Little Turkey (1758–1801) was

First Beloved Man Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth ...

of the

Cherokee people The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

, becoming, in 1794, the first Principal Chief of the original Cherokee Nation.

Headman

Little Turkey, born in 1758, was elected First Beloved Man by the general council of the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

upon the re-establishment of the council's seat at Ustanali on the

Conasauga River The Conasauga River is a river that runs through southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. The Conasauga River is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 an ...

. This was following the murder of Corntassel in 1788. The United States acknowledged his rival,

Hanging Maw Hanging Maw, or ''Uskwa'li-gu'ta'' in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day southeastern Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel, and the abandonment of ...

of Coyatee, as the Cherokees' leading headman, but the larger part of the Cherokee themselves, including the

Chickamauga Cherokee The Chickamauga Cherokee refers to a group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War. The majority of the Cherokee people wished to make peace with the Americans near the end of 1776, following se ...

(or Lower Cherokee) who followed

Dragging Canoe Dragging Canoe (ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, pronounced ''Tsiyu Gansini'', "he is dragging his canoe") (c. 1738 – February 29, 1792) was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee warriors who resisted colonists and United States settlers in the ...

, recognized Little Turkey as leader. Following the end of the

Cherokee–American wars The Cherokee–American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American se ...

(1794) and the subsequent organization that year of a national government, his title became Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation—a title he held until his death in 1801.

References

*Litton, Gaston L
"The Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation"
''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 15:3 (September 1937) 253-270; retrieved August 18, 2006. 1758 births 1801 deaths Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907) 18th-century Native Americans {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub