Dennis Bushyhead
Encyclopedia
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth century, when the people were organized by clans and...
of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation (19th century)
The Cherokee Nation of the 19th century —an historic entity —was a legal, autonomous, tribal government in North America existing from 1794–1906. Often referred to simply as The Nation by its inhabitants, it should not be confused with what is known today as the "modern" Cherokee Nation...
. He served from 1879 to 1887.
Biography
Bushyhead was born in the state of Tennessee, the oldest son of Rev. Jesse BushyheadJesse Bushyhead
The Reverend Jesse Bushyhead was a Cherokee religious and political leader. He was born in southeastern Tennessee. As a young man, he was ordained a Baptist minister. A member of the John Ross faction of the Cherokees, he was dispatched by Ross in 1837 on a mission to the Seminoles...
and Miss Eliza Wilkinson, who was from Georgian
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and of partial Cherokee ancestry. He went to school in 1833 at Candy Creek mission School, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, under the charge of Rev. Holland. In 1835 he went to the Mission School at valley river in North Carolina and remained there for one year. In 1838 his father Rev. Jesse Bushyhead conducted a detachment of Cherokee, numbering 1000 people from the old nation to Beattie's prairie in the Delaware District (Indian Territory), and Dennis was among the party. In the following year, he attended Mission School at Park Hill, Cherokee Nation, under the charge of Rev. Samuel A. Worcester. He remained there for one year, after which, in 1841 he was sent to college in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
In March 1841 he joined Chief Ross' delegation to Washington to attend the inauguration of General Harrison as President of The United States. Bushyhead remained in New Jersey for three years, completing his education in August 1844. In November 1871 he was elected treasurer of the Cherokee nation and held the position for four years, and was reelected to the post in 1875.