Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) - Later Years

Later Years

After his wife's death in 1836, Boudinot relocated with their children to the Western Cherokee Nation (it was established by "Old Settlers" in the northeast quarter of what is today Oklahoma.) Impoverished, he was forced to get a loan from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to build a modest house in Park Hill. Reunited with his longtime friend Samuel Worcester, Boudinot returned to his vocation as a translator of the Gospel.

The "Old Settlers" and John Ross' supporters failed agree on unification following the Nation's removal to Indian Territory. Some Ross supporters met secretly to pronounce "blood judgement" on the Treaty Party leaders for their role in alienating the homeland. This was considered a capital crime under "blood law". On June 22, 1839, a group of unknown Cherokee assassinated Boudinot outside his home. They killed his cousin and uncle, John and Major Ridge, the same day. His brother Stand Watie was attacked but survived.

Though Ross denied any connection to the killings, Stand Watie blamed the Principal Chief. After these "murders" (as Watie called them), followers of Watie and Ross engaged for years in violent conflict and retaliation. Stand Watie killed a man whom he had seen attack his uncle Major Ridge; Watie was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. At his trial, he was represented by his nephew, Elias Cornelius Boudinot. He had become a lawyer in Arkansas after having been raised by his mother's family and educated in the East following his father's assassination.

The violence lasted into 1846, when the US negotiated a tenuous peace treaty. The deep bitterness contributed to tribal divisions during the American Civil War. The post-removal factionalism and violence compounded the misfortune of the Cherokee Nation.

During the Civil War, the Nation split into two factions. Stand Watie and his supporters, the majority of the Nation, sided with the Confederacy (he served as an officer in their army, along with other Cherokee.) Ross and his supporters sided with the Union. Many Union people had to leave Indian Territory during the war for their own safety. They returned after the Union victory, and Ross was the only chief recognized by the US.