Major Ridge

Background

Major Ridge was born about 1771 probably at Hiwassee, a Cherokee settlement on the north side of Hiwassee River in what is now Polk County, Tennessee.

Career

He is sometimes confused with his son, John Ridge (1803 - 1839), who was likewise a leader of the treaty party. He is said to have enjoyed the rank of major in the Cherokee forces allied with the Americans in the Creek War of 1814, and to have derived his English name from that military rank. He learned to speak English, encouraged his wife in the practice of Christianity, and sent his son to be educated in the Indian School at Cornwall, Connecticut.

He became speaker of the council, had a comfortable home and farm where Rome, Georgia, now stands, maintained a profitable ferry, and was a partner in the lucrative trading ventures of George Lavender. He acquired the manner and appearance of a prosperous Southern planter of the period. In the earlier struggles with the United States he supported John Ross in opposition to further cession of land, but later he advocated cession and removal to the West.

On December 29, 1835, at New Echota, Georgia, he signed a treaty to cede all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi and to remove to the other side of the river. This was a grave step in the face of an old Cherokee law, prescribing the death penalty for ceding lands without tribal authority. He and his supporters have maintained that he was actuated by a realization of the futility of resistance to white settlement; his enemies have accused him of acting from thwarted political ambition, greed, and inability to withstand the influence of the agents of the state and federal governments. In one of the most tragic of all the westward migrations of the Indians, he removed with his tribe across the Mississippi.

Shortly after their arrival in the Indian Territory the vengeance of the non-treaty party overtook him. On the same day that his son and his nephew, Elias Boudinot, c. 1803-1839, were also killed, he was waylaid near Van Buren, Oklahoma, and shot down from his horse.

Achievements

• As a warrior, he fought in the Cherokee - American wars against American frontiersmen. Later, Major Ridge led the Cherokee in alliances with General Andrew Jackson and the United States in the Creek and Seminole Wars. Ridge became a wealthy planter, slave owner and ferryman.

Connections

In 1792 Ridge married Sehoya, also known as Suzannah Catherine Wickett, a mixed-blood Cherokee of the Wild Potato clan. The couple had several children, including John Ridge.

Spouse:

Sehoyah (Susannah Catherine Wickett)

Daughter:

Sarah Ridge

Son:

John Ridge