Major Ridge

Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – June 22, 1839) (also known as Nunnehidihi, and later Ganundalegi) was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council and a lawmaker. A warrior, he served in the Chickamauga Wars against British colonists. He led Cherokee in alliance with General Andrew Jackson and the United States in the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.

Along with Charles R. Hicks and James Vann, Ridge was part of the "Cherokee triumvirate," a group of younger chiefs in the early nineteenth century Cherokee Nation who supported acculturation and other changes in how the people dealt with the United States. All were of mixed race and had some exposure to European-American culture, but identified as Cherokee. Ridge became a wealthy planter, slave owner and ferryman.

Under increasing pressure for removal from the federal government, Ridge and others of the minority Treaty Party signed the controversial Treaty of New Echota of 1835. They believed removal was inevitable and tried to protect Cherokee rights. It required the Cherokee to cede their remaining lands in the Southeast to the US and relocate to the Indian Territory. Opponents protested to the US government and negotiated a new treaty the following year, but were still forced to accept removal.

After Indian Removal to what is now Oklahoma, in 1839 Major Ridge, his son John, and nephew Elias Boudinot were assassinated by tribal members under Cherokee Blood Law for alienating the land, as were other Treaty Party members. Attacked the same day, Boudinot's younger brother Stand Watie survived; in 1842 killed one of the attackers. In 1845 opponents retaliated, killing his younger brother Thomas Watie.