Editing Major Ridge (section)

==Background==
===Early life===
Ridge was born about 1772 into the Deer [[clan]] of his mother, ''Oganotota'' (O-go-nuh-to-tua), a Scots-Cherokee woman, in the Cherokee town of [[Great Hiwassee]], along the [[Hiwassee River]] (an area later part of [[Tennessee]]).<ref name="Wilkins">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsZ7HnAcvo4C&q=Pathkiller|author=Thurman Wilkins|title=Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1989|page=7|isbn=978-0-8061-2188-8 }}</ref> His father was believed to be full-blood Cherokee. Ridge's maternal grandfather was a Scots trader who returned to Europe and left a Cherokee wife and daughter behind in America.<ref name="Langguth">Langguth, p. 29.</ref>

Ridge was the third son born, but the first to survive to adulthood. He had two younger brothers, one of whom became known as [[David Uwatie]] (father of [[Stand Watie]]). From his early years, Ridge was taught patience and self-denial, and to endure fatigue. On reaching the proper age, he was initiated as a [[warrior]].<ref name="appletons">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Ridge, Major|year=1900}}</ref> The Cherokee believed that a man's achievements as a warrior were a sign of his spiritual power and part of his leadership.

Until the end of the Cherokee – American wars, the young man was known as ''Nunnehidihi'', meaning "He Who Slays The Enemy In His Path"<ref name="Langguth"/> or "The Pathkiller" (not the same as another chief of the same name).{{which|date=December 2023}} Later Ridge was named ''Ganundalegi'' (other spellings include Ca-Nun-Tah-Cla-Kee, Ca-Nun-Ta-Cla-Gee, and Ka-Nun-Tah-Kla-Gee), meaning "The Man Who Walks On The Mountain Top Ridge". White men knew him by the simplified English name, "The Ridge".<ref>Hicks, p. 19</ref>

===Marriage and family===
In 1792, Ridge married ''Sehoya,'' also known as Suzannah Catherine Wickett, a mixed-blood Cherokee of the Wild Potato [[clan]].<ref>Johansen, Bruce Elliot and Barry Pritzker. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sGKL6E9_J6IC&dq=%22john%20ridge%22%20clan%201839&pg=PA777 ''Encyclopedia of American Indian History, Volume 2.''] ABC-CLIO, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-817-0}}</ref> Her name was also spelled Sehoyah; she was the daughter of Kate Parris and ''Ar-tah-ku-ni-sti-sky'' ("Wickett"). The couple had several children, including [[John Ridge]]. They sent him in 1819 as a young man to [[Cornwall, Connecticut]], to be educated in European-American classical studies at the [[Foreign Mission School]].

After the Cherokee–American wars, the Ridges lived in the Cherokee town of Oothcaloga. (The modern city of [[Calhoun, Georgia]], developed near here.) About 1819, they moved near the Cherokee town of Chatuga (modern-day [[Rome, Georgia|Rome]]) at the confluence of the [[Oostanaula River|Oostanaula]] and [[Etowah River|Etowah]] rivers, which forms the [[Coosa River]]. Ridge acquired 223 acres that fronted on the Oostanaula River, upstream of the confluence.<ref name="nrhpinv2"/> Starting with a log dogtrot house on the property, Ridge expanded the house to a two-story white frame house with extensions on either end.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite journal|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: "Chieftains;" Major Ridge House|url={{NHLS url|id=71000273}} |format=pdf|date=March 5, 1973 |author=Benjamin Levy |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NHLS url|id=71000273|title=''Accompanying three photos, exterior and interior, from 1972''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(32&nbsp;KB)}}</ref> Like European-American planters, Ridge used enslaved African Americans to work the cotton fields on his plantation. Nearby, Ridge's protégé [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]] had established his own home and plantation.

Ridge had no formal education and could neither read nor write. But he was known as a noted orator and dynamic speaker. Ridge appreciated the value of education and believed that the Cherokee must learn to communicate with European Americans and to understand their ways in order to survive as a nation. He sent his son John to a mission boarding school at Springhill.

===Young warrior===
In addition to participating in small raids and other actions, ''Nunnehidihi'' took part in the attack on Gillespie's Station and in Watts' raids in the winter of 1788–1789; the attack on Buchanan's Station in 1792; the campaign against the settlements of Upper East Tennessee in 1793 (that resulted in the massacre and destruction of Cavett's Station); and the so-called "[[Battle of Hightower]]" at Etowah. (Before the 1793 campaigns, he had taken part in a horse-stealing raid against the [[Holston River]] settlements, where two European-American pioneers were killed.)

At age 21, ''Nunnehidihi'' was chosen as a member of the Cherokee Council. He proved a valuable counselor, and at the second session proposed many useful laws.<ref name="appletons"/> After the Cherokee–American wars, he changed his name to ''Ganundalegi'', which in English was translated as "He Who Walks On The Ridge".

With the massacre at Cavett's Station, a personal feud developed between The Ridge and [[Doublehead|Chief Doublehead]]. The latter had promised to spare the post if the three white men who lived there surrendered. But, after the men agreed to surrender, Doublehead changed his mind and ordered that all the inhabitants be killed, including thirteen women and children. This act disgusted The Ridge, who felt it dishonored the tribe.<ref>Langguth, p. 31.</ref> Frontiersmen pursued Ridge's band, catching them at Coyatee (near the mouth of the [[Little Tennessee River]]). They killed several leading [[Chickamauga Cherokee]] and wounded others, including [[Hanging Maw]], the chief headman of the [[Overhill Cherokee|Overhill Towns]].

In 1807, Doublehead was bribed by white speculators to [[cede]] some Cherokee communal land without approval by the Cherokee National Council. The Council determined this to be a [[capital crime]] against the nation, and directed Ridge, [[James Vann]], and Alexander Sanders to execute Doublehead. (Vann became too drunk to participate. The other two men used guns, knives, and a tomahawk to kill the old chief on August 9, 1807, at the Hiwassee Garrison in Tennessee).<ref>Hicks, pp. 20–28</ref>

Shortly before the War of 1812, Shawnee chief [[Tecumseh]] and his brother, ''[[Tenskwatawa|Tenskawatawa]]'' (also called "The Prophet"), came south to recruit other tribes to unite and together prevent the sale of their lands to white immigrants. Tecumseh urged his listeners to reject subservience to the United States, reject the white man's agrarian lifestyle, return to their traditional lifestyles, and take up weapons to defend their lands. Ridge attended as an observer when Tecumseh spoke to the [[Muscogee]] (Creek) living nearby. Ridge was said to have confronted Tecumseh after the meeting and warned that he would kill the chief if he tried to spread that message to the Cherokee.<ref>Langguth, p. 32.</ref>

===Later life===
Ridge acquired the title "Major" in 1814, during his service leading the Cherokee alongside the United States General [[Andrew Jackson]] at the [[Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)|Battle of Horseshoe Bend]] during the [[Creek War]] against the [[Red Sticks]]. This was a civil war within the Creek Nation between the Upper Towns and Lower Towns, who differed in their interaction with European Americans versus holding on to tradition. Ridge had joined the campaign as an unofficial militia lieutenant. (Jackson was involved with the larger [[War of 1812]] against Great Britain.) Ridge used Major as his first name for the rest of his life.<ref>Langguth, p. 34.</ref> He also served with Jackson in the [[First Seminole War]] in 1818, leading Cherokee warriors on behalf of the US government against the [[Seminole Indians]] in Florida. His war achievements added to his stature among the Cherokee.

After the war, Ridge moved his family to the Cherokee town of Head of Coosa (present-day [[Rome, Georgia]]). He developed a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]], owned 30 [[African-American]] slaves as laborers, and became a wealthy planter. The plantation consisted of nearly three hundred cleared acres; its main cash crops were corn, tobacco, and cotton. He built his house. Major Ridge also developed and owned a profitable ferry that carried wagons and their teams across the [[Oostanuaula River]]. As another business, Ridge founded a trading post in partnership with George Lavender, a white man; the post provided staples and luxury European-American goods such as calico and silk fabrics.<ref>Langguth, p. 31</ref>

In 1816, Andrew Jackson tried to persuade the [[Chickasaw people|Chickasaw]] and Cherokee nations to sell their lands in the Southeast and move west of the Mississippi River. He was rebuffed by most of the Cherokee chiefs at a council in Mississippi. They told him that he must meet with Chief [[Pathkiller]] at a Cherokee council in [[Turkeytown (Cherokee town)|Turkeytown]].<ref>Hicks, p. 89</ref>