John Rollin Ridge, or Chees-quat-a-law-ny (translated Yellow Bird) was a Cherokee born in 1827 to the Cherokee Nation in Georgia. In 1854 he published The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, the first known novel written by an American Indian. His book of poems, called Poems, was published posthumously by his wife in 1868.
