John Ridge

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John Ridge
Ridge painted after his death
Born	Skah-tle-loh-skee (Yellow Bird) c. 1802 Oothacaloga (Calhoun, Georgia)
Died	June 22, 1839 (1839-06-23) (aged 36 or 37) Honey Springs Creek, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)[1]
Cause of death	Executed for treason against the Cherokee Nation
Citizenship	Cherokee Nation
Spouse	Sarah Bird Northup
Children	John Rollin Ridge
Parent	Major Ridge
Signature

John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee (ᏍᎦᏞᎶᏍᎩ, Yellow Bird) (c. 1802 – 22 June 1839), was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mission School. He met Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England Yankee family, and they married in 1824. Soon after their return to New Echota in 1825, Ridge was chosen for the Cherokee National Council and became a leader in the tribe.

In the 1830s, Ridge was part of the Treaty Party with his father Major Ridge, and cousins Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie. Believing that Indian Removal was inevitable, they supported making a treaty with the United States government to protect Cherokee rights. The Ridges and Boudinot were signatories to the Treaty of New Echota of 1835, by which they ceded Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands in Indian Territory. The land cession was opposed by the majority of the tribe and the Principal Chief John Ross, but the treaty was ratified by the US Senate.

In 1839, after removal to Indian Territory, opponents assassinated the Ridges, Boudinot, and other Treaty Party members for their roles in the land cession. This eliminated them as political rivals in the new territory. Stand Watie survived such an attack and later fought on the side of the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War.