Major Ridge, Cherokee Indian Leader
Major Ridge (1771 - June 22, 1839) was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, a Chickamauga warrior, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the Chickamauga Wars against the American frontiersmen. Later, Major Ridge led the Cherokee in alliances with General Andrew Jackson and the United States in the Creek and Seminole Wars. He was part of the Cherokee triumvirate, a group of younger chiefs in the early nineteenth century Cherokee Nation who supported acculturation and other changes in how the people dealt with the United States. All were of mixed race and had some exposure to European-American culture, but identified as Cherokee. Ridge became a wealthy planter, slave owner and ferryman. In 1839, Major Ridge, his son John, and nephew Elias Boudinot were assassinated by and angry group of Cherokees. Other Treaty Party members were later killed, starting a wave of violence within the nation.
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Keywords: 1800s, 19th, america, american, assassin, assassinate, assassinated, assassination, century, cherokee, council, enhanced, enhancement, family, historic, historical, history, indian, indigenous, iroquoian, language, leader, major, mixed, nation, native, nineteenth, north, portrait, race, ridge, tribal
