John Ross, A Cherokee Chief
Datec. 1850-55
Artist
Charles Bird King
(American painter, 1785–1862)
Printer/Printmaker
John T. Bowen
(British engraver, 1801–1856, active in Philadelphia)
Publisher
Rice, Rutter & Co.
(Philadelphia publisher, 19th century)
Illustration CitationThe History of the Indian Tribes of North America, by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall (Philadelphia: Rice, Rutter, & Co., 1865–1870).
MediumLithograph with hand coloring
Dimensionssheet: 10 7/16 × 6 3/8 in. (26.5 × 16.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mary R. Seymour; Accessioned, 2019
Object number2019-38
On View
On viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextJohn Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866. Raised in a bicultural and multlingual environment by a Cherokee mother and Scottish father, Ross spent much of his life in business and politics. He served in the Cherokee regiment under command of Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. He owned a profitable tobacco plantation in Tennessee, where he enslaved twenty African Americans. He served as a delegation leader, negotiating with the U.S. government, and helped to create the constitutional republic of the Cherokee Nation. Despite leading a staunch resistance in negotiations and legal cases, Ross and the Cherokee were forced from their lands in the Southeast. His wife died on the forced march west known as the Trail of Tears.
