatives to removal. Ross made several proposals, however, there is no indication that the Cherokee Nation would have approved any of Ross' plans, nor is there any reasonable expectation that Jackson would settle for any agreement short of removal. These offers, coupled with the proposition of a lengthy cross-continental trip indicate that Ross' strategy was to prolong negotiations on removal indefinitely, with the hope of wearing down Jackson's opposition to a treaty which did not result in Cherokee removal.

Ross' strategy was flawed, because it was susceptible to the United States making a treaty with a minority faction. On May 29, 1834, Ross received word from John H. Eaton, that a new delegation, including Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and Ross' younger Andrew, collectively the Ridge Party, had arrived in Washington with the goal of signing a treaty of removal. The two sides attempted reconciliation, but by October 1834 had still not come to an agreement. In January 1835 the factions were again in Washington, and pressured by the presence of the Ridge Party, Ross agreed on February 25, 1835 to exchange all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi for land west of the Mississippi and twenty million dollars on the condition that the terms be accepted by the General Council.

Lewis Cass, secretary of war, feeling that this was yet another ploy to delay action on removal for an additional year threatened to sign the treaty with John Ridge. On December 29, 1835, the Ridge Party, against the will of the majority of Cherokees signed the removal treaty with the U.S. Ross unsuccessfully lobbied against enforcement of the treaty, but those Cherokees who did not emigrate to the "Indian Territory" by 1838 were forced to do so by General Winfield Scott, an episode that came to be known as the "Trail of Tears." Accepting defeat, Ross convinced General Scott to have supervision of much of the removal process turned over to Ross. On the trail of tears Ross lost his wife, Quatie, a fullblooded Cherokee woman, of whom little is known.

After Removal

In the Indian Territory, Ross helped draft a constitution for the entire Cherokee nation in 1839, and was chosen as chief of the nation.

Civil War Period

Attempt at Neutrality

The American Civil War was a test for Ross to hold the nation together, preserve national rights acquired by treaties, and insure national welfare. However, as the southern states seceded and formed the Confederacy, mixed-blooded, slave-owning Cherokee who formed the core of the old Treaty Party banded together under the leadership of Stand Watie and pushed for a treaty with the new government.

The Cherokee civil war over the issues of acculaturation and removal in the 1820's, 1830's, and 1840's, motivated Ross' overriding concern for unity. Furthermore, Ross understood that "the relations which the Cherokee people sustain toward their white brethern have been established by subsisting treaties with the United States..." The Cherokee right to land, self-government, and annuities from the sale of ancestral lands were all secured in treaties with the United States; they would be lost if the Cherokee Nation joined the Confederacy. Torn by treaties to the Union and sympathies to the Confederacy, Ross opted for a policy of neutrality as the best means of unifying the nation and ensuring that the rights of the Cherokee were not lost.

To advance this policy, Ross began, in February 1861, a vigorous campaign among the leaders of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek Nations which emphasized loyalty to the United States to protect their treaty rights. Although the policy of neutrality was a skillful attempt to spare the Cherokee the depredations of war and the potential loss of their precious rights, but by July 1861, Ross had been informed that "difficulties of a serious character existed...between half and full blood Cherokees..."

Alliance with the Confederacy

Ross attempted to salvage the situation by convening the Executive Council on August 21, 1861, "for the purpose of devising means by which the people may become deeply impressed with the importance of being united in Sentiment & action for the welfare of our Common Country." Although Ross' address was devoted to explaining how the Cherokee' treaty relationship with the United States and ties to the Confederacy dictated the policy of neutrality, Ross concluded by stating, "in my opinion, the time has now arrived when you should signify your consent for the authorization of the nation to adopt preliminary stepts for an alliance with the Confederate States..."

This shift in policy is in no way surprising when examined in context with traditional Cherokee politial ethos. Any Cherokee leader would have been expected to calmly state and restate the same opinion until a consensus emerged, at which point all Cherokee would either accept the emerging sentiment or withdraw. Ross perceived the forces pushing for ties with the Confederacy to be in the majority; in traditional Cherokee style, he acceded to the majority sentiment in order to preserve unity and harmony.

The new policy, however, not only exposed the Cherokee to the depredations of war, it failed to achieve the desired unity. The state of affairs was beyond the ability of one man to control, and it overwhelmed Ross' attempts to keep the Cherokee unified. Before, the end of 1861, the Civil War had infected Indian territory; the failure of Ross to shield the five nations was complete. But the Cherokees had chosen the wrong ally to defend the nation's rights, for despite Ross' protestations the South could not protect the Cherokee Nation, which was invaded by the Union army in July 1862.

Return to the Union

With this defeat, the Cherokee nation was abandoned by the Confederacy. Fearing the loss of the rights they had sacrificed their ancestral lands for, Ross led a large segment of the population back to allegince to the Union cause. Following this, a regiment of Cherokee men, enlisted in the Union Army and Ross was conducted to Washington, where the Cherokee leadership hoped he could "advocate our cause, to represent us Washington and exert all your influence to preserve our nationality and our rights."

In a letter to President Lincoln before his arrival in Washington, Ross outlined a six-point defense of Cherokee rights based on the mutual observance of treaty obligations. The skillfully crafted argument absolved Cherokee disloyalty by claiming the treaties were abrogated by the failure of the United States to fulfill the promises it had contracted. Lincoln, a trained lawyer, expressed doubt about the logic of Ross' arguments, and was unwilling to accede to the claim that the United States had special obligations to the Cherokee. But Lincoln did acknowledge the Cherokee's general right to protection by the government.

Ross stayed in Washington from October 1862 through July 1865 working to defend Cherokee treaty rights and insure the welfare of the nation for the duratin of the war. The government-in-exile received grievances and updates from citizens who remained in the nation, while Ross, who gained access to members of Congress and the Executive, lobbied to aid the Cherokee as well as the other western nations. Although Ross was able to establish and maintain correspondences with Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, and William P. Dole, commissioner of Indian Affairs, his task remained arduous. His pleas received sympathetic hearing, but he had not convinced the government of its obligations to the Cherokees. Ultimately, Ross was successful in getting Cherokee regiments armed in the defense of the nation, which allowed the Cherokee to return, however, he was never successful in settling the Cherokees' rights with the United States.

Conclusion

In his final annual message on October 1865, Ross assessed the Cherokee experience during the civil war and his performance as chief. The Cherokee could "have the proud satisfaction of knowing that we honestly strove to preserve the peace within our borders, but when this could not be done,...borne a gallant part in the defense...of the cause which has been crowned with such signal success."

Ross died on August 1, 1866 in Washington.

Introduction

The Cherokee Moses

Childhood

Business Activities

Rise to National Leadership

Political Apprenticeship

Assumption of Leadership

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Supreme Court Litigation

Ross versus the Ridge Party

After Removal

Civil War Period

Attempt at Neutrality

Alliance with the Confederacy

Return to the Union

Conclusion

Further reading

Primary sources

Secondary Sources

Gourt Home::Gourt :: John Ross (Cherokee chief)

Introduction

The Cherokee Moses

Childhood

Business Activities

Rise to National Leadership

Political Apprenticeship

Assumption of Leadership

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Supreme Court Litigation

Ross versus the Ridge Party

After Removal

Civil War Period

Attempt at Neutrality

Alliance with the Confederacy

Return to the Union

Conclusion

Further reading

Primary sources

Secondary Sources