ie, Boudinot's brother and Major Ridge's nephew,was the only leader of the Treaty Party to escape. The assassinations effectively silencedthe Treaty Party, but the hatreds endured. This left only two contending groups: west andeast. The Western Cherokee refused to accept any of the new changes, while the morenumerous Eastern Cherokee considered themselves superior and would not compromise.The first meeting of these factions failed to reach agreement. At a second meeting, Rosscould only obtain the signature of one western chief but proceeded anyway to organize agovernment. However, the majority of the western Cherokee and the Treaty Party refusedto recognize it. For the next six years there was civil war over borders and jurisdiction. The situation became so bad that Congress proposed dividing the Cherokee into twotribes. This was incentive enough for the Cherokee to set aside their differences and uniteunder the Cherokee Nation, an accomplishment recognized by treaty with the UnitedStates in 1846. The wounds from removal and reunification never healed completely, butthe Cherokee adjusted well enough to enjoy what they consider to have been their goldenage during the 1850s. On the eve of the Civil War in 1861, the Cherokee Nation wascontrolled by a wealthy, mixed-blood minority which owned black slaves and favored theSouth. The vast majority of the Cherokee did not have slaves, lived simple lives and couldhave cared less about the white man's war, especially the Old Settlers. John Ross leanedtowards the South, but mindful of the divisions within the Cherokee, refused the earlyoffers by Albert Pike to join the Confederacy. When Union soldiers withdrew during thesummer of 1861, the Confederate army occupied the Indian Territory. The CherokeeNation voted to secede from the United States in August, 1861, and a formal treaty wassigned at the Park Hill home of John Ross between the Cherokee Nation and the newConfederate government. Four years ...
