Did Chief John Ross live in the Murrell Home?
Yes, but only off and on for about two months. When the Chief returned to the Cherokee Nation after the Civil War (Sept. 10 to Nov. 11, 1865), he stayed at “Hunter’s Home,” the name given to the Murrell plantation. Ross’ own home, “Rose Cottage,” a half-mile to the east, had been burned by Stand Watie’s Confederate troops on October 28, 1863. (Gary Moulton, Papers of Chief John Ross, Vol. 2, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1985, pps. 547, 647-658). At the request of the Murrells, the Chief’s sister, Elizabeth, and her family had been living in the Murrell Home since the summer of 1862 when the Murrells left the Nation to return to Virginia, where he was to support the Confederacy.
