Becoming Chief
John Ross died at Washington on August 1, 1866. As Assistant Principal Chief, Lewis Downing succeeded him and served until 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.
He died in office at Tahlequah, on November 9, 1872, and is buried in the old Ned Adair cemetery in what is today Mayes County, Oklahoma.
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