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John Ross Interview

Interviewer: Hello Chief Ross. How are you?
Chief John Ross: I am very well, thank you.
Interviewer: Let me start off by asking you about your childhood.
Chief John Ross: I was born in Turkeytown, Alabama to Daniel Ross and Mollie McDonald. Although I was only one-eighth Cherokee; my father had a trading company, so I was immersed with the Cherokee at a very young age. I went to many Cherokee festivals, and played games with the young Cherokee. My father also had strong beliefs for education. He built a school by himself for me and my nine other siblings and hired a teacher for us. After I was finished with general schooling, I went to an academy in South west point Tennessee.
Interviewer: You were also a warrior at a young age, correct?
Chief John Ross: I fought in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend with General Andrew Jackson and almost 1000 Cherokee. Before the battle, a few other Cherokee and I swam in freezing waters to steal the Creek canoes which when then used in the attack against them. I also served as an officer in the War of 1812. Us Cherokee fought for no pay with the Americans, that is partly why we were shocked to be thrown off our homeland.
Interviewer: What was your business life like?
Chief John Ross: I was a fairly successful man, with much of my wealth coming from the crops I grew on my 170 acres of land. I also founded Ross's Landing which was a trading post on the Tennessee River. In 1836, I was named one of the five wealthiest men in Cherokee Nation.
Interviewer: I see, how did you become a leader?
Chief John Ross: I spent five years as a "political apprentice" as a Cherokee legislator and diplomat, where I learned to negotiate with the Americans and learn the skills necessary to be a leader. Cherokee nation saw the relations with the Americans become more complex and thought that uneducated leaders would not represent the Cherokees as they should. They thought that I would make a...