This portrait of Major Ridge was painted by Charles Bird King in 1834.

Major Ridge (c.1771 – June 22, 1839) was a Cherokee Indian leader. Portrait of Major Ridge by Charles Bird King, 1834 The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Portrait of Major Ridge by Charles Bird King, 1834 The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Cherokee (disambiguation). ...

Background

Ridge was born into the Deer clan in the Cherokee town of Hiwassee along the Hiwassee River, an area later part of Tennessee. Ridge's maternal grandfather was a highland Scot, thus Ridge was 3/4 Cherokee by ancestry, and one of the many American Indians in his time and place with partial European (especially Scottish) heritage. The English version of his name was originally just "Ridge"; he acquired the title "Major" in 1814 during his service leading Cherokees alongside General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the Creek War. He also joined Jackson in the First Seminole War in 1818, leading Cherokees against the Seminole Indians. After the war, Ridge became a wealthy planter and slave owner. The Hiwassee River has its headwaters in North Georgia (as the Hiawassee River) and flows northward into North Carolina (there assuming its more common moniker Hiwassee) before turning westward into Tennessee, flowing into the Tennessee River a few miles west of TN SR58 near Dayton, TN. As the river passes... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ... The Scottish Highlands are the mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. ... 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845), was the seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), hero of the Battle of New Orleans (1815), a founder of the Democratic Party, and the eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. ... Combatants Creek Indians Red Sticks United States Cherokee Creek allies Commanders Menawa Andrew Jackson Strength 1,000 Red Stick Creek about 2,000 infantry 700 mounted infantry 600 Cherokee and Lower Creeks Casualties 800 49 killed 154 wounded The Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought during the War of 1812... The Creek War of 1813-1814 began as a civil war within the Creek Nation. ... Osceola, Seminole leader, detail from an 1838 lithograph The Seminole Wars were three wars or conflicts in Florida between the Seminole Native American tribe and the United States. ... 1818 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Seminole are a Native American Indian people, originally of Florida. ... The history of slavery in the United States began soon after Europeans first settled in the area (and so even before the founding of the United States), and officially ended with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. ...

Removal and Beyond

Ridge had long opposed U.S. government proposals for the Cherokees to sell their lands and remove to the West, but the rapidly expanding white settlement and Georgia's efforts to abolish the Cherokee government caused him to change his mind. Advised by his son John Ridge, Major Ridge came to believe that the best way to preserve the Cherokee Nation was to get good terms for their lands from the U.S. government before it was too late. On December 22, 1835, Ridge was one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota, which exchanged the Cherokee tribal land east of the Mississippi River for lands to the west. The treaty was of dubious legality, however, and was rejected by Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee people. Nevertheless, the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate. Indian Removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States that sought to relocate American Indian (or Native American) tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river. ... John Ridge (1892 - June 1829, Indian Name: Yellow Bird) was the son of Major Ridge and a member of the Cherokee Tribe. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Treaty of New Echota was a removal treaty signed in New Echota, Georgia by officials of the United States government and several members of a faction within the Cherokee nation on December 29, 1835. ... This article is about the river in the United States. ... Photograph of Ross John Ross John Ross (October 3, 1790 - August 1, 1866), also known as Kooweskoowe - the egret, was a leader of the Cherokee Native American tribe. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ...

Ridge, his family, and many other Cherokees emigrated to the West soon after the treaty. The terms of the strictly enforced, and those Cherokees (and their African slaves) who remained on tribal lands in the East were forcibly rounded up by the U.S. government in 1838, and began a journey known as the "Trail of Tears," during which thousands died. The states shown striped may or may not be considered part of the informal western United States today. ... Red shows states east of the Mississippi River, pink shows states not fully eastern or western The U.S. Eastern states are the states east of the Mississippi River. ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The common phrase Trail of Tears refers to the forced relocation of the Cherokee Native American tribe to the Western United States in 1838, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokee Indians. ...

In the West, Ridge and the other signers of the Treaty of New Echota were blamed for the hardships. In 1839, Major Ridge, his son John, and nephew Elias Boudinot, were assassinated by Cherokees of the Ross faction. Ridge's nephew Stand Watie, the future Confederate general in the Civil War, was also targeted for assassination, but escaped, and eventually became leader of the Southern Cherokees. 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Elias Boudinot (1800–1839) was a Cherokee Indian who started and edited the tribes first newspaper. ... Blood Law (akin to blood feud) is the English term for the traditional American Indian practice of killing an individual for an offence to another individual or group (tribe, clan, family, etc. ... Stand Watie Stand Watie (12 December 1806-9 September 1871) (also known as Degataga standing together as one, or stand firm and Isaac S. Watie) was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. ... Motto: Deo Vindice (Latin: With God As Our Vindicator) Anthem: God Save the South (unofficial) Dixie (popular) Capital Montgomery, Alabama February 4, 1861–May 29, 1861 Richmond, Virginia May 29, 1861–April 9, 1865 Danville, Virginia April 3–April 10, 1865 Largest city New Orleans February 4, 1861–May 1... Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee Strength 1,556,678 1,064,200 Casualties KIA: 110,100 Total dead: 359,500 Wounded: 275,200 KIA: 74,500 Total dead: 198,500 Wounded: 137,000+  The American...

Ridge and his son are buried along with Stand Watie in Polson Cemetery west of Southwest, Missouri.

Further reading

Primary sources

• Dale, Edwards Everett. Cherokee Cavaliers; Forty Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondences of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1939.

Secondary Sources

• Ehle, John. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. New York: Doubleday, 1988. ISBN 038523953X. Largely a biography of Major Ridge.

External link

• Major Ridge in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians