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{{short description|Scotch-Cherokee American fur trader and merchant (1805-1868)}}
[[Image:Jessechisholm.jpg|frame|right|Jesse Chisholm]]
'''Jesse Chisholm''' ({{c.}} 1805 – March 4, 1868) was a [[Scottish people|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 [[cattle drive|drive cattle]] from Texas to railheads in Kansas in the second half of the 19th century.

Chisholm used this trail to supply his [[trading post]]s 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 [[Scotland|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH067.html |title=CHISHOLM, JESSE (ca. 1805-1868) |last=Hoig |first=Stan |website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |access-date=August 23, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024044554/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH067.html |archive-date=October 24, 2014 }}</ref>

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

[[Image:Chisholm monument in Bandera, TX Picture 092.jpg|250px|left|thumb|<span style="font-size:100%;">Monument to Jesse Chisholm in [[Bandera, Texas]]</span>]]
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fch32 |title=CHISHOLM, JESSE |last=Richardson |first=T. C. |website=The Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=August 23, 2014 }}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rossel |first=John |date=February 1936 |title=The Chisholm Trail |url=http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-chisholm-trail/12670 |journal=Kansas Historical Quarterly |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=3–14 |access-date=August 23, 2014}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Chisholm died on March 4, 1868, at his last camp near [[Left Hand Spring (Oklahoma)|Left Hand Spring]] (now Oklahoma), due to food poisoning. Chisholm was buried there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/founder-of-chisholm-trail-dies |title=Founder of Chisholm Trail dies — This Day in History — 3/4/1868 |website=History.com |access-date=August 23, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1974, Chisholm was inducted into the [[Hall of Great Westerners]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/|title = Hall of Great Westerners}}</ref> [[Jesse Chisholm Grave Site|His grave site]] in [[Blaine County, Oklahoma]] is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/02041/cah-02041.html |title=A Guide to the Jesse Chisholm Papers, 1859-1880, 1928 |website=Texas Archival Resources Online |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin |access-date=August 23, 2014 }}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/chisholm-trail/17155 |title=Chisholm Trail |last=Gaylord |first=Kristina |date=June 2011 |website=Kansaspedia |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=August 23, 2014 }}
*{{cite book |last=Cushman |first=Ralph B. |title=Jesse Chisholm: Trail Blazer, Sam Houston's Trouble-Shooter Friend, Kin to the Cherokee |publisher=Eakin Press |oclc=521793565 }}
*{{cite book |last=Hoig |first=Stan |title=Jesse Chisholm, Ambassador of the Plains |year=1991 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |location=Niwot, CO |oclc=22953071 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Hoig |first=Stan |date=Winter 1988–1989 |title=Jesse Chisholm: Peace-maker, Trader, Forgotten Frontiersman |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/contents.html |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |volume=66 |access-date=August 24, 2014 |archive-date=October 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025081419/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/contents.html |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite journal |last=Hoig |first=Stan |date=Summer 1989 |title=The Genealogy of Jesse Chisholm |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/contents.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140824133858/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/contents.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 24, 2014 |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |volume=67 |access-date=August 24, 2014 }}
*{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=T. U. |title=Jesse Chisholm |url=https://archive.org/details/jessechisholm00tayl |year=1939 |publisher=Frontier Times |location=Bandera, TX |oclc=2634774 }} An unverified transcription is [https://web.archive.org/web/20030722120751/http://www.ctc.volant.org/home/genea/chis/whole_book.html available on line].

{{NRHP in Blaine County, Oklahoma}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Jesse}}
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:Cherokee Nation people (1794–1907)|Chisholm, Jesse]]
[[Category:People from Indian Territory]]
[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:19th-century American people]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]