John Rollin Ridge

John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) was a novelist, poet, and member of the Cherokee Nation. Born in New Echota Georgia, Ridge was the son of John Ridge, a prominent Cherokee leader and signatory of the 1836 Treaty of New Echota, which allowed th cession of Cherokee lands and led to the devastation of the Trail of Tears. Following his father's murder by supporters of Cherokee leader John Ross, Ridge was taken to Arkansas by his mother. In 1843, he was sent to study at the Great Barrington School in Massachusetts before returning to Fayetteville to pursue a law degree. He married Elizabeth Wilson in 1847 after publishing his first known poem, "To a Thunder Cloud," in the Arkansas State Gazette. Two years later, Ridge was forced to flee to California with his wife and daughter after murdering a man named David Kell, whom he believed to be involved in his father's assassination. Out West, he published The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta to popular acclaim, making him the first known Native American novelist. Ridge was a prominent figure in California's fledgling literary scene, serving as the first editor of the Sacramento Bee and writing for the San Francisco Herald. Controversial for his assimilationist politics, slave ownership, and support of the Copperheads during the American Civil War, Ridge is nevertheless a pioneering figure in Native American literary history.