Nung-noh-hut-tar-bee was a Cherokee man

Biography

Major Ridge is a very controversial figure in Cherokee history for his role in the Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears. When he negotiated and signed the Treaty, against the wishes of almost all Cherokee, he believed that moving to Indian Territory was the only way for the Cherokee Nation to survive. For those who wish to delve into this history the following are recommended: Wilkins, Thurman, Cherokee Tragedy, the Story of the Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People; Dale, Edward & LItton, Gaston, eds. Cherokee Cavaliers, 'Forty Years of Cherokee history as Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family;' Ehle, John, Trail of Tears, the Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation, and Nagle, Mary Kathryn, Sovereignty.

The Ridge, "Gah-nuh-dah-tlah-gi," was born about 1771 at Hiwassee in the Cherokee Nation (East) the son of Oganstota and his unnamed wife. According to memories of The Ridge, the family was displaced in 1776 during the Revolutionary War when American militia under Rutherford destroyed the Cherokee towns near Hiwassie [1] and moved to the Sequatchie valley farther down the Tennessee River. The family made a final move to Pine Log (now Georgia) about 1785. Oganstota and his wife are believed to have died there about about 1789. [2]

The Ridge was a prominent figure in Cherokee politics. Although only a minor chief in 1807, he was one of the men sent to assassinate Doublehead. [3] He served under Gideon Morgan as Major of the Cherokee regiment in the War of 1812, [4] was a signer of the Treaty of March, 1816, [5] served as Speaker of the Cherokee Council from 1824 to 1827, and was a signer of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota which led to the Trail of Tears. [6] He was a friend and supporter of Chief John Ross, resisting Removal for many years, but when Ridge was told by President Andrew Jackson in 1832 that he (Jackson) would support the State of Georgia over the Cherokee, he became convinced that moving West was the only way to save his Nation and split with Ross. [7]

He married Susannah Wickett, also Cherokee, about 1800. They were the parents of five children, Nancy (died in childbirth in 1818),John (assassinated in 1839), Walter, Sarah, and Jane (died in infancy). [8] Although he did not read, write, or speak English, he and his family were friendly to the Moravian missionaries. When Nancy died they wrote, "Mr. Butrick had been invited to preach in Ridge's house. His daughter Nancy's very sudden call out of the world after the birth of her first child had overwhelmed the entire family in deep grief and made them hungry for more genuine comfort than common sense can provide." The Moravians described the Ridge family, " Maj. Ridge and his wife Susanna are both full Cherokees.... He is an intelligent Indian, and is supposed to be the best speaker in his Nation. In addition he is rich, and his extensive establishment is beautifully set up." [9] The family appears on the 1835 Cherokee census, living on the Ustenali River (now Georgia). The Ridge was among the minority of Cherokee who held enslaved people, fifteen at the time of the census. [10] The family (including enslaved people) was Removed to Indian Territory in 1837, travelling by boat in the detachment of Dr. John Young. [11] The Ridge (along with his son John and nephew Elias Boudinot, all signers of the Treaty of New Echota) was assassinated on June 22, 1839 at Sugar Hill, Washington, Arkansas. He is buried in the Polson Cemetery, Grove, Oklahoma. [12]

Sources

1. ↑ Isenbarger, Dennis L. ed. Native Americans in Early North Carolina. Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, N.C. 2013. pp. 242-244.
2. ↑ Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy., MacMillan & Co., New York, New York, 1970, p. 21
3. ↑ Hoig, Stanley W. The Cherokees and Their Chiefs. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville. 1998. pp. 95-96.
4. ↑ Horseshoe
5. ↑ image at treaty
6. ↑ https://americanindian.si.edu/static/nationtonation/pdf/Treaty-of-N...
7. ↑ Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy, pp. 228-229.
8. ↑ Hampton, David K. Cherokee Mixed-Bloods. Arc Press of Cane Hill, Lincoln, Arkansas. 2005. pp. 244-245
9. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 5, pp. 2260, 2472-2473
10.↑ 1835 Cherokee Census, transcription published by the Oklahoma Chapter, Trail of Tears Association, Park Hill, OK. 2002. Original records: National Archives and Records Administration, Microfilm publication T496, Census Roll, 1835, of Cherokee Indians East of the Mississippi with Index.
11. ↑ Wilkins, Thurman Cherokee Tragedy, pp. 301-306.
12. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 January 2021), memorial page for Major Ridge (1771–22 Jun 1839), Find a Grave Memorial no. 5075819, citing Polson Cemetery, Delaware County, Oklahoma, USA ; Maintained by Wes T. (contributor 48190645) .

see also:

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. Cherokee Phoenix article about Major, son John and nephew Elias Boudinot. [1]

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cherokee-238
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Not the son of Tarchee "Dutch" The Long Warrior Telico Bird Clan

Kah-nung-da-tla-geh, "the man who walks the mountain top", was known as "The Ridge" and later Major Ridge, for his participation in the Creek War 1813-1814. He was the leader of the Ridge or Treaty Party. His brother, Oo-wa-tie, "the ancient one", was the father of Stand Watie. He served as head of the Lighthorse Guard (i.e., Cherokee police), member of the National Committee, and speaker of the National Council. The valuation of his property at the time of the removal west showed him to be the third richest man in the Cherokee Nation. He was assassinated in 1839 for signing the Treaty of New Echota for removal of the Cherokees to the West. (http://echotacherokeetribe.homestead.com/Chiefs.html)

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Major Ridge , also Pathkiller II (c.1771 – June 22, 1839) was a Cherokee Indian leader and protégé, along with Charles R. Hicks, of the noted figure James Vann.

Background

Ridge was born into the Deer clan in the Cherokee town of Hiwassee along the Hiwassee River, an area later part of Tennessee. His father was named Tatsi (sometimes written Dutsi) and may have at one time been called Aganstata, but this was a common name among the Cherokee as was the practice of changing one's name, which Tatsi's son did. Ridge's maternal grandfather was a Highland Scot; thus Ridge was 3/4 Cherokee by ancestry, and one of the many Cherokees of his time with partial European (especially Scottish) heritage. He was named Ca-Nun-Tah-Cla-Kee (other spellings include Ca-Nun-Ta-Cla-Gee and Ka-Nun-Tah-Kla-Gee), meaning "The Man Who Walks On The Mountain Top."

Until the end of the Chickamauga wars, he was known as Nung-Noh-Tah-Hee, meaning "He Who Slays The Enemy In His Path" or Pathkiller (not the same as the chief). After the war, he changed his name to what the English version simplifies as "The Ridge" (as did Bloody Fellow to Clear Sky). He acquired the title "Major" in 1814, during his service leading Cherokees alongside General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the Creek War. He also joined Jackson in the First Seminole War in 1818, leading Cherokees against the Seminole Indians. After the war, Ridge became a wealthy planter and slave owner of African Americans. Major Ridge married Sehoyah (Susannah Catherine Wickett), daughter of Ar-tah-ku-ni-sti-sky ("Wickett") and Kate Parris, about 1800.

Cherokee removal

Ridge long opposed U.S. government proposals for the Cherokees to sell their lands and remove to the West. However, the rapidly expanding white settlement and Georgia's efforts to abolish the Cherokee government caused him to change his mind. Advised by his son John Ridge, Major Ridge came to believe the best way to preserve the Cherokee Nation was to get good terms for their lands from the U.S. government before it was too late. On December 22, 1835, Ridge was one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota, which exchanged the Cherokee tribal land east of the Mississippi River for land in what is now Oklahoma. The treaty was of questionable legality, and it was rejected by Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee people. Nevertheless, the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate.

Ridge, his family, and many other Cherokees emigrated to the West soon after the treaty. The terms of the treaty were strictly enforced, and those Cherokees (and their African American slaves) who remained on tribal lands in the East were forcibly rounded up by the U.S. government in 1838, and began a journey popularly known as the "Trail of Tears".

Assassination

In the West, the Ross faction blamed Ridge and the other signers of the Treaty of New Echota for the hardships of removal. In June 1839, Major Ridge, his son John, and nephew Elias Boudinot, were assassinated by Cherokees of the Ross faction to remove them as political rivals and to intimidate the political establishment of the Old Settlers, which the Ridge faction had joined. Ridge's nephew Stand Watie, the future Confederate general in the Civil War, was also targeted for assassination, but escaped, and during the war also served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation after Ross and the Union-supporters withdrew.

Ridge and his son are buried along with Stand Watie in Polson Cemetery in Delaware County, OK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Ridge

http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1129

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5075819