Hicks was bilingual and he served as an interpreter to the U.S.
Indian Agent Return Jonathan Meigs, Sr. (1740–1823). Meigs served as agent for more than two decades to the Cherokee in southeastern Tennessee/
Western North Carolina, from 1801 to his death. Hicks also acted as treasurer for the
Cherokee Nation, which organized in a more centralized way in 1794. The Creek, traditional competitors and enemies of the Cherokee, became divided over acculturation and land issues, resulting in the
Creek War. It spilled over into the
War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, as some of the Creek were allied with the British. Hicks fought with United States troops and southern
militia under General
Andrew Jackson against the Creek
Red Sticks (the conservative faction) in the 1814
Battle of Horseshoe Bend in what is now central Alabama. Allied with other former warriors
James Vann and
Major Ridge, Hicks formed a triumvirate with them; they were among the most influential younger leaders in the Nation. The three men were prominent from the late eighteenth century, after the
Cherokee–American wars, to just past the first quarter of the 19th century. They supported acculturation and adoption of some European-American ways. After reading a book called
Idea Fidei Fratrum, an exposition of Moravian doctrine, Hicks embraced
Christianity. He was baptized on April 20, 1813, by
Moravian missionaries as Charles
Renatus ("Born Again") Hicks. His wife was baptized the next day. As the Moravians recognized that the Cherokee had a
matrilineal society, they were glad to have
converted a Cherokee mother, expecting her to influence her children. Hicks was extremely well-read and acculturated, and had collected one of the largest personal libraries in North America at the time, public or private. In an 1826 letter to
John Ross, whom he was grooming as a future Principal Chief, Charles Hicks recounted the history of the Cherokee tribe. He related events from his youth, including his encounters with the chiefs
Attacullaculla and
Oconostota, and early European trader Cornelius Dougherty, as well as stories of traditions. In 1817, Hicks was elected Second Principal Chief under
Pathkiller. After the "revolt of the young chiefs" two years later, partly over land deals, Hicks became the
de facto head of government, with Pathkiller serving as a figurehead. When Pathkiller died in January 1827, Hicks succeeded him as Principal Chief, the first Cherokee of any European ancestry to serve in that position. On January 20, 1827, Hicks died, two weeks after assuming office. His younger brother
William Abraham Hicks served as interim Principal Chief.
John Ross, as President of the National Committee, and Major Ridge, as Speaker of the National Council, had more true political power. The tribe ended its traditional government and formed a constitutional republic. In 1828 it elected John Ross as the new Principal Chief. Popular with full-bloods, who outnumbered the mixed-race members by a three-to-one margin, Ross was repeatedly re-elected. He served as Principal Chief until his death in 1867, after the American Civil War. ==References==