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Major Ridge (c.1771–June 22 1839) was a Cherokee American Indian leader, born in the Cherokee town of Hiwassee along the Hiwassee River, an area later part of Tennessee. The English version of his name was originally just "Ridge"; he acquired the title "Major" in 1814 during his service leading Cherokees alongside General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the Creek War. He also joined Jackson in the First Seminole War in 1818, leading Cherokees against the Seminole Indians.
On December 22, 1835, Ridge was one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota, which exchanged the Cherokee tribal land east of the Mississippi River for lands to the west. Like a number of other leaders (Indian and white), Ridge believed that the policy of removal was the best way to preserve the tribe in the face of rapidly expanding white settlement. However, the treaty was of dubious legality, and was rejected by Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee people. Nevertheless, the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate.
Ridge, his family, and many other Cherokees emigrated to the West. Those Cherokees (and their African slaves) who remained on tribal lands in the East were forcibly removed by the U.S. government in 1838, a journey known as the "Trail of Tears," during which thousands died.
In 1839, Ridge, his son John Ridge, and nephew Elias Boudinot, were assassinated by Cherokees of the Ross faction. Ridge's nephew Stand Watie, the future Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War, was also targeted for assassination, but escaped, and eventually became leader of the Southern Cherokees.
Ridge and his son are buried along with Stand Watie in Polson Cemetery west of Southwest, Missouri.
Major Ridge's life is covered in detail in Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle.
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