John Ross - Anadarko, OK
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hamquilter
N 35° 04.359 W 098° 13.678
14S E 570387 N 3881372
John Ross was influential among the Cherokees in drafting their Constitution and negotiating the Cherokee Treaty of 1866.
Waymark Code: WMCK66
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 09/15/2011
Views: 1
The bust of John Ross stands among the others along the path at the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians. He was born October 3, 1790 in Turkeytown, AL. His mother was one-fourth Cherokee and his father a Scots immigrant trader who settled among the Cherokee. The bust sits atop a concrete pillar. Ross is shown wearing a suit, vest and bow tie. The plaque reads:
JOHN ROSS
1790 1866
Most Notable chief of the Cherokees
Served as Leader and Stateman for a
Half Century During the Most Dynamic
Period of Cherokee History. His Love
and Attachment to the Sacred Home-
Lands Matched that of the Full-Blood
Cherokees whom he Led when they
were Removed to Indian Territory in
1838-1839. Until his Death he Remained
the Capable and Forceful Leader
of his Beloved Cherokees.
Sculptor:
Leonard McMurry
Donors:
Gertrude Ruskin Frances Billingsley
Ross became a member of the Cherokee Nation in 1817 and served as President from 1819 to 1826, He helped draft the Cherokee Constitution and was elected assistant chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1827. He later served as principal chief of the eastern Cherokees, and then as chief of the United Cherokee Nation.
He vigorously resisted the efforts of the U.S. government to relocate the tribe to Indian Territory. He was married to a full-blood Cherokee who died during the infamous Trail of Tears. He later married a Delaware Quaker who died in 1865. He died in Washington, D.C. while working on the Cherokee Treaty of 1866. He is buried in Park Hill, OK.
[Biographical information from the Museum’s Self-Guiding Tour pamphlet]