George Washington Grayson

George Washington Grayson, also known as Yaha Tustunugge (Wolf Warrior), (May 12, 1843 - December 2, 1920) (Muscogee Creek), was a businessman, merchant, rancher, publisher of the Indian Journal, writer, and leader of the Creek Nation during the period when Indian Territory was dissolved to prepare of Oklahoma statehood.

In 1917, under revised conditions after tribal governments had been dissolved, Grayson was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson as chief of the Creek Nation, serving until his death.

George Washington Grayson (his Muskogee name was Yaha Tustunugge, or Wolf Warrior), was named for the first president of the United States; he was born in 1843 in Indian Territory to Jane "Jennie" (Wynne), a mixed-race (métis) Creek woman whose father John Wynne was of Welsh descent and mother Per-cin-ta Harrod was métis Creek, of Coweta town.

[1] James' father was Tulwa Tustunugge, descended from a Scots trader Robert Grierson, who married Sin-o-gee of the Hillabee Town in the Creek Nation in the late 18th century.

[4] During the American Civil War, Grayson served as a Confederate captain, leading a company of the 2nd Creek Mounted Volunteers.

From his early adult years, Grayson used his education and position as interpreter to become a power broker within the nation, as well as between it and white settlers, and the federal government.

His widespread contacts also helped him develop "business partnerships with fellow Creeks, entrepreneurs from other Indian groups, and non-Indians.

[5] He brokered "the distribution of goods, money, land, and political influence," in a sense related to the traditional role of headman in the tribe.

This effort was seeking to avoid folding the Indian Territory into the proposed state of Oklahoma, but it did not gain Congressional approval.

In 1913 Grayson also met with the Rodman Wanamaker expedition, led by Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, to preserve and memorialize the Native American cultures.

[6] After the tribal government was dissolved under the Curtis Act, Grayson was later appointed as chief by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917, serving until his death in 1920.