Jesse Chisholm

Jesse Chisholm (c. 1805 – March 4, 1868) was a Scotch-Cherokee fur trader and merchant in the American West. Chisholm is known for having scouted and developed what became known as the Chisholm Trail, later used to drive cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas in the second half of the 19th century.

Jesse Chisholm

Chisholm used this trail to supply his trading posts among the Native American tribes in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). He worked with Black Beaver, a Lenape guide, to develop the route. Chisholm died before the peak period of the cattle drives, but he was essential to numerous events in Texas and Oklahoma history. Chisholm served as an interpreter for the Republic of Texas and the United States government in treaty-making with Native American tribes.

Early life and education

Chisholm's father, Ignatius, was of Scottish descent and probably also a trader, and his mother Martha (née Rogers) was a Cherokee from the region of Great Hiwassee in eastern Tennessee. As the Cherokee had matrilineal kinship, Jesse was considered to belong to his mother's people. Chisholm moved with his mother to the Indian Territory during the early period when some Cherokee migrated there voluntarily from the Southeast, and grew up in Cherokee culture.

Career

In 1826, Chisholm became involved in working for a gold-seeking party, who blazed a trail and explored the region to present-day Wichita, Kansas. In 1830, Chisholm helped blaze a trail from Fort Gibson to Fort Towson. In 1834, Chisholm was a member of the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition, who first contacted the southern Plains Indians on behalf of the United States federal government.^[1]

In 1836, Chisholm married Eliza Edwards. They resided in the area of her father's trading post on the Little River near its confluence with the Canadian River in Indian Territory. Chisholm worked as a trader.

Monument to Jesse Chisholm in Bandera, Texas

Fluent in thirteen Native American languages and Spanish, Chisholm served as an interpreter and general aid in several treaties between the Republic of Texas and local Indian tribes and between the United States federal government and various tribes after Texas was admitted to the Union. This diplomatic work spanned 20 years between 1838 and 1858.^[2] During this period, Chisholm also continued in the Indian trade, trading manufactured goods for peltry and cattle.

He mostly remained neutral during the American Civil War. Many residents of the Indian Territory feared they might be massacred, either intentionally or as an accident of war, if either side attempted to contend for control of the territory. Chisholm led a band of refugees to the western part of the territory. For some time, they suffered privation, as trade had also dried up during the war.

At the war's end, Chisholm settled permanently near present-day Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and again began to trade in the Indian Territory. Chisholm built up what had previously been a military and Indian trail into a road capable of carrying heavy wagons for his goods. This road later became known as Chisholm's Trail. When the Texas-to-Kansas cattle drives started, the users of the trail renamed it the Chisholm Trail.^[3]

Death and legacy

Chisholm died on March 4, 1868, at his last camp near Left Hand Spring (now Oklahoma), due to food poisoning. Chisholm was buried there.^[4]

In 1974, Chisholm was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners.^[5] His grave site in Blaine County, Oklahoma is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.