One of the many distinguished writers highlighted at Georgia Writers Museum is known by the name “Buck Waite,” a Cherokee translation of his given name, Gallegina Uwati. Although, history often remembers him best as Elias Boudinot. If that seems confusing now, don’t worry. Boudinot’s remarkable story will clear everything up!

Boudinot was born around 1803 in north Georgia between present day Rome and Calhoun. Boudinot, the oldest son of Uwati and Susanna Reese, was of Cherokee and European ancestry. He was educated at schools operated by Moravian missionaries. This early education laid the foundation for his future work. In 1817, young Gallegina was invited to attend the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions school in Cornwall, Connecticut. On his journey there, Gallegina was introduced to Elias Boudinot, the aged president of the American Bible Society, and adopted his name in deference and tribute to his work.

Boudinot attended the American Board school for several years. During his time there, he met people that he would create meaningful and lasting connections with. He proposed to Harriet Ruggles Gold, the daughter of a white Cornwall physician, during his time there. Their interracial engagement sparked intense backlash—so fierce that the couple was burned in effigy. Accused of encouraging such unions, the school was soon forced to close. Despite this, Boudinot and Harriet married in 1826 and returned to the Cherokee Nation, where they dedicated themselves to mission work.

In the spring of 1826, Boudinot embarked on a nationwide speaking tour to elicit financial, spiritual, and political support for the Cherokee Nation’s advancements across academic, cultural, and artistic fields. His pamphlet, “An Address to the Whites,” was based on a speech he gave in Philadelphia. Boudinot proved to be very effective at both speaking and fundraising. His success in rallying support and interest for the Cherokee Nation helped pave the way for a new era of communication and expression. By 1827, the General Council of the Cherokee Nation purchased a printing press with Cherokee typeface for the publication of a national newspaper, with Elias Boudinot as its editor.

The first issue of the groundbreaking bilingual Cherokee Phoenix appeared in February 1828. Boudinot pledged to print in Cherokee all the official documents of the Nation, its tracts on religion and temperance, and local and international news.

Through his editorials, Boudinot chronicled the progress of the Cherokee Nation, emphasizing that his people were just as equal. Yet he soon came to understand that the U.S. government’s campaign for Cherokee removal was never truly about perceptions of culture or progress; it was about the forceable acquisition of Cherokee lands.

In the years following the Indian Removal Act (1830), Boudinot recognized the inevitability of the removal of Native Americans. He published editorials favoring the displacement of the Cherokees to a territory west of the Mississippi River, seeing it as the most pragmatic means to ensure his people’s survival. His opinions were at odds with those held by most of the Cherokee Nation and its General Council. Boudinot resigned as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix in August 1832 but continued to take an active role in the removal crisis.

Boudinot ultimately signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, which required Cherokees to relinquish all remaining land east of the Mississippi River. This led to their forced removal to a territory in present-day Oklahoma.

In 1839, Elias Boudinot, along with his uncle, Major Ridge, and his cousin, John Ridge, was assassinated by an anti-treaty Cherokee group. Their deaths stemmed from the divisions following the Treaty of New Echota, an agreement that led to the Trail of Tears and the loss of thousands of Cherokee lives.

Elias Boudinot was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2005.