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.
Correspondence, minutes, legal documents, deeds, essays, photographs, a newspaper clipping, and a map of Kildare, Okalhoma, comprise the Dennis W. Bushyhead Papers, 1879-1913, which document Bushyhead’s career as a principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. The papers also include materials relating to Brushyhead’s personal life and family affairs, as well as ten black and white photographs of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and a photograph of an unidentified building.
Unrestricted access.
Unrestricted use.
Dennis W. Bushyhead Papers, 1879-1913, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Gloria Bolados, 1979. Subsequent revisions were made by Claire Maxwell, 1984.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s