[August 1st
marks the 150th anniversary of Cherokee
Chief John Ross’s death. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Ross and other
native leaders, leading up to a weekend Guest Post from one of our most talented
and significant Native Studies scholars.]
Three American
histories that look far different when viewed through the lens of the Cherokee Nation’s
longest-serving Principal Chief.
1)
The Trail of Tears: As I wrote
in this post, Jackson’s Indian Removal policy and the Trail of Tears that
it produced are perhaps the best remembered Native American histories, yet our
collective memories of them tend to position the Cherokee and their native
brethren solely as tragic victims. The Cherokee
Memorials to Congress, of which Ross was likely the central author, offer
one potent and powerful way to revise that narrative, highlighting the communal
voices and histories through which the nation engaged with America and its own evolving
histories and community. Yet Ross’s life and perspective also connect to the
complex debate within the Cherokee nation over the removal policy and the most
effective way to respond to it, with Ross representing a more active resistance
and his fellow
chief Major Ridge standing for the more moderate “Treaty Party.” History,
of course, bore Ross and his position out very fully—but an accurate history of
the era would feature far more of the Cherokee nation’s diverse perspectives as
well as their multiple resistances to removal, and Ross offers a starting point
for engaging with all those histories and factors.
2)
Early Republic Wars: Long before he was elected
Principal Chief (in 1828), Ross emerged onto the national scene as an
officers’ assistant in a Cherokee regiment fighting (ironically enough) under
General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. As I wrote
in this post, the U.S. army during that war’s culminating (if literally
inconsequential) Battle of New Orleans exemplified the national community in
multicultural miniature, from French pirates and Filipino fisherman to the city’s
African American community and multiple Native American regiments. Yet by the
time of that January 1815 battle, Ross and his Cherokee regiment had already
also fought under Jackson in the so-called Creek War of 1813-14,
a far more complex conflict that interconnected with the War of 1812 yet pitted
the U.S. army against multiple Southeastern Native American tribes. As had been
the case during both the
French and Indian and Revolutionary
Wars, the Native American military during this Early Republic era was thus
complicatedly both part of and opposed to America’s martial efforts, and Ross
came of age within that divided world.
3)
The Civil War: The final years of Ross’s life
took place against the backdrop of an even more divided wartime moment, not
only for the nation but also for the Cherokee tribe and Ross’s own family and personal
perspective. At the Civil War’s outset the Cherokee, now living in the
Indian Territory that would later become Oklahoma (once the tribe was once
again forcibly removed), were once
again divided, with a majority supporting the Confederacy but a sizeable
contingent favoring the Union. Ross, still in his role as Principal Chief,
initially advocated neutrality, and traveled to Washington early in the war to
meet President Lincoln; three
of his sons volunteered for the Union Army, while his nephew-in-law John
Drew organized the Confederate Army’s first Cherokee regiment. Later in the
war the divisions only deepened, with pro-Confederate sympathizers led by Stand Watie raiding
Ross’s home and killing his son-in-law while Ross’s now overtly pro-Union
faction had moved to Fort Leavenworth. At the time of his August 1, 1866 death
Ross (along with Watie and many other leaders) was in the midst of the negotiations
with the Johnson administration that would culminate in the Cherokee
Reconstruction Treaty, one final step in the tribe’s and Ross’s complex
relationship to the Civil War and its histories.
Next leader
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Native American leaders or figures you’d highlight?
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