Pathkiller | |
|---|---|
| Cherokee NationPrincipal Chief | |
| In office 1811 – January 8, 1827 | |
| Preceded by | Black Fox |
| Succeeded by | Charles Hicks |
| Personal details | |
| Died | (1827-01-08)January 8, 1827 New Echota, Georgia |
| Known for | Last full-blooded national Cherokee chief |
Pathkiller (died January 8, 1827) was aCherokee warrior andPrincipal Chief of theCherokee Nation.
Pathkiller,[notes 1] whose tribal name is unknown, fought against theOvermountain Men andWatauganfrontiersmen settled in theWashington District at the outbreak of theAmerican Revolutionary War. Afterward, he joined withDragging Canoe and theChickamauga Cherokee faction fighting in theCherokee–American wars, until the conclusion of hostilities in 1794.
This Pathkiller may be the one who served as a colonel with theTennessee militia[1] and fought for Morgan's "Regiment of Cherokees" commanded by ColonelGideon Morgan underAndrew Jackson, against theRed Stick Indian uprising during theCreek War (October 7, 1813 – April 11, 1814), a frontier extension of theWar of 1812.[2]
Pathkiller was the lasthereditary chief of theCherokee Nation. He was the principal chief of the Nation from 1811 to 1828.[3]
A description of Cherokee Council sessions was given by the missionary, Ard Hoyt, on a visit to the seat of Cherokee government in October 1818:
On entering, I observed the King [Path Killer] seated on a rug, at one end of the room, having his back supported by a roll of blankets. He is a venerable looking man, 73 years old; his hair nearly white. At his right hand, on one end of the same rug or mat, sat brother [Charles] Hicks. The chiefs were seated in chairs, in a semicircle, each facing the king. Behind the chiefs a number of the common people were standing listening to a conversation, in which the king and chiefs were engaged.
After 1813, thede facto authority in the Cherokee Nation had shifted toCharles R. Hicks, who was the first chief of partial European descent. Pathkiller remained chief in title only—basically as afigurehead—until his death on January 8, 1827. Two weeks after Pathkiller's death, his successor, Charles Hicks, also died (on January 20, 1827), leaving a leadership vacuum that was filled in the interim byWilliam, brother to Charles. Pathkiller and the Hicks were mentors toJohn Ross, having identified the talented youngmixed-blood Cherokee ofScots-Irish descent as the future leader of theCherokee people. After the tribe formed a constitutional republic, Ross was elected principal chief in October 1828.[3]
There is a monument-style table-tomb burial site for a Pathkiller (died 1827)—which was previously recorded in the region as a tomb of an "unknown Indian"—located in the present dayCalhoun, Georgia area, at the site of the old Cherokeecapital town ofNew Echota.[1][4][5][notes 2]
| Preceded by | Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation–East 1811–1828 | Succeeded by |