Oklahoma Journeys

Week of May 30, 2009

Assassination of Cherokee Leaders, 1838

Taking care of business Cherokee-style this week on Oklahoma Journeys. The Trail of Tears, the forced migration of Cherokees into the Indian Territory, is a well-known component of our state’s history. This week, however we take a closer look at the intrigue, the corruption and murder that surrounded the event on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

One of the best-known American Indian tribes in Oklahoma are the Cherokees. Along with the other major tribes, the Cherokees are among the largest and most powerful Native American nations in Oklahoma today but such was not always the case. In the seventeen and eighteen hundreds the Cherokees were located in the southeastern portion of the United States, mainly in Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama. Although the Cherokees were a constitutional republic with a system of government much like the United States and the primary occupation of the Cherokees was farming, whites in the area demanded that the Indians give up their land. Repressive measures by the state of Georgia attempted to force the Cherokee out of the area with little success, and when gold was discovered on Cherokee land, the pressure on the tribe intensified. Despite the Supreme Court ruling against the state and in favor of the Cherokees, President Andrew Jackson virtually demanded the opening of Indian lands to white settlement.

In 1832, over three thousand acres of Indian land were confiscated by the state of Georgia, with many homes and businesses being burned and looted in the process. Ostensibly seeing the writing on the wall, some Cherokee leaders took it upon themselves to sign a removal treaty with Washington, committing the tribe to the move. Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot, along with about 2,000 Cherokees, favored an early removal and acted against the wishes of the majority of the tribe. The Treaty Cherokees, as they were called, moved in 1837 while the 10,000 other members were forced out in 1838 and then endured the Trail of Tears. Once in their new Indian Territory the two factions of Cherokees remained divided. The penalty for illegally signing away Cherokee land was death and that was what awaited the leaders of the Treaty Cherokee.

It was in this week of 1838 that the signers of the illegal removal treaty, Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot were each systematically murdered for their roles in forcing the Cherokee removal. No punishments were ever given to the assumed guilty parties as most knew that death was the prescribed sentence for such an infraction.

The Oklahoma Historical Society maintains many sites dedicated to the preservation of American Indian history and heritage and encourages Oklahomans to take advantage of the many educational opportunities spread throughout our state. At the Oklahoma History Center an entire gallery is dedicated to telling the story of Indians in Oklahoma. The History Center is located on NE 23rd street, just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.