The Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole

by Grant Foreman

Side by side with the westward drift of white Americans in the 1830's was the forced migration of the Five Civilized Tribes from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Both groups were deployed against the tribes of the prairies, both breaking the soil of the undeveloped hinterland. Both were striving in the years before the Civil War to found schools, churches, and towns, as well as to preserve orderly development through government and laws. In this book Grant Foreman brings to light the singular effect the westward movement of Indians had in the cultivation and settlement of the Trans-Mississippi region. It shows the Indian genius at its best and conveys the importance of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles to the nascent culture of the plains. Their achievements between 1830 and 1860 were of vast importance in the making of America.

Genres: History, American History, Indigenous, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Native Americans, Native American History

478 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1971

Reviews

[Runningfox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief history of the five so called Civilized Amrican Indian Tribes..Cherokee-Chickasaw-Creek and Seminole..I said so called because I believe all the American Indian Tribes were more civilized than the European Invaders, of course I am prejudiced in my thinking on this subject because I am an American Indian...

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

ORPL due 2010.0626

This book describes what went on with the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek (Muskogee), and Cherokee between the time they were forced to relocate from the southeast to the area that would become Oklahoma (which means "red people" in Choctaw) in the early 1800's until the beginning of the Civil War. The writing style seems somewhat old-fashioned, but it's still a fascinating story. We are introduced to many of the personalities, both Indian and white, who were involved.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprint of a text from 1934. It tells the history of five tribes Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole from a white man point of view. It tells mainly of the time of the resettlement (1830-1840) of the Native Americans into the Arkansas and Oklahoma area and showed how the bungling of the white man led to their greatest misery.

It is a good history lesson as you must read between the lines as much as the written lines themselves. I mainly read it to learn of the Seminoles of my state of Florida and my heart was greatly saddened by what they endured. It is written in what seem like old time writing style of historians of that day that takes a "bit of getting used to"..

[Kev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, still, all these many years later. Essential reading.