John Ross , also known as Koo-wi-s-gu-wi , was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828–1866, serving longer in this position than any other person. Described as the Moses of his people, Ross influenced the Indian nation through such tumultuous events as the relocation to Indian Territory and the American Civil War. John Ross was the son of a Cherokee mother and a Scottish father. His mother and maternal grandmother were of mixed Scots-Cherokee ancestry, since his maternal grandfather was another Scottish immigrant. As a result, young John grew up bilingual and bicultural, an experience that served him well when his parents decided to send him to schools that served other mixed-race Cherokee. After graduation, he was appointed an Indian agent in 1811. During the War of 1812, he served as adjutant of a Cherokee regiment under the command of Andrew Jackson. After the Red Stick War ended, Ross demonstrated his business acumen by starting a tobacco farm in Tennessee. In 1816, he built a warehouse and trading post on the Tennessee River north of the mouth of Chattanooga Creek, and started a ferry service that carried passengers from the south side of the river to the north side . His businesses served as the start of a community known as Ross's Landing on the Tennessee River . Concurrently, John Ross developed a keen interest in Cherokee politics, attracting the attention of the Cherokee elders, especially Principal Chiefs Pathkiller and Charles R. Hicks, who, along with Major Ridge, became his political mentors. Ross first went to Washington, D.C. in 1816 as part of a Cherokee delegation to negotiate issues of national boundaries, land ownership and white encroachment. As the only delegate fluent in English, Ross became the principal negotiator, despite his relative youth. When he returned to the Cherokee Nation in 1817, he was elected to the National Council. He became council president in the following year. The majority of the council were men like Ross, who were wealthy, educated, English-speaking and of mixed blood. Even the traditionalist full-blood Cherokee perceived that he had the skills necessary to contest the whites' demands that the Cherokee cede their land and move beyond the Mississippi River. In this position, Ross's first action was to reject an offer of $200,000 from the US Indian agent made for the Cherokee to voluntarily relocate. Thereafter Ross made more trips to Washington, even as white demands intensified. In 1824, Ross boldly petitioned Congress for redress of Cherokee grievances, the first time a tribe had ever shown the audacity to do such a thing. Along the way, Ross built political support in the capital for the Cherokee cause. Both Pathkiller and Charles R. Hicks died in January 1827. Hicks's brother, William, was appointed interim chief. Ross and Major Ridge shared responsibilities for the affairs of the tribe. William Hicks did not impress the Cherokee as a leader. They elected Ross as permanent principal chief in October 1828. He remained so until he died. The issue of removal split the Cherokee Nation politically. Ross, backed by the majority, tried repeatedly to stop white political powers from forcing the tribe to move. They became known as the National Party. Others, who came to believe that further resistance would be futile, wanted to seek the best settlement they could get. They formed the Treaty Party or Ridge Party, led by Major Ridge. The Treaty Party was convinced to sign the Treaty of New Echota on December 29, 1835, requiring the Cherokee to leave by 1838. Neither Ross nor the council approved it, but the Federal government regarded the treaty as valid. It would send the Army to move those who did not depart by 1838 in an action known ever after as the Trail of Tears. About one-fourth of the Cherokee forced to move died along the trail. The dead included Ross's wife, Quatie. Ross tried unsuccessfully to restore political unity after the arrival in Indian Territory. Unknown people assassinated the leaders of the Treaty Party, except for Stand Watie, who escaped and became Ross's most implacable foe. Soon, the issue of slavery refueled the old division. The Treaty Party morphed into the Southern Party, while the National Party largely became the Union Party. Ross initially counseled neutrality, believing that joining in the white man's war would be disastrous for the tribe. After Union Forces abandoned their forts in Indian Territory, Ross reversed himself and signed a treaty with the Confederacy. He later fled to Union-held Kansas and Stand Watie became the de facto chief. The Confederates lost the war, Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender, and Ross returned to his post as principal chief. Confronted with negotiating the Reconstruction Treaty with the United States, he made yet another trip to Washington, where he died on August 1, 1866.
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