4. Joseph Vann
Joseph Vann was the son of a Scottish Georgia planter and a Cherokee mother. After his father was murdered he inherited his considerable wealth, which included plantations, slaves, several taverns, river ferries, and over $200,000 in gold. Vann relocated to the Indian Territory in 1837, where his business interests thrived. By the 1840s he owned and operated several steamboats, plantations, taverns, and other businesses along the Arkansas River, the Mississippi River’s tributaries including Ohio, and in New Orleans. In 1844 Vann was skilled when his steamboat, Lucy Walker, suffered a boiler explosion on the Ohio River below Louisville.
Vann was instrumental in influencing the Cherokee Council to organize the militia in the Indian Territory. He argued the militia was necessary to prevent organized slave revolts among the slaves held by the Cherokee, as well as by the Creek, Choctaw, and other tribes. In 1842 a slave rebellion erupted when 20 slaves escaped from Vann’s plantation; they were joined by others as they fled in the direction of Mexico. Along the way, they encountered a party of slave catchers bringing other escaped slaves back to their Creek and Choctaw plantations. Two of the slave catchers were killed. Eventually, the escaped slaves were captured by the organized Cherokee militia. Vann put the majority of the recaptured slaves on his steamboats, though only those who did not steam on northern rivers.