Quatie Ross

Elizabeth Brown, “Quatie,” a full blood Cherokee of the Bird Clan, was born in 1791 in the southern Appalachian Mountains of what is now Tennessee. Quatie became a wife, a mother, a helper to her husband — John Ross, Chief of the Cherokees, and First Lady of the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokee Nation of her time was the largest and most progressive of all the Native American tribes. The Cherokees had their own schools, their own postal system, and their own newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix (established in 1828). They built Christian churches, schools and houses; planted fields and orchards, kept herds of beef cattle, manufactured cloth, built roads, and operated taverns and ferries. They had a system of laws which were enforced by peace officers and native courts. In 1828, the Cherokee Nation adopted a written constitution and established a government with a legislature, courts, and an executive branch.

Quatie was born in a world where the Cherokee culture and the white culture met and lived in peace together for a time. Unfortunately, the new-comers lusted for the Cherokee’s land, which caused the peace between the two cultures to be short lived.

Chapters include: Growing Up in the Land of “The Real People;” The Story of Quatie’s People; Losses; Wife of a Chief; Chief John Ross, “The Indian Prince;” The “First Lady” of the Cherokees; Peaceful Protests; “The Place Where They Cried;” A Mother’s Love; A Soldier’s Midnight Vigil; and, A New Hope. An appendix and a bibliography add to the value of this work.