John Ridge

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For this man's son, the novelist, see John Rollin Ridge.

John Ridge (1792 - June 22, 1839, translated Cherokee Name: Yellow Bird) was a son of Major Ridge and a member of the Cherokee Tribe.

He was born in what is now Rome, Georgia and was named Skah-tle-loh-skee. He married Sarah Bird Northup, whom he had met while studying in Cornwall, Connecticut. His son John Rollin Ridge wrote the pseudo-biography of Joaquin Murieta that inspired the Zorro legend.

John Ridge was a part of the "treaty faction," a group that advocated removal of the Cherokee Indians to the west as the only way to preserve the Cherokee Nation, rather than attempting to retain Cherokee land illegally annexed by Georgia. This was a minority view; the majority of Cherokee's sided with John Ross, who wanted to negotiate with the US and attempt to hold the federal government to its promises. Ridge was one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota. Since the treaty surrendered all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River and was done against tribal wishes and without authority, Ridge was regarded a traitor by the Ross faction. Although the treaty was possibly illegitimate, it was ratified by the United States Senate and Andrew Jackson used it for the subsequent Cherokee removal now known as the Trail of Tears. The treaty did allowed for those Cherokees who wished to remain in the east to do so and become citizens of the states in which they resided; however, this was ignored during the removal.

Ridge moved to what is now Oklahoma before the forced removal of 1838. In June 1839, Ridge, along with his father and a cousin who had also signed the treaty, were assassinated by 25 members of the Ross faction. His murder by stabbing was performed in front of his wife and children.