![]() The runaways were starving and submitted to Drew and his men, who returned them to Fort Gibson in December.Ĭivil War: John Drew’s 1 st Cherokee Mounted RiflesĪs a Cherokee-Confederate alliance neared in 1861, Drew, one of the few leaders acceptable to various Cherokee factions, was designated a colonel and was given command of the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles. By November 28, the militiamen caught up with the runaways about 7 miles north of the Red River. ![]() ![]() The militia left Tahlequah on November 21. Drew raised a company of nearly one hundred men to arrest the fugitive slaves and return them to Fort Gibson. The Cherokee National Council passed a resolution, and Chief John Ross approved that the Cherokee Militia, commanded by Drew, pursue the fleeing slaves. On November 15, 1842, a group of at least 25 black slaves escaped from the plantation of Joseph Vann near Webbers Falls and fled in the direction of Mexico, where slavery had already been outlawed. He signed the Cherokee Constitution at Tahlequah on September 6, 1839.īy November, 1842, John Drew had become a captain in the Cherokee Militia. Once in Indian Territory, Drew helped to unite the Old Settler Cherokee emigrants with the recently removed Eastern Cherokees under one government in 1839. The trip was especially difficult because extreme drought had caused a major drop in water level along the Tennessee River. They departed from the Cherokee Agency on December 7, 1838. This group, which included Chief John Ross and his family, traveled by flatboat down the Hiwassee and the Tennessee Rivers. The John Drew manuscript collection sheds light on early to mid-nineteenth century Cherokee leaders’ involvement with slavery, often revealing its dehumanizing and tragic nature.Ĭolonel John Drew led the last of thirteen groups to embark from the Southeast for Indian Territory. ![]() He lived at Webber’s Falls near the Arkansas River, owned several salt works, and was considered a rich man in the Cherokee Nation. A shrewd businessman who dealt in grain, beef, and slaves, Drew was fiercely loyal to John Ross and served several times as a Cherokee Canadian District’s senator and legal advisor. John Thompson Drew (1796-1865) was a prominent political and military leader of the Cherokee Nation. ![]()
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