Elias Boudinot ( chr, ᎦᎴᎩᎾ ᎤᏩᏘ, translit=Gallegina Uwati; 1802June 22, 1839), also known as Buck Watie) was a writer, newspaper editor, and leader of the
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
.
He was a member of a prominent family, and was born and grew up in Cherokee territory, now part of present-day Georgia. Born to parents of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry and educated at the
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which operated between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The ABCFM was focused on sending missionaries ...
in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, he became one of several leaders who believed that
acculturation
Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and ...
was critical to Cherokee survival. He was influential in the period of removal to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
.
In 1826, Boudinot had married
Harriet R. Gold, the daughter of a prominent New England family in
Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2020 census.
History
The town of Cornwall, Connecticut, is named after the county of Cornwall, England. The town was incorporated in 1740, near ...
. He met her while a student at the FMS in town. Following his cousin
John Ridge
John Ridge, born ''Skah-tle-loh-skee'' (ᏍᎦᏞᎶᏍᎩ, Yellow Bird) ( – 22 June 1839), was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mis ...
's marriage to a local woman there in 1825, Boudinot's marriage was controversial and opposed by many townspeople. But to protect their future children, the Cherokee National Council had passed a law in 1825 enabling the descendants of Cherokee fathers and white mothers to be full citizens of the Cherokee. (Formerly, they had no official place in the
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
tribe, as children belong to their mother's
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
and people, and the white women were outsiders.) The Boudinots returned to Cherokee homelands (now in Georgia) to live at New Echota. They reared their six children as Cherokee.
Boudinot, with numerous other leading Cherokee, particularly those who had been educated outside the tribe, believed that removal was inevitable in the face of the numbers of United States settlers encroaching on their lands. He and several allies signed the
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party.
The treaty established terms ...
in 1835, hoping to gain the best conditions for their people. Cession of communal lands was adamantly opposed by
John Ross, the Principal Chief, and the full-blood members of tribe, who comprised the majority. The following year, the tribe was forced to cede most of its lands in the Southeast, and remove to west of the Mississippi River in
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
in the late 1830s.
After Harriet died in 1836, Boudinot moved with his children to Indian Territory. After Removal, in June 1839 he and three other Treaty Party leaders were assassinated there by members of the Ross faction, known as the National Party. The orphaned Boudinot children were sent to be raised by his parents-in-law in Cornwall, Connecticut, which was believed more safe. They attended school there. After Boudinot's son
Elias Cornelius Boudinot
Elias Cornelius Boudinot (August 1, 1835September 27, 1890) was an American politician, lawyer, newspaper editor, and co-founder of the ''Arkansan'' who served as the delegate to the Confederate States House of Representatives representing the ...
was educated, he returned west, settling in
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...
. He became an attorney and active in tribal and Democratic Party politics. He represented the Cherokee Nation in the Confederate Congress as a non-voting delegate.
Early life and education
''Gallegina'' was born in 1802 into a leading Cherokee family in their territory. (It is now present-day Georgia.) He was the eldest son of nine children of Uwati and Susanna Reese, who was of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry. When Uwati converted to Christianity, Boudinot took the name of David Uwatie (later he dropped the "u" from his name.) Gallegina's younger brothers were ''Degataga'', better known as
Stand Watie
Brigadier-General Stand Watie ( chr, ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit=Degataga, lit=Stand firm; December 12, 1806September 9, 1871), also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second princ ...
, who served with the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and served as Principal Chief (1862-1866); and Thomas Watie. They were the nephews of
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – 22 June 1839) (also known as ''Nunnehidihi'', and later ''Ganundalegi'') was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the ...
and cousins of
John Ridge
John Ridge, born ''Skah-tle-loh-skee'' (ᏍᎦᏞᎶᏍᎩ, Yellow Bird) ( – 22 June 1839), was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mis ...
.
Gallegina Watie, the Ridges,
John Ross, and
Charles R. Hicks and his son Elijah Hicks, came to form the ruling elite of the
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
in the early nineteenth century. All were of
mixed race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
and had some European-American education; the tribal chiefs had worked to prepare these young men to deal with the United States and its representatives.
Gallegina's Christian education began in 1808, at the age of 6, when Boudinot studied at the local
Moravian missionary school. In 1812, he joined the Spring Place school, in what is now
Murray County. Around this time, Cherokee leaders were petitioning the government for aid to educate their children, as they wanted to learn aspects of white civilization.
[Parins, p. 3]
Elias Cornelius
Elias Cornelius (1794–1832) was an American Christian missionary and ordained minister.
Life
Elias Cornelius' father was also named Elias Cornelius (1758–1823), and his mother was Rachel Stocker. His father had joined the American Revolutiona ...
, an agent from the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
(ABCFM), came to the community and served to support local education and recruit older students to study in the North. In 1817, the ABCFM opened the
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which operated between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The ABCFM was focused on sending missionaries ...
in
Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2020 census.
History
The town of Cornwall, Connecticut, is named after the county of Cornwall, England. The town was incorporated in 1740, near ...
for educating promising students from foreign, non-Christian cultures, as well as American Indian cultures. In 1818, Cornelius selected Gallegina Watie,
John Ridge
John Ridge, born ''Skah-tle-loh-skee'' (ᏍᎦᏞᎶᏍᎩ, Yellow Bird) ( – 22 June 1839), was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mis ...
, and a few others to go to the
Foreign Mission School
The Foreign Mission School was an educational institution which operated between 1817 and 1826 in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The ABCFM was focused on sending missionaries ...
. On the journey there, they were introduced to Virginia statesmen
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
.
In
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743.
Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...
, the young men met
Elias Boudinot
Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...
, president of the
American Bible Society
American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engage ...
and a former member and president of the
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
. He and Watie impressed each other, and Watie asked Boudinot for permission to use his name, which he gave. When enrolled at the Foreign Mission School, Watie started using the name Elias Boudinot, which he kept for the rest of his life.
In 1820, Boudinot officially converted to Christianity, attracted to its message of universal love. His Christian belief informed his later work with the Cherokee Nation. In 1824, Boudinot collaborated with others in translating the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
into Cherokee and having it printed in the
syllabary
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
created by
Sequoyah
Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...
.
Marriage and family
While studying in Connecticut, Boudinot met
Harriet Ruggles Gold, the daughter of a prominent local family who supported the Foreign Mission School. Her family often invited Boudinot and other Native American students to their home. After Boudinot returned to Cherokee Nation because of illness, he courted Harriet by letter.
His cousin
John Ridge
John Ridge, born ''Skah-tle-loh-skee'' (ᏍᎦᏞᎶᏍᎩ, Yellow Bird) ( – 22 June 1839), was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mis ...
also attended the school and in 1824 married a local young woman. This caused considerable controversy in Cornwall, as many townspeople opposed the marriage. After the Ridges' return to New Echota to live, in 1825 the National Council passed a law providing full Cherokee citizenship to children of a Cherokee father and white mother.
[Yarbough, Fay. "Legislating Women’s Sexuality: Cherokee Marriage Laws," ''Journal of Social History'' 38 (2004), p. 388]
In the Cherokee
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
kinship culture, children traditionally belonged to the mother's clan and took their status from her people. The Cherokee had long absorbed the mixed-race children of Cherokee mothers and white fathers (usually fur traders). But, the children of Ridge and Boudinot would have had no place in the Cherokee society without the Council's new law, as white women were outsiders and their children would not be considered Cherokee.
Historian Theresa Strouth Gaul wrote that the law was inspired by Ridge's marriage and Boudinot's engagement; as the young men were elite Cherokee, it protected the status of their future children.
When Boudinot and Gold first announced their engagement, it was strongly opposed by her family and the Congregational Church. There were also local protests. Gold persisted and finally gained her parents' permission. The couple were married on 28 March 1826 at her home. Local hostility to the marriage, the second between a Cherokee student and a white woman, forced the closing of the Foreign Mission School.
The Boudinots returned to New Echota to live. They had six surviving children: Eleanor Susan; Mary Harriett; William Penn (named after
the founder of Pennsylvania, who was considered a friend to American Indians); Sarah Parkhill,
Elias Cornelius
Elias Cornelius (1794–1832) was an American Christian missionary and ordained minister.
Life
Elias Cornelius' father was also named Elias Cornelius (1758–1823), and his mother was Rachel Stocker. His father had joined the American Revolutiona ...
(1 August 1835 — 27 September 1890); and Franklin Brinsmade Boudinot. Five of the children later married and had families of their own.
Harriet Boudinot died in August 1836, likely of complications from childbirth; she died some months after her seventh child was
stillborn
Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The term i ...
.
Career as editor
After his return to New Echota, in 1828 Boudinot was selected by the General Council of the Cherokee as editor for a newspaper, the first to be published by a Native American nation. He worked with a new friend
Samuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was an American missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee sovereignty. He collaborated with Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) in Georgia to ...
, a missionary and printer. Worcester had new type created and cast for the new forms of the Cherokee
syllabary
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
. In 1828, the two printed the ''Cherokee Phoenix'' in Cherokee and English. While planned as a bi-lingual newspaper, the ''Phoenix'' published most of its articles in English; under Boudinot, about 16 percent of the content was published in Cherokee.
The journalist Ann Lackey Landini believes that Boudinot emphasized English in the newspaper because the Cherokee Nation intended it to be a means to explain their people to European Americans and prove they had an admirable civilization. At the same time, the Council intended it to unite the Cherokee through the Southeast. The ''Phoenix'' regularly published new laws and other national Cherokee political information in the paper.
Between 1828 and 1832, Boudinot wrote numerous editorials arguing against
removal, as proposed by Georgia and supported by President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
. After Congress passed the
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
of 1830, federal pressure on the Cherokee increased. Jackson supported removal of the Cherokee and other Southeastern peoples from their eastern homelands to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
west of the Mississippi in order to make land available for European-American development. Over a roughly four-year period, Boudinot's editorials emphasized that Georgia's disregard of the Constitution and past federal treaties with the Cherokee would not only hurt Cherokee progress in acculturating, but threatened the fabric of the Union. Boudinot's articles recounted the elements of Cherokee assimilation (conversion to Christianity, an increasingly Western-educated population, and a turn toward lives as herdsmen and farmers, etc.) He criticized the "easy" way in which treaty language was distorted by Indian Removal advocates for their own purposes.
In 1832, while on a speaking tour of
the North to raise funds for the ''Phoenix,'' Boudinot learned that, in ''
Worcester v. Georgia
''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court Vacated judgment, vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal ...
,'' the
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
had sustained the Cherokee rights to political and territorial sovereignty within Georgia's borders. He soon learned that President Jackson still supported Indian Removal. In this context, Boudinot began advocating for his people to secure the best possible terms with the US by making a binding treaty of removal, as he believed it was inevitable. His changed position was widely opposed by the Cherokee.
The National Council and
John Ross, the Principal Chief, opposed removal, as did the majority of the people. Former allies in the Cherokee government turned against Boudinot and other "treaty advocates," who included John Ridge and Major Ridge. Opponents attacked the men's loyalty and prevented their speaking in councils. Ross denounced Boudinot's "toleration of diversified views in the ''Cherokee Phoenix'' and forbade Boudinot from discussing pro-removal arguments in the paper. In protest, Boudinot resigned in the spring of 1832. Ross' brother-in-law, Elijah Hicks, replaced Boudinot as editor.
In 1959, he was inducted into the
Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame The Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame recognizes newspaper editors and publishers of the U.S. state of Georgia for their significant achievements or contributions. A permanent exhibit of the honorees is maintained at the Henry W. Grady College of Journ ...
in recognition of his newspaper work.
Literary works
''Cherokee Phoenix''
The first newspaper published by a Native American tribe gave a "voice to the American insiders" who had been forced to become "outsiders".
[Parins, p. 9] The premier edition of the newspaper was called the ''Tsalagi Tsu-le-hi-sa-nu-hi''; it was printed on 21 February 1828.
The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' office regularly received correspondence from about 100 other newspapers, published far and wide, because it was so respected throughout the United States and Europe. In 1829, the second edition of the ''Cherokee Phoenix'' was named the ''Cherokee Phoenix and Indians’ Advocate,'' indicating Boudinot's ambition to influence people outside the tribe. Boudinot regularly wrote editorials related to Indian Removal.
"An Address to the Whites" (1826)
Boudinot delivered this speech in the
First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia on May 26, 1826. He described the similarities between the Cherokee and the whites, and ways in which the Cherokee were adopting aspects of white culture. Boudinot was fundraising for a Cherokee national academy and printing equipment for the newspaper, support for "civilizing" the Cherokee. Following the speech, he published his speech in a pamphlet by the same title. "An Address to the Whites" was well received and "proved to be remarkably effective at fund-raising".
[Pulley, Angela F. "Elias Boudinot"](_blank)
''The New Georgia Encyclopedia online
Influence on Indian Removal
The Indian removal policy was a result of the
discovery of gold in Cherokee territory, the growth of the cotton industry, and the relentless European-American desire for land in the Southeast. European Americans resented Cherokee control of their lands, and conflicts increasingly arose. The
Indian Removal Act of 1830
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
called for all Indian peoples living east of the Mississippi River to be removed and sent west beyond the river. While the majority of the Cherokee led by Chief
John Ross opposed the act, Boudinot began to believe that Indian Removal was inevitable. He thought the best outcome was for the Cherokee to secure their rights through treaty, before they were moved against their will. Boudinot used all of his writing and oratory skills to influence Indian Removal policy, but many within the nation opposed his viewpoint. He criticized the popular principal chief John Ross, who opposed his ideas. Ross had ordered Boudinot to stop publishing his views favoring removal in the newspaper.
In 1832, Boudinot resigned as editor of the ''Cherokee Phoenix,'' giving his reasons his inadequate salary, personal health problems, and the inability of the Cherokee Nation to provide sufficient supplies to run a national newspaper. However, in a letter to John Ross, he indicated that he could no longer serve because he was unable to print what he believed to be true about the dangers to the people from continuing to oppose removal. Ross and the council accepted the resignation and appointed Elijah Hicks to run the newspaper. Although Hicks was a good businessman he had no newspaper experience. The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' soon declined and ceased publication on 31 May 1834.
Removal to Indian Territory
Boudinot and Treaty Party leaders signed the
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party.
The treaty established terms ...
(1835) in New Echota, Cherokee Nation (now
Calhoun, Georgia
Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,949. Calhoun is the county seat of Gordon County.
History
In December 1827, Georgia had already claimed the Cherokee lands that be ...
) ceding all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River. Although this was opposed by the majority of the delegation and lacked the signature of the Principal Chief
John Ross, the US Senate ratified the treaty. Afterward, faced with open enmity among the Cherokee, many of the signatories and their families migrated to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
, where they located with the "Old Settlers", who had gone there in the 1820s.
During 1838 and 1839, the US Army enforced the Removal Act and evicted the Cherokee and their
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
from their homes in the Southeast. They forced most of them west into
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
(in eastern present-day Oklahoma). The Cherokee referred to their journey as the
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
.
After his wife's death in 1836, Boudinot needed to relocate both himself and the children. He sent their son, Cornelius, to live with a family in Huntsville, Alabama, where he could be treated for his condition by a doctor. Another son traveled west with the Ridge family. The rest of the children were enrolled in school at Brainerd, where they could stay when Elias left the territory. Elias himself first went north to visit Harriet's parents. After that, he joined a group that included John Ridge and traveled to the Western Cherokee Nation, it was established by "Old Settlers" in the northeast quarter of what is today Oklahoma. Two months later he wrote to Harriet's parents that he had married Delight Sargent, a New England woman who had been a teacher at New Echota. Impoverished, he received $500 from the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
(thanks to persuasive argument from Samuel Worcester) to build a modest house a quarter mile from the Worcesters in
Park Hill. Reunited with his longtime friend, Boudinot returned to his vocation as a translator of the Gospel.
The "Old Settlers" and John Ross' supporters failed to agree on unification following the Nation's removal to Indian Territory. Some Ross supporters met secretly to plan assassinations of Treaty Party leaders over the hardships of the Removal and to eliminate them as political rivals in a way which would intimidate the Old Settlers into submission. On June 22, 1839, a group of unknown Cherokee assassinated Boudinot outside his home. They killed his cousin and uncle, John and Major Ridge, the same day. His brother
Stand Watie
Brigadier-General Stand Watie ( chr, ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit=Degataga, lit=Stand firm; December 12, 1806September 9, 1871), also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second princ ...
was attacked but survived.
Though Ross denied any connection to the killings, Stand Watie blamed the Principal Chief. After these murders followers of Watie and Ross engaged for years in violent conflict and retaliation. Stand Watie killed a man whom he had seen attack his uncle Major Ridge; Watie was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. At his trial, he was represented by his nephew,
Elias Cornelius Boudinot
Elias Cornelius Boudinot (August 1, 1835September 27, 1890) was an American politician, lawyer, newspaper editor, and co-founder of the ''Arkansan'' who served as the delegate to the Confederate States House of Representatives representing the ...
. He had become a lawyer in Arkansas after having been raised by his mother's family and educated in the East following his father's assassination.
The violence lasted into 1846, when the US negotiated a tenuous peace treaty. The deep bitterness contributed to tribal divisions during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. The post-removal factionalism and violence compounded the misfortune of the Cherokee Nation.
During the Civil War, the Nation split into two factions. Stand Watie and his supporters, the majority of the Nation, sided with the
Confederacy (he served as an officer in their army, along with other Cherokee.) Ross and his supporters sided with the Union. Many Union people had to leave Indian Territory during the war for their own safety. They returned after the Union victory, and Ross was the only chief recognized by the US.
[Franks (1979), ''Stand Watie'', pp. 115–193]
See also
*
Timeline of Cherokee removal
This is a timeline of events in the history of the ''Cherokee Nation'', from its earliest appearance in historical records to modern court cases in the United States. Some basic content about the removal of other southeastern tribes to lands ...
*
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party.
The treaty established terms ...
Notes
References
Boudinot, Elias; Essay: "An Address to the Whites" National Humanities Center.
''The Cherokee Phoenix,'' 1828–present Official Website
*Carter, Samuel; ''Cherokee Sunset''; Doubleday; Garden City, N.Y; 1976.
*Dale, Edwards Everett; ''Cherokee Cavaliers – Forty Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondences of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family''; University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, OK; 1939.
*Garrison, Tim Alan
"Cherokee Removal”, ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia''.
*Gaul, Theresa Strouth, editor; "Elias Boudinot; and Harriett Gold Boudinot; Introduction", ''To Marry an Indian: The Marriage of Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in Letters, 1823–1839''; University of North Carolina Press; Chapel Hill, NC; 2005; pp 1–76.
*Hutton, Frankie, and Barbara Straus Reed; ''Outsiders in 19th-Century Press History: Multicultural Perspectives''; Bowling Green State University Popular Press; Bowling Green, OH; 1995.
*Langguth, A. J. ''Driven West: Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears to the Civil War''. New York, Simon & Schuster. 2010. .
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*Pulley, Angela F
"Elias Boudinot" ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia''.
*Wilkins, Thurman; ''Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People''; University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, OK; 1986; (1989 paperback edition).
*Woodward, Grace Steele. ''The Cherokees.'' University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, OK; 1963. (1986 paperback edition).
External links
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at Paulridenour.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudinot, Elias
1802 births
1839 deaths
1839 murders in the United States
19th-century American journalists
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
19th-century Native Americans
19th-century translators
American male journalists
American newspaper founders
American people of Welsh descent
Assassinated people
Cherokee Nation people (1794–1907) Cherokee writers
Converts to Christianity
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People from Calhoun, Georgia
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People of Indian Territory
Translators of the Bible into indigenous languages of the Americas
Native American people from Georgia (U.S. state)