The Cherokee Leader: John Ross And The Cherokee

John Ross and the Cherokee.

What is a leader? According to the dictionary a leader is a "person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country." (Merriam Webster) Though that may be what the term leader is defined by, one would assume that it takes much more to be considered a "good" one. A leader, is in many cases the voice of the people, he is the one whom everyone looks to in a time of panic, the one whom the people entrust to make the hard decisions and the one whom is supposed to value his constituents wants and need. Unfortunately most leaders fall short of accomplishing the things they set out to do, "as principal chief during the 1830s John Ross faced the most critical period in Cherokee History, and somehow

His mother (Mollie McDonald) was native American, and his father (Daniel Ross) was Scottish, this made John very special. "He grew up in the mixed cultures of an Anglo-Indian world", and received private tutoring in various subject while still participating in traditional indian rituals. (Gary E. Moulton) Johns father respected the fact that his wife wanted her son the know of the Cherokee traditions, but still wanted them to have a proper English up bringing as well. As a result "at home English was the language spoken and European tradiditons were practiced." (Taylor-Colbert, Alice) Ross had limited knowledge of the Cherokee language and was only able to speak it moderately well. In 1805 "his father sent him to Kingston Acadamy to learn/adopt white ways," and though Ross appeased his fathers wishes he kept in thouch with things going on with in the Cherokee world. (Gary E. Moulton) "At the early age of 19, Ross was sent by Thomas J. Meigs, on an official mission to the Western Cherokees of Arkansas in 1809. Due to his quiet and reserved manner, the mission was a success as he inspired confidence among both the Indians and the white settlers. Proving his leadership and diplomacy at an early age, he was immediately sent on another trip." (Kathy Weiser) Keeping up with these associations proved to be highly effective in Ross 's life, on "March 17 1812, he was

Ross implored that the document was a fraud, he even sent a petition to the American government with roughly fifteen thousand Cherokee signatures on it getting the courts attention. "On April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson appealed to Jackson 's successor, President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict "so vast an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation." (Legends of America) Ross fought the treaty until the very day it specified for their removal, but his efforts were unsuccessful. As the process of removal began the U.S. military had difficulty getting the Cherokee people to do as they were told. General Winfield Scott, along with a large number of soldiers forced around fifteen thousand Cherokee into forts and military camps. While in said camps they were not fed properly, they lived in poor sanitary conditions and without any kind of medication. As their relocation was to begin the situation went from bad to worse; there had been a large amount of rain before the march that had turned to snow. this meant that the Cherokee would now have to face exposure to the weather whilst being malnourished. General Winfield Scott allowed Ross to "set up thirteen detachments with roughly one thousand Cherokee in each of them. They migrated in the winter of 1838-39, this event