Copy of profile Major Ridge

Profile manager: Kathie Forbes [send private message]

Forner bio:

AKA: "Major Oo-watie Ridge" as he is called on f-a-g see the portrait of him, they match

Headstone Inscription "The RIDGE"

Major

Morgan's Cherokee Reg't

WAR of 1812"

WARNING:

1. Unique NAME: Well it is Native American|tribe=Cherokee...
2. Sorry, "MAJOR" is what General Andrew Jackson nicknamed him and it stuck the rest of his life.........

Military

United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records

Name Ridge

Rank: Lieutenant- Lieutenant

Regiment: Col. Morgan Jr.'s Cherokee Indians

Event Type Military Service

Commanding: Col. Morgan Jr.

Event Date 1812-1815

Citing this Record

also White's Brigade East Tennessee Volunteers

Rank: Private-Private

There are 3-4 other Index cards for "Ridge" but can not make out the first name, and 3 different Regiments, none of them are "Major" so if General Jackson promoted him to Major and then did not notify the right authorities???? He is only listed as Lt.

From wikipedia.com

"The Tennessee legislature authorized Governor Willie Blount to raise 5,000 militia for a three-month tour of duty. Blount called out a force of 2,500 West Tennessee men under Colonel Andrew Jackson to "repel an approaching invasion ... and to afford aid and relief to ... Mississippi Territory".[16] He also summoned a force of 2,500 from East Tennessee under Major General John Alexander Cocke. Jackson and Cocke were not ready to move until early October.

In addition to the state actions, the US Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins organized the friendly (Lower Town) Creek under Major William McIntosh, an Indian chief, to aid the Georgia and Tennessee militias in actions against the Red Sticks. At the request of Chief Federal Agent Return J. Meigs (called White Eagle by the Indians for the color of his hair), the Cherokee Nation voted to join the Americans in their fight against the Red Sticks. Under the command of the chief Major Ridge, 200 Cherokee fought with the Tennessee Militia under Colonel Andrew Jackson."

"Ridge acquired the title "Major" in 1814, (note they agree it was a title and not a RANK) during his service leading the Cherokee alongside the United States General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend [1] during the Creek War against the Red Sticks. This was a civil war within the Creek Nation between the Upper Towns and Lower Towns, who differed in their interaction with European Americans and hold on tradition. Ridge had joined the campaign as an unofficial militia lieutenant. (Jackson was involved with the larger War of 1812 against Great Britain.) Ridge used Major as his first name for the rest of his life.[10] He also served with Jackson in the First Seminole War in 1818, leading Cherokee warriors on behalf of the US government against the Seminole Indians. His war achievements added to his stature among the Cherokee.

From wikipedia.com

Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)

Three important Cherokee–American wars veterans of the time,

1. James Vann (a successful Scots-Cherokee businessman) and his two protégés,
2. The Ridge (also called Ganundalegi or "Major" Ridge)
3. Charles R. Hicks, made up the 'Cherokee Triumvirate' —

advocating acculturation of the people, formal education of the young, and the :introduction of modern farming methods. In 1801 they invited Moravian :missionaries to their territory from North Carolina to teach Christianity and the :'arts of civilized life.' The Moravian, and later Congregationalist, missionaries ran :boarding schools, with a select few students chosen to be educated at the :American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions school in Connecticut.

These men continued to be leaders in the tribe. Hicks participated in the Red Stick War, which coincided with part of US involvement in the War of 1812. He was the de facto Principal Chief from 1813–1827. The Removal See also: Cherokee removal and Trail of Tears"

NOTE:: CHANGES OR ADDED DATA:::

• The county was created November 28, 1839 from parts of Bradley and McMinn counties. The county was named after then-governor (and future president) James K. Polk. (this means his BIRTH County was NOT POLK County)

According to the geni.com site [2]

Only thing I can say about this profile on geni... WOW great work!

They have not only his father's name but a photo......

NAME: Kah-nung-da-tla-geh ------------not Oo-Watie--:was his Cherokee name

And a list of the children

Born to Dutsi Tah-Chee and "Mother"

From the f-a-g memorial: "Born in Cherokee Nation; Deer clan. Husb. of Susanna Wickett. Cherokee repr.in Washington,D.C. As Speaker of the Cherokee Nation, he was considered by them and non-Indians alike as a powerful intellect and voice of reason, as well as a great speechmaker. Father of John, Nancy, Sarah(m.Paschal)& "Watie". Assassinated by Cherokee Indians who were political rivals. ^[1]

Major Ridge was a member of the "Cherokee Triumvirate" and received recognition for his efforts in negotiating the Treaty of 1819.^[2]

MEMORIAL Benediction: "Now, therefore keep thy sorrow to thyself, and bear with a good courage that which hath befallen thee...The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, and found them worthy for Himself, they shall be greatly rewarded: For God proved them."

PG 398 History of the Indian tribes of North America

MAJOR RIDGE

THE subject of this biography received from his parents in infancy, the name of Nung-noh-hut-tar-bee, or "He who slays the enemy in the path" After arriving at the age of a hunter, on being asked “ which way did you come into camp?” he would reply, “I came along the top of the mountain.” This answer being frequently repeated, it was seized upon as indicating a characteristic habit in the young hunter, who was thenceforward called Kah-nung-da-tla geh, or "The man who walks on the mountain’s top" The name by which he has been subsequently known, may have been derived from the Cherokee words which signify the summit or ridge of a mountain.

The date of the birth of this individual is not known, as the Cherokees, previous to the recent invention of an alphabet of their tongue, possessed no means by which they could record the ages of their children. It is believed that he is about sixty-six years old, which would fix the date of his nativity at about the year 1771. He was born at a Cherokee town called Highwassie, situated upon the river of the same name, and on the edge of a beautiful prairie, encircled by forests. It is just at this point that the High- wassie breaks through a range of lofty mountains, with great velocity and power. The scenery affords a fine combination of the grand and beautiful; and those who imagine that the germs of poetry and eloquence may be planted in the young mind, by the habitual contemplation of bold and attractive landscape, would readily select this as a spot calculated to be richly fraught with such benign influences. The father of Ridge was a full-blooded Cherokee, who, though not distinguished in the council of the nation, was a famous hunter, and had once taken the scalp of an Indian warrior on the Kaskaskia river. The subject of this notice was the fourth son of his parents, but the first who reached the years of maturity; and of two brothers and a sister younger than himself, but one survives, who is the father of Elias Boudinot. His mother was a respectable Cherokee woman of the half blood, her father being a white man, of whose origin or history we have not been able to collect any information. The most prominent feature in the early reminiscences of Ridge, refers to the distressed situation to which the Cherokees were reduced by the invasions of the white people, who burned their villages, and killed their people. When his father, wearied of these hostile incursions, resolved on flight, he took his family in canoes down the Highwassie to the Tennessee river, and ascended the smaller branches of that stream to the Sequochee mountains, in whose deep glens and rock-bound fastnesses they were secure from pursuit. Here the game abounded, and the young hunter received his first lessons. His father taught him to steal with noiseless tread upon the grazing animal—to deceive the timid doe by mimicking the cry of the fawn—or to entice the wary buck within the reach of his missile, by decorating his own head with antlers. He was inured to patience, fatigue, self-denial, and expo- sure, and acquired the sagacity which enabled him to chase with success the wild cat, the bear, and the panther. He watched the haunts, and studied the habits of wild animals, and became expert in the arts which enable the Indian hunter at all seasons to procure food from the stream or the forest. Having continued in this primary and parental school until he reached the age of twelve, the young Indian was considered as having made a proficiency which entitled him to be advanced to a higher grade of studies; and a superstitious rite was required to be performed to give due solemnity to the occasion....

Research Notes

The attached photos here and on the f-a-g memorial are found in the book by John Ehle. Trail of Tears

In reading the book, the name "Ridge" is used, I believe, as a first name. The parents are mentioned, first his mother (pg.6) "The mother's own father was Highland Scot."

Ridge's birth and the place of his mother's house was (pg.1) "The place was the town of Hiwassee, on the Hiwassee River, at Susannah Ford, North Carolina Territory." Later to become Tennessee.

"His mother had borne before-3 sons, all now dead by reasons of the cold hand of sickness..."

When "Ridge was about 5 when his "Mother" and "Father" decided to flee Hiwassee." They built a new house for the family and did not tell the "Uncles" where they were.

"Ridge was aged 10 .....when the family decided to move back to their old town of Hiwassee, which had been badly damaged." (p.20)

"Here Ridge helped with the building of his mother's third house, and his father, Dutsi, was accepted in the local council." The boy and his younger sisters, were taken into the Clan's affection."

"Ridge was 17 when the war dance began in his village." "Ridge's sister and younger brother took him away to the house." (p.29)

After the "final defeat at Erowah, with Sevier at Hightower, Ridge had by now moved with his younger brothers and sisters to the village of Pine Log, near members of the Bird Clan. On returning he did his absolution in the river near where a Shaman chanted bleak intonations..............., he walked thru the field to his fiance's house,...........Susanna. (pg.43- There is no mention yet as to where they met)

After Jan 27 1795, the book speaks about "Ridge courting in the traditional way." (Ridge's mother was not around, "as one of Ridge's aunts, taking the part that his mother would have played.........." The main Chief came forward and joyously announced "The blankets joined".. (which means there is no record of their marriage) (p.56 Susanna is called Wickett).

"Ridge at 25 years of age was designated by his fellow citizens of Pine Log to attend the Cherokee Central Council, which met at Oostanaula."

"The two of them chose a Piedmont area through which flowed Oothcaloga Creek, to move to. They planted 7 apple trees, the first to ever be planted in the valley."

"Born to Ridge's brother Oo-Watie (Watie) and his wife, living near Ridge, a son to be named Gallegina, the English name being Buck. He was born soon after Susanna gave birth to John, who was in appearance European, a result of his white genes from his father's father's father."

"Jackson had made him a major and asked him to raise a new troop of cavalry." After this he was called "Major Ridge" Chapter 7: pg.114

"The Cherokee Indian Nation resisted the encroachment of Euro-Americans on their lands, while at the same time adopting many of their cultural trappings. Major Ridge (Kah-nung-do-tla-geh) (ca. 1771–1839) a mixed-blood, slave-owning leader of the Chickamuaga Cherokees in Georgia and a friend of government agent Benjamin Hawkins, fought American settlers for years before becoming an advocate for cultural adaptation. He signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, which eventually resulted in the Trail of Tears, the forced migration of the Cherokee people to lands west of the Mississippi. He was killed by fellow Cherokees"

Shot 5 times by around 10-12 people hiding in the brush while he stopped to let his horse drink by Cherokees loyal to leader John Ross. Signed the "Treaty of New Echota" with his Son John Ridge 1802 Rome, GA - died 6/22/1839 & his 2 Nephews, Sons of his Brother David Oo-Watie which means "The Ancient One."(1773-1842) Degataga "Stand" Watie or "Takertawker" (12/12/1804 near present Rome, GA - 9/9/1871 Honey Creek), and Elias Boudinot, born Kilakeena "Buck" Watie (1802 - 6/22/1839). "Stand lived through the Assassination Attempt on him the same day his Uncle, Cousin & Brother Were Murdered.

Sources

1. ↑ New Georgia Encyclopedia Major Ridge
2. ↑ New Georgia Encylopedia Cherokee Removal

1. Trail of Tears : the Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by Ehle, John, 1925- copyright-1988
2. United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29K-PS1B : 11 March 2016), Ridge, 1812-1815; citing NARA microfilm publication M602 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); roll 175; FHL microfilm 882,693.
3. Creek War wikipedia.com
4. Find A Grave: Memorial #5075819
5. Major Ridge, "The Ridge" Geni.com
6. Major Ridge - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
7. Paul and Dottie Ridenour's Major Ridge Home Page
8. CHIEFS Major Ridge Kah-nung-da-tla-geh (Cherokee)
9. PG 398-422 MAJOR RIDGE History of the Indian tribes of North America : with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Illustrated with colored portraits of famous Indian chieftains from the Indian gallery in the war department at Washington / by Thomas L. McKenny.
10. We Shall Remain Trail of Tears
11. Major Ridge (Kah-nung-do-tla-geh) (ca. 1771–1839) a mixed-blood, slave-owning leader of the Chickamuaga Cherokees in Georgia
12. Recent article in The Phoenix about Major, son John and nephew Elias Boudinot. [3] You may want to add it to your references. My husband's family is distantly related to the Ridges. We are proud of this connection. Kind regards,

Sheila B