Dennis Wolf Bushyhead (March 18, 1826 – February 4, 1898) was a leader in the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

after they had removed to Indian Territory. Born into the Wolf Clan, he was elected as Principal Chief, serving two terms, from 1879 to 1887.

Biography

Dennis Wolf Bushyhead was born on Mouse Creek near present-day

Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of, and largest city in, Bradley County, Tennessee. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...

, in the eastern part of the state. He was the oldest son of Rev.

Jesse Bushyhead Jesse Bushyhead (Cherokee ᎤᎾᏚᏘ, romanized ''Unaduti''; 1804–1844) was a Cherokee religious and political leader, and a Baptist minister. He was born near the present-day town of Cleveland, Tennessee.

, whose Cherokee name was ''Unaduti''.Foreman, Carolyn Ross. "Aunt Eliza of Tahlequah." ''Chronicles of Oklahoma''. Vol. 9, No. 1 (March, 1931).
Retrieved June 19, 2013. His mother, Eliza ( Wilkinson; transcribed as Wilkerson by some of her descendants), of the Wolf Clan, was from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. She was his father's second wife. Both parents were of

mixed-race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

ancestry and identified as Cherokee. Dennis was one of nine children born to Jesse and Eliza Bushyhead. A younger sister was Eliza Bushyhead Alberty. Also known as ''Unadena'', meaning "woolly head" in Cherokee, the boy Jesse was reared in his parents' Cherokee culture. He started school in 1833 at Candy Creek Mission,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, 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, where he was taught by Evan Jones, a noted Baptist minister and close associate of his father. Bushyhead was a supporter of the Chief John Ross faction, when the tribe was divided by opinions about making a treaty to cede land and move west of the Mississippi River, as was being urged by the federal government. In 1838, as part of Indian Removal, Rev. Jesse Bushyhead conducted a detachment of Cherokee, numbering nearly 1000 people from the old nation, to Beattie's Prairie in the Delaware District (Indian Territory) as part of Indian Removal from the Southeast. His son Dennis was among the party. In the following year, the boy attended Mission School at Park Hill, Cherokee Nation, overseen by Rev. Samuel A. Worcester. He studied there for one year. In 1841 his father sent Dennis to college (more similar to a seminary or prep school) at what is now known as the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. In March 1841 Bushyead was invited to join Chief Ross' delegation to Washington, D.C. to attend the inauguration of General

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

as President of The United States. Bushyhead studied in New Jersey for three years, completing his education at Lawrenceville in July 1844. He was enrolled in the sophomore class at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

when he learned that his father had died and he had to return to the Cherokee Nation.Meserve, John Bartlett. "Chief Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead"
, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma''. Volume 14, Number 3. September, 1936]. Retrieved July 22, 2013. In October 1844 Bushyhead started work as a clerk for Lewis Ross, brother of Chief John Ross, serving until the summer of 1847. He was elected as clerk for the

Cherokee Senate The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

in October 1847, serving for one year. In November 1871, Bushyhead was elected as treasurer of the Cherokee nation and held the position for a full term of four years. He was reelected to the post in 1875. In 1879, Bushyhead was elected as the Principal Chief of the

. He served from 1879 to 1887. During this period, in 1883 he vetoed a bill by the Cherokee Senate to exclude Cherokee Freedmen from sharing in the proceeds of additional compensation by the federal government for payment of the Cherokee Outlet. He reminded them of the terms of the 1866 treaty with the United States after the Civil War, by which Freedmen who remained in the Nation were to have full citizenship rights forever. The US authorized an additional $300,000 that year. The Cherokee National Council overrode Bushyhead's veto, setting up discrimination against the Freedmen that has haunted relations among tribal members into the 21st century. ''CHEROKEE NATION v. NASH''
Civil Action No. 13-01313 (TFH), 267 F.Supp.3d 86 (2017); accessed 16 October 2018 He also dealt with issues of railroad rights-of-way, land allotment under the

Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the P ...

, education, white intruders, tribal citizenship, and grazing rights.Corie Delashaw, "BUSHYHEAD, DENNIS WOLFE (1826–1898.)"
''The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''; accessed 16 October 2018

Family life

On September 6, 1869, Bushyhead married a widow, Elizabeth Alabama Adair (née Schrimsher), from Fort Gibson. They had four children together: Jesse Crary (1870–1942), Mary Elizabeth (1873–1930), Sarah Catherine (1876–1908), and Dennis Bushyhead, Jr. (1880–1961). Elizabeth Bushyhead died on October 30, 1882. On October 31, 1883, Bushyhead married Eloise Perry Butler (1859–1940), a niece of a U.S. Senator. She helped raise the four young children from his first wife, and the couple had two children of their own: James Butler (1884–1965) and Frances Taylor Bushyhead (1887–1929).Access Genealogy: Bushyhead, Dennis W.
Retrieved July 22, 2013.

Death

Dennis Bushyhead died February 4, 1898, in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and was buried in the Tahlequah City Cemetery.Corie Delashaw, "Bushyhead, Dennis Wolfe (1826–1898)." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Accessed March 5, 2015.
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Legacy and honors

* Bushyhead, Oklahoma, was named after the principal chief. It is a small rural community in

Rogers County, Oklahoma Rogers County is a County (United States), county located in the Green Country, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 95,240, making it the sixth-most populous coun ...

Sources

External links