Customer Reviews

After the Trail of Tears: The Cherokees' Struggle for Sovereignty, 1839-1880

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The continuing story of the Cherokees after their arrival in present day Oklahoma. A story of the conflicts both within and outside of the Cherokee Nation. The story of how the Cherokees battled to maintain their sovereignty and ultimately failed. Meticulously researched by McLoughlin through primary sources, an excellent history for anyone interested in Native American or Cherokee history. An typical example of what happened to all tribes in America.

This book, as far as I know, is the only one that explores the fascinating history of the Cherokees after they reached Oklohoma. We all know of the 'trail of tears' where the cherokees were removed from Georgia and forced to march to Oklohoma. This book tells the great story of their attempts ot civilize the land. How they built homes how they bought slaves and how they fought with neighbooring indians(who looked like savages to the new americanized Cherokee). The Cherokees fought in the civil war and even fought civil wars among themselves. This book details the hatred of the pure blood cherokees for their brethen who seemed more white and scottish then the others. The cherokee nation then was oborbed into the state of oklohoma when the Indian territory was aboloshed. This is an extraordinary tail of a hitherto unknown american story about one of americas most talked about, but seldom understood and studied, indian tribes, the noble civilized cultured Cherokee(who so many people claim to be descended from that a modern Indian joke goes "what do you get when you have 40 Cherokees in one room? One full blooded Indian").

Read this book after reading another. John Ross is portrayed in quite a different light in each book. He is portrayed positively in this one. After reading both books I am under the impression that John Ross meant well but did several things wrong and was not respected by the U.S. government but instead exploited by them. He seemed to always do what was best for himself and say it was what was best for his people.

I must confess that I bought this book because I write historical fiction about the Cherokees during the time period immediately after 1839. It proved very beneficial in many ways, however I found very little about the common Cherokee. The individuals who were not Chiefs or part of the political struggles of the tribe. However, if you are looking for a very well told account of the struggle as a nation, this is a very good book.