He remained as principal chief, but with greatly diminished powers, performing largely ceremonial functions for the tribe until his death.

He acquired a tract of land about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of present-day Skiatook, Oklahoma, and began his own farm.

[2] Rogers enlisted in the Confederate Army on July 12, 1861, and served as a private for the duration of the conflict in Company E in the First Regiment of Cherokee Volunteers.

Rogers began his career in tribal politics when he ran for election as a representative of the Cooweescoowee District of the Cherokee Nation in 1881.

The best service of which you are capable is the demand of the hour and painstaking effort should characterize your every act so that the result may redound to the everlasting credit and benefit of our people.

The decisions affecting the termination of the Cherokee Nation government had been made, and Rogers felt there was insufficient work remaining that would justify the cost of an election.

[2] After his four-year term of office was complete, he retained the status of chief, for purposes of dealing with matters of the handover of power to the United States.