Lewis Downing Lewis Downing ( 1823 – November 9 , 1872 ) , also known by his Cherokee name Lewie - za - wau - na - skie served as Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1867 to 1872 . After the death of John Ross , he was a compromise candidate who was elected to a full term as Principal Chief . Downing worked to heal divisions in the tribe following removal to the Indian Territory and the American Civil War . He was elected to a second term in 1871 , but died in 1872 , after a two week battle with pneumonia . The Cherokee Council chose William P . Ross as his successor . Background . Downing was born in eastern Tennessee in 1823 to Samuel Downing and his wife Susan Daugherty , who were both Cherokee with mixed European ancestry , as were many among the leaders of the Nation in those years . The young Downing attended school at the Valley Town Mission in North Carolina . When he was a young man , Downing and his family went west during the forced removal of the Cherokee and their slaves , now known as the Trail of Tears . The family was part of the emigration group led by Jesse Bushyhead . In 1839 , the Downings arrived in what is now Adair County , Oklahoma . They settled near the site where Reverend Evan Jones had reorganized the Baptist Mission after its removal from North Carolina . Lewis Downing continued his education at Baptist Mission . Career . Early in life , Downing became a convert of the Mission through the efforts of Reverend Jones . Downing subsequently was ordained as a Baptist minister . The historian John Bartlett Meserve wrote , " Reports of his [ Downing ' s ] spiritual activities reach back to 1842 when he was but nineteen years of age . On August 3 , 1844 , he was unanimously chosen pastor of the Flint Baptist Church , succeeding the Reverend Jesse Bushyhead who had passed away shortly before . " The young minister was a strong participant in Cherokee Nation politics and as such was elected senator from Goingsnake District on August 4 , 1845 . He later removed to a farm on what is today the southeast corner of Mayes County , Oklahoma , where he was elected to the senate on August 4 , 1851 , and again on August 1 , 1859 . In 1851 , Downing served as a delegate from the Cherokee tribe to Washington , D . C . Civil War . The American Civil War exacerbated divisions within the tribe dating to removal and the years of violence following that . Chief Ross agreed to an alliance with the Confederacy and the Cherokee formed the majority of the Indian cavalry . Lewis Downing was named chaplain of companies F and S of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles , which was formed by Chief Ross for the Confederate ] ] Army on October 4 , 1861 . Col . John Drew was the commanding officer . The members of this regiment were mostly full bloods and were not slave owners . The regiment fought in the Confederate service at Pea Ridge , Arkansas , on March 7 – 8 , 1862 . With the advance of the Union forces into the Territory in July 1862 , and the departure of Chief Ross for Philadelphia under growing tribal tensions , the cavalry ' s members began to waver in their allegiance to the South . With few exceptions , among them Col . John Drew , the Cherokee began to abandon Confederate service . On July 11 , 1862 , at Flat Rock Creek , most joined the 3rd Regiment of the Indian Home Guards for service in the Union Army . This contingent was composed of three regiments consisting of 1 , 480 men , of which Lewis Downing was named Lieut . Colonel and the Rev . John B . Jones was designated its chaplain , in the brigade of Col . William A . Phillips . At the time , the majority of the Cherokee favored the Confederacy . They and those who were pro - Union formed dual governments in the Cherokee Nation , each striving to control its political affairs . The pro - Union forces , who recognized John Ross as chief , held meetings at Cowskin Prairie . In July 1862 , they renounced allegiance to the Confederacy . Tom Pegg took over as acting chief , and their National Council in early 1863 reflected the Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln . On February 21 , 1863 , they emancipated all the slaves in Cherokee territory , but most were held by their opponents . laws of emancipation were enacted and future slavery abolished . Lewis Downing assisted in leadership , serving as the third ( in succession ) acting principal chief of the Union Cherokee in John Ross ' absence in Washington , D . C . . The dual governments continued until after the conclusion of the war . The pro - Confederate Cherokee were led by Stand Watie , who served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army . Post war . Lewis Downing , as president of the pro - Union tribal council , went to Washington in 1863 to alert the government to the divided situation of the Cherokee . After the war , a preliminary intertribal peace conference with the United States commissioners was held at Fort Smith on September 8 , 1865 . It was at this meeting that Downing protested against the refusal of the commissioners to accord recognition to John Ross as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee . At that time , Stand Watie was chief of the pro - Confederate Cherokee , and he proposed federal recognition of two Cherokee nations . The US dealt only with Ross and the pro - Union faction . Chief Ross returned to Tahlequah for a brief period in the fall of 1865 . He returned to Washington the next year to protest against the approval of section nine of the treaty of June 19 , 1866 . The US government was requiring the Cherokee to free their slaves , and to grant them full citizenship in the Cherokee nation and equal rights to annuities and land grants as full - blood Cherokee . The Reverend John B . Jones approved this disputed section ; he had accompanied Ross as a delegate and signed the treaty as such . Becoming chief . John Ross died at Washington on August 1 , 1866 . As Assistant Principal Chief , Lewis Downing succeeded him and served until an election on October 19 , 1866 . The National Council chose William P . Ross to fill the position of Principal Chief until the next election . Much bitterness lingered among the Cherokee following the end of the war . Many resented the conditions which the US government had included in the peace treaty , as the pro - Confederate Cherokee had wanted the government to remove the freedmen at its expense and to allocate them land separately from the Cherokee . Among the Ross faction of the pro - Union Cherokee were many who insisted upon the exclusion of the pro - Confederate Cherokee from tribal affairs . There were sentiments that the penalties for their Southern activities had not been entirely exhausted . Downing opposed discrimination within the tribe . He formed the Downing Party to work for reunification of the different factions . Reverend John B . Jones threw his power and influence among the full bloods , behind the Downing movement which was to rehabilitate the Southern Cherokees and align them with the Union Cherokee . In the tribal election held on August 5 , 1867 , Lewis Downing was elected Principal Chief with the support of both factions . The Downing party controlled the political affairs of the Cherokee Nation until Statehood in 1908 , except for the tenure of chief Dennis W . Bushyhead from 1879 to 1887 . Lewis Downing signed the Treaty of April 27 , 1869 , at Washington . He represented the Cherokee at Washington as a delegate in 1869 and in 1870 . He was re - elected on August 7 , 1871 . Family . Little information has been written about Lewis Downing ' s family life . Meserve says that he first married Lydia Price . After he death , he married Lucinda Griffin . His third marriage was to Mary Eyre , a white widow whom he had met while he was in Washington . Mary moved to Talequah while Lewis ' previous wife was still alive and married the old chief after her death . Both Lewis and Mary died about two years later . Death . He died in office at Tahlequah , on November 9 , 1872 , after a two - week battle with pneumonia , and is buried in the old Ned Adair cemetery in what is today Mayes County , Oklahoma . The Council was required to pick a successor to complete Downing ' s term . For unknown reasons , they turned to his old opponent , William Powell Ross . Sources . McLoughlin , William G . " After the Trail of Tears : The Cherokees ' Struggle for Sovereignty 1839 - 1880 " . 1993 . University of North Carolina Press . Chapel Hill . ISBN 0 - 8078 - 2111 - X