25 Facts About Ned Christie

Ned Christie, known as NeDe WaDe, was a Cherokee statesman.

Ned Christie sought bail in order to prove his innocence, but was refused.

Ned Christie is notable for having evaded and held off for five years United States lawmen seeking his capture, in what was later called Ned Christie's War.

Ned Christie was declared an outlaw, with a reward on his head, and the case was sensationalized by newspapers.

Ned Christie was born in 1852 at Wauhillau, Goingsnake District, Cherokee Nation, in what is the present-day state of Oklahoma.

Ned Christie was the son of Watt and Lydia Christie, who survived the Trail of Tears and removal from the American Southeast to Indian Territory.

Ned Christie became literate in both Cherokee and English, but no writings by him have been found.

Concerned about trying to protect Cherokee national sovereignty, Christie strongly opposed giving the federal government land to construct railroads through their territory.

Ned Christie began to earn some enemies, particularly as he was regarded as a leader among his people.

Ned Christie was a member of the Keetoowah Society, which was based on traditional religion.

Ned Christie was charged with manslaughter in the 1885 death of William Palone, another Cherokee.

Ned Christie was accused of the murder by John Parris, a companion who had been arrested.

Parris told authorities that Ned Christie had fired the shot that killed Maples.

Ned Christie's home was in the Rabbit Trap community of the Goingsnake District in the Cherokee Nation, where he lived with his wife, Nancy Greece, and their 13-year-old son James Greece.

Ned Christie learned that he had been indicted by a grand jury of the United States Court of the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith for Maples' murder and that Judge Isaac C Parker had sent more marshals to arrest him.

Nancy Christie returned to the burned-out cabin and found her husband wounded but alive.

Ned Christie took him and his nephew to a local white doctor.

Ned Christie was fatally shot as he escaped the burning ruins.

Ned Christie's body was finally released by authorities to his family.

Ned Christie was finally committed to the Canton Indian Insane Asylum in South Dakota, which opened in 1903 and was often used to house Indians considered troublemakers.

Ned Christie said that Bud Trainer shot the lawman, not Christie.

Ned Christie's name was cleared at last, years after he was brutally killed.

Today Ned Christie is honored by a plaque at the Cherokee Court House in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the oldest public building in the state.

Many articles about Ned Christie were published in newspapers and western magazines, in addition to dime novels; most at the time sensationalized his life.

Ned Christie Was a Brave Man: The Story of an Indian Patriot was written by Lisa LaRue, Cherokee Keetoowah historian.