224 MYTHS OF THK CHKKOKKK [eth.ann.I'J 



has left, such a roconl cif rdiitinncms electimi to liifjli cillirc wliilo stoadily holiHng to 

 hiaown convictiDiis in the face of HtnuiK popular oiipn.sitidii. AiitlKjriticx: Appluton's 

 Cyclopicilia uf American BiiiKraphy, 1894; Bunnell, Texas, 1.S40; Thrall, Texas, ISTfi; 

 Lossinjr, Field Book of the War of 1812, 1869; author's |)ersonal information; various 

 periodical and newspajier articles. 



(46) Chief JoriN Ross (p. 151): This great chief of the Cherokee, whose name is 

 inseparable from their history, was himself bnt one-eighth of Indian blood and showed 

 little of the Indian features, his father, Daniel Ross, having emigrated from Scotland 

 iM'fore the Revolution and married a quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father, .John 

 McDonald, was also from Scotland. He was born at or near the family residence at 

 Rossville, (xeorgia just acro.ss the line from ('hattanooga, Tennessee. As a boy, he 

 was known among the Cherokee as T.san-usdi', " Little ,Tohn," but after arriving at 

 manhood was called (iuwi'sguwl', the name of a rare migratory bird, of large size 

 and white or grayish plumage, .«aid to have appeared formerly at long intervals in 

 the old Cherokee country. It may have been the egret or the swan. He was 

 educated at Kingston, Tennessee, and began his public career when barely nineteen 

 years of age. His first wife, a full-blood Cherokee woman, died in consequence of 

 the hardships of the Removal wdiikt on the western march and was buried at Little 

 Rock, .\rkansas. Some years later he married again, this time to a Miss Stapler of 

 Wilmington, Delaware, the marriage taking place in Philadelphia (author's per- 

 sonal information from Mr Allen Ross, son of John Ro.ss; see al.so Meredith, 

 "The Cherokees," in the Five (!ivili/,ed Tribes, Extra Bulletin Eleventh Census, 

 1894.) Cooweescoowee district of the Cherokee Nation west has been named in liis 

 hoiuir. The following biographic facts are taken from the panegyric in his honor, 

 passed by the national council of the Cherokee, on hearing of his death, "as feebly 

 expressive of the loss they have sustained." 



,Iohn Ross was born October 3, 1790, and died in the city of Washington, August 

 1, 180(3, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His othcial career began in 1809, when 

 he was intrusted by .Vgent Return Meigs with an important mission to the Arkansas 

 Cherokee. From that time until the close of his life, with the exception of two or 

 three years in the earlier part, lie was in the constant service of liis people, "furnish- 

 ing an instance of confidence on their part and lidelity on his which has never been 

 surpassed in the annals of history." In the war of 18IH- 14 against the Creeks he 

 was adjutant of the Cherokee regiment which cooperated w'ith GeneralJackson, and 

 was present at the battle of the Horseshoe, where the Cherokee, under Colonel 

 Morgan, of Tennessee, rendered distinguished service. In 1817 he was elected a 

 member of the national committee of the Cherokee council. The first duty assigned 

 him was to pre])are a re])ly to the United States commissioners who were present 

 for the purpose of negotiating with the Cherokee for their lands east of the Mississippi, 

 in firm resistance to which he was destined, a few yi'ars later, to test the power of 

 truth and to attain a reputation of no ordinary character. In 1819, October 26, bis 

 name first appears on the statute book of the Cherokee Nation as president of the 

 national committee, and is attached to an ordinance whicli looked to the improve- 

 ment of the Cherokee people, providing for the introduction into the Nation of school- 

 masters, blacksmiths, mechanics, and others. He continued to occupy that position 

 till 1826. 1 n 1827 he was a,ssociate chief with William Hicks, and president of the con- 

 vention which adojited the constitution of that yiar. That constitution, it is believed, 

 is the fir.«t effort at a regular government, with distinct braiu'hes and powers defined, 

 ever made and carried into effect by any of the Indians of North America. From 1828 

 until the remoxal west, he was principal chief of the esistern Cherokee, and from 

 1839 to the time of his death, principal chief of the united C'berokee Nation. 



In regard to the long contest which culminated in the Removal, the resolutions 

 declare that "The Cherokees, with John Ross at their head, alone with their 

 treaties, achieved a recognition of their rights, but they were powerless to enforce 



