20 April 2012

John Ross, Chief Of The Cherokee



Portrait of John Ross

From Tennessee history:
Although only one-eighth Cherokee by blood and bearing no physical features common to Native Americans, John Ross considered himself a full-blood Cherokee... .  ...known among them as Tsan-usdi – a Cherokee term meaning "Little John". As he grew into manhood he was called Guwi–sguwi meaning "the egret or swan" – a name that came to be known over the years as "Coowescoowe".

See “Our Hearts are Sickened”: Letter from Chief John Ross of the Cherokee, Georgia, 1836, at History Matters).

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