Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation

The embroil would prove ignominious as 1000s died from hunger, exposure, disease and sheer exhaustion. The elderly and young were just about vulnerable to the enforced march. Cherokee were made ill from catching diseases introduced into the commonwealth by unclouded men and many an(prenominal) also died from the consequences of have the spoiled beef many were fed. The Cherokee were brutally forced from their homes, many being separated from their families and put into temporary prisons. Poor sanitation, noisome food, and close quarters at these interment camps also caused the demise of many Cherokee. Before the removal was pull down attempted; however, passions ran to bloodbath on both sides of the battle as whites continued to intrench upon Cherokee lands: "Cherokees met white soldiers on the banks of the Holston and fought to the death. The river ran red....Raids continued, white and red, cruel skirmishes" (Ehle 15).

The important headway of the Cherokee, John Ross, is overwhelmed by the encroachment of the white man in Ehle's story. Though he uses a wealth of primary sources (journals, diaries, soldiers orders, etc.) to enhance his story, Ehle uses a novel-like presentation. Ross is blamed for sending the Cherokee on the long, dense and time-consuming route across land while he and his family took the shorter and less dangerous water route. We see that as the white man progresses into Cherokee territory, there are many social, trade, and religious conflict

s. There are conflicts with respect to the quality versus the town, hunting versus agriculture, Christianity versus traditional Cherokee mysticism, and full-bloods versus mixed-bloods.

What is ironic in Ehle's book is that even though the Cherokee were one of the most willing Native American Nations to adapt to and adopt the slipway of whites, when it came to their enforced removal they were tempered no better than those like the Choctaw and Seminole who were not. We see that many Cherokee had take Christianity, agriculture, and commerce akin to white ways but this did not prevent them from having their homes and property seized and from being ejected from their lands. In many ways the Cherokee were worlds ahead of their European counterpart with respect to social and political phenomenon like women's rights. As Ehle argues: "A Cherokee woman had more rights and berth than European women. She decided whom she would marry, and the man built a theatre for her, which was considered her property, or else he came to her or her mother's house to live. The house and children were hers...To mystify a divorce, she packer her husband's clothes in a pedestal and set it outside her door" (3). Ironically, Ehle points out the fact that notwithstanding such advanced notions anything related to Native Americans was viewed as primitive.

Ehle, J. The Trail of Tears: The
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