Alexander Sanders

Alexander was a Cherokee man

Biography

Alexander was born around 1780 to Mitchell Sanders and a Cherokee full-blood named Susannah. Some reports are as early as 1773.

He had two sons, Richard and George, with an unknown woman. Around 1798, he married Peggy and their children were Mitchell, John, Thomas, Jennie (Dah-Gah-Leg-Ah-Ne-Duh), Andrew, Mary and Ellis.

He was involved in the assassination of Doublehead and may have killed James Vann.

He and his wife left the Cherokee Nation East in 1829 to become Old Settlers in the west.

Research Notes

James Hicks' tree (link below) has Alexander's middle name as Jeremiah, but no source for its use. Removed Jeremiah as a middle name unless and until a primary source can be supplied.

Private Deals to Sell Cherokee Land Leads to Murder Posted 21 Mar 2012 by DoctorTug The Ridge also helped bring about the second major revision change to the Cherokee "Blood Law", which was provoked largely by the assassination of Doublehead at Hiwassee Garrison near the Cherokee Agency (now Calhoun, Tennessee in August 1807. The stated reason was Doublehead's involvement in making private deals to sell off Cherokee land. The killers were he and Alexander Sanders, the two of them having to stand in for James Vann, who was too drunk to accomplish the task.

Murder of Chief Doublehead, Hiwassee, August 15, 1807 Posted 21 Mar 2012 by DoctorTug MURDER OF CHIEF DOUBLEHEAD, HIWASSEE, AUGUST 15, 1807

The following is the testimony of Colonel Phillips relating to the death of Doublehead, Hiwassee, August 15, 1807, in National Archives, RG75, Records of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, M-208, Roll 3:

“Chief Doublehead was a brother of Chief Old Tassel, as well as Pumpkin Boy. After the signing of the Treaty of Hopewell in 2785, delegates from Congress were trying to keep the peace between the Cherokees and squatters on their lands. In June 1788, Old Tassel was killed by a renegade settler by the name of Kirk while under a flag of truce and war became unavoidable. Old Tassel’s death united the Cherokees under Little Turkey, including Chckamaugas under Dragging Canoe, who split from the other Cherokee tribes some earlier. In May 1792, John Watts succeded Dragging Canoe as War Chief with Doublehead as his second in command. In September 1893, Watts and Doublehead led a campaign against the white settlers. A great atrocity was perpetrated on this campaign. Doublehead, his brother Pumpkin Boy, and their nephew Bench (Bob Benge) ambushed Captain Ovarall, a known Indian fighter, and a companion named Burnett near Dripping Spring in Kentucky. After they killed and scalped the two men, the Indians drank their whiskey, cut strips off the dead men, then roasted and devoured their flesh. At some time, Pumpkin Boy was killed on this campaign. John Sevier launched a campaign against the Cherokee towns and after a battle at Etowah, forced the Cherokees to sue for peace. Although another Treaty was signed in 1794, Brigadier General James Robertson had to tell Major James Ore to lead another campaign against the Chciamaugas before peace was restored.

In 1796, Chief Doublehead had become the Speaker for the Cherokee Nation and became the chief spokesman for all negotiations with the Federal government. There were 3 cessions of Cherokee lands in 1798 and it was common knowledge that Doublehead had prospered as a result. By 1804, he had become a prosperous land owner with about two dozen slaves. The Secretary of War, Dearborn, in fact, had given instructions that all agents were to deal specifically with Doublehead on the assumption he could be bribed. In 1805, Dearborn and Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs acquired several valuable tracts of land with the promise that two tracts at the mouth of the Clinch and Hiwasee Rivers be exclusively for Doublehead’s use. To add fuel to the fire, Doublehead had also leased several tracts at Muscle Choals to white farmers from a treaty he signed in December 1806.

By the this time, a Cherokee faction led by James Vann, Major Ridge, and Alexander Saunders decided Doublehead should die for his crimes. Vann had a family score to settle. Doublehead had married a sister to Vann’s wife and had treated her brutally, beating her to death while she was pregnant.

Therefore, the three men decided to execute the traitor in August 1807, when the Cherokees collected the annual annuity from the Federal agent. However, on the way, Vann fell ill and could not continue. On August 9, 1807, Ridge and Saunders arrived at McIntosh’s Tavern on the Hiwassee and waited for an opportunity. Doublehead had been playing ball 3 miles away where he had killed a man called Bone-Polisher who had become abusive. Therefore, he didn’t arrive until after dark, half drunk. Suddenly, Ridge blew out the candle in the Tavern and fired a shot at Doublehead which shattered his jaw. Having thought they killed him, they slipped out into the dark.

However, they soon learned the tavernkeeper had moved the wounded Chief to his house and then again to the loft of a Mr. Black, who taught in Gideon Blackburn School. By then, two men from Bone Polisher’s clan had joined them and together they rushed the room where Doublehead lay. As they approached, the wounded chief sprang up, drew a dirk, and tried to draw a pistol but was caught up in the sheet around him. Both Ridge and Saunders leveled their guns at him but misfired. Doublehead then grappled with Ridge but Saunders drove his tomahawk into Doublehead’s skull so hard that it took two hands and a foot to pry it loose. After the killing, most of the Cherokees felt it was justified and his relatives were not forced by clan responsibility to exact revenge. This led to the abolition of clan revenge at the Council of Broostown on September 11, 1808. However, James Vann was killed in 1809 possibly for his part in the execution.”[1]

• Blood: 1/2 Cherokee
• Clan: Ani'-Tsi'skwa = Bird Clan (Susannah)
• Education: 1823, Carmel
• Military service: US Army, Creek War, 1813-1814, Cpt of a company of Cherokees under Col Gideon Morgan
• Residence: 1808, Suwanee Old Town
• Starr's Notes: D084, E038
• Living at Suwanee Old Town in 1807 & 1808. Ref: Dec. 1829, Gen. John Coffee’s papers. Microfilm reel 101-3 at the Geo. Dept. of Archives and History/frame 479.

Sources

1. ↑ https://cavespringga.blogspot.com/2012/07/murder-of-chief-doublehea...

• 1817-1835 Emigration Roll
• Starr, Emmet, History of the Cherokee Indians, 1921, p. 374.
• Shadburn, Don, Unhallowed Instrusion, 1993, pp. 45, 88.
• Hampton, David, Cherokee Mixed-Bloods, 2005, p. 400-401.

See also:

• Brown, John P., Old Frontiers, Ayer Company Publishers, New Hampshire, 2001 reprint, p. 452.
• https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0025...
• Photo of Alexander Jeremiah Sanders contributed by Debbie Ferguson - https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/26618137?h=67b84f

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sanders-12233
__________

ALEXANDER JEREMIAH SANDERS (MITCHELL1) was born 1773 in Canasauga River, CNE [GA].
He married PEGGY SO-NI-GU-I, daughter of SUSANNAH SO-NI-GU-I. She was born 1780.

• The Brainerd Journal, p 538; Chamberlin wrote of Alex Sanders; "he is the man who killed [James] Vann, and assisted in killing Doublehead." [with Major Ridge]
• Blood: 1/2 Cherokee
• Clan: Ani'-Tsi'skwa = Bird Clan (Susannah)
• Education: 1823, Carmel
• Military service: 1814, Cpt of a company of Cherokees under Col Gideon Morgan
• Residence: 1808, Suwanee Old Town
• Starr's Notes: D084, E038

More About PEGGY SO-NI-GU-I:

• Blood: Full Blood Cherokee
• Clan: Ani'-Ga'tâge'wi = Kituah or Wild Potato (Sonicooie)
• Education: 1825, Carmel

Children of ALEXANDER SANDERS and PEGGY SO-NI-GU-I are:
10. i. GEORGE3 SANDERS, b. Abt. 1796; d. Aft. 1851.
11. ii. RICHARD DANIEL SANDERS, b. Abt. 1798.
12. iii. THOMAS JEFFERSON SANDERS, SR, b. Abt. 1800; d. August 06, 1856.
13. iv. MITCHELL SANDERS, b. Abt. 1810.

	v.	 	JOHN SANDERS, b. Abt. 1815.

• Clan: Ani'-Ga'tâge'wi = Kituah or Wild Potato (Sonicooie)
• Detachment: October 01, 1838, 38-14 Deas/Bell; as Interpreter

14. vi. JENNIE SANDERS, b. 1817; d. Bet. 1851 - 1895.
15. vii. ANDREW SANDERS, b. Abt. 1819; d. Bet. 1851 - 1894.
16. viii. MARY SANDERS, b. Abt. 1820.

	ix.	 	ELLIS SANDERS, b. Abt. 1821; d. Bet. 1851 - 1894; m. ELIZABETH MCCOY; b. Abt. 1837.

• 1851 Old Settler roll: Skin Bayou, 151 (1896 pg 421 & 422)
• Clan: Ani'-Ga'tâge'wi = Kituah or Wild Potato (Sonicooie)

	More About ELIZABETH MCCOY:

• 1851 Drennan roll: Illinois, 171 with sister Elvina Fields nee McCoy
• Clan: Ani'-Wa'ya = Wolf Clan (Broom)

__________

2 Alexander Sanders. Peggy Sonicooie.
—————
1 George Sanders. Elsie .
2 Mitchell Sanders. and Polly Overtaker.
3 John Sanders. *
4 Thomas Sanders. Nannie Sonicooie.
5 Jennie Sanders. John Winters.
6 Richard Sanders.
7 Andrew Sanders. Elizabeth Butler nee Puppy and Araminta Starr nee McCoy.
8 Mary Sanders. Isaac Ragsdale.
9 Ellis Sanders. * Elizabeth McCoy.

Source: Starr, Emmett. “History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folklore.” Warden Company, 1922.

• Alexander's birth and death information are availabel at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LCJK-XBX
• NOTE: The citations at FamilySearch are not historically accurate. Because he was born in 1776, Alexander would have been born in the Province of Georgia of British America. He died in 1827 in the Cherokee Nation, which meant the Cherokee people in Georgia. the "Trail of Tears" resettlement of the Cherokee from the southeastern United States to the Indian Territory [modern-day Oklahoma and other states] did not start until 1830.