Bushyhead, Dennis Wolfe, 1826-1898

Tennessee born Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead (1826-1898), Cherokee chief and son of Reverend Jesse Bushyhead, studied at Princeton University for two years before moving to the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory in 1839. Bushyhead left to participate in the gold rush in 1849, returning nearly twenty years later in 1868, and became treasurer for the Cherokee Nation by 1871. He served in this capacity until 1879 when he was elected as principal chief. While chief from 1879 until 1887, Brushyhead faced issues such as railroad rights-of-way, land allotment, education, tribal citizenship, grazing rights, and intrusion by whites. Furthermore, in 1897 Bushyhead sat on the Cherokee commission, which objected to the United States revoking the title to the lands of the Cherokee Nation. Bushyhead died in 1898 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Source: Delashaw, Corie. "Bushyhead, Dennis Wolfe," Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BU015.html (accessed July 1, 2010).

...