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Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
One of the many ironies of U.S. government policy toward Indians in the early 1800s is that it persisted in removing to the West those who had most successfully adapted to European values. As whites encroached on Cherokee land, many Native leaders responded by educating their children, learning English, and developing plantations. Such a leader was Ridge, who had fought with Andrew Jackson against the British. As he and other Cherokee leaders grappled with the issue of moving, the land-hungry Georgia legislatiors, with the aid of Jackson, succeeded in ousting the Cherokee from their land, forcing them to make the arduous journey West on the infamous "Trail of Tears." (Library Journal)
424 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 1988
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13057 people want to read
About the author
John Ehle
38 books72 followersJohn Ehle (1925-2018) grew up the eldest of five children in the mountains of North Carolina, which would become the setting for many of his novels and several works of nonfiction. Following service in World War II, Ehle received his BA and MA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he met the playwright Paul Green and began writing plays for the NBC radio series American Adventure. He taught at the university for ten years before joining the staff of the North Carolina governor Terry Sanford, where Ehle was a “one-man think tank,” the governor’s “idea man” from 1962 to 1964. (Sanford once said of Ehle: “If I were to write a guidebook for new governors, one of my main suggestions would be that he find a novelist and put him on his staff.”) Ehle was the author of eleven novels, seven of which constitute his celebrated Mountain Novels cycle, and six works of nonfiction. He had one daughter, actress Jennifer Ehle, with his wife Rosemary Harris, also an actress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 287 reviews
August 28, 2007
I have bought and given away many copies of this book..It is my favorite book and it details the history of the Rise and Fall OF my people The Cheokees..I wish everyone would get a copy of this book and read what can happen when you do everything right and the government decides they want what you have obtained and take it away from you and give it to someone who did nothing to obtain it..Thia book gives informtuion bout a president of the US and his disregard for the human rights of people that he could never be good enough to even tie one Cherokee mans their shoe laces.. Present Andrew Jacksons actions make president Bush's actions seem like a saints in comparison..
December 30, 2016
Well, now I know.
Considering I am part Cherokee, I have been curious about the details of this event for a long time. This book was not written in a voice that delivers a dramatic or emotional punch so I felt it lacked a personal touch, a personal touch that would have affected the Cherokee side of me a little deeper. But what it lacked in personality, it delivered in information. As is the case most of the time, what I thought I knew based on hear-say and Hollywood romanticizing, is much shallower than the facts of the actual event.
Trail of Tears is a well documented story of the relocation of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands in the east, to new lands further west. The book takes us far beyond the journey itself and begins early on during the colonization of America by the whites, so we are given the big picture of the overall history that led up to the cruel exodus that took the Cherokee's land as well as many of their lives.
As our nation ages and grows more humble and open, I am appreciative of truth that is revealed, of skeletons that are let out of the closet. But lets me honest; those skeletons don't just belong on one side of the fence. Regardless what you call yourself, we are all human and we all have them. And this is why I enjoy books like this. We need history with its facts. We need to face the truth. Otherwise, how could we face ourselves.
June 22, 2011
In the summer of 2008 I found myself dirty and exhausted in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, taking a day off whilst re-supplying on a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. As an Englishman alone, I was spoilt for choice between the Dollyworld theme park and the World of Magnets emporium. Whilst vacillating on this dilemma over a beer, I fell into conversation with a Cherokee lady who entranced me with a brief history of nearby Cherokee and the tragic history of The Trail of Tears. Continuing on the trek, I couldn’t help thinking of the forests in a new light, populated by the Cherokee nation. Being English I imagined Indian history with horseback braves sweeping across plains a la Hollywood. In view of my interest, after finishing the trek, I was gifted this book by an American friend. It relates the history and culture of the Cherokee nation including the atrocity of the Trail of Tears.It is far from my Hollywood misconceptions
The story is sad and enlightening. I had no idea of the nature of Cherokee culture and many aspects surprised me. Western names, the Irish influence and the politics of the time and area. All empires and powers are founded in some respect on the persecution, subjugation and deprivation of minority races or people. The land grabs surrounding the Southern Appalachian area are no different.
On a negative note, the book does not read easily. The style is very stilted and the tone constantly varies from historical to anecdotal, reading like an amateur paper. Nonetheless, the bland style is somewhat mitigated by the sad historical story.
A must read if you visit this area or have interest in this period of US history. Changed my understanding of this area and my hike through it.
Can anyone recommend a similar book on Dollyworld or The World of Magnets?
The story is sad and enlightening. I had no idea of the nature of Cherokee culture and many aspects surprised me. Western names, the Irish influence and the politics of the time and area. All empires and powers are founded in some respect on the persecution, subjugation and deprivation of minority races or people. The land grabs surrounding the Southern Appalachian area are no different.
On a negative note, the book does not read easily. The style is very stilted and the tone constantly varies from historical to anecdotal, reading like an amateur paper. Nonetheless, the bland style is somewhat mitigated by the sad historical story.
A must read if you visit this area or have interest in this period of US history. Changed my understanding of this area and my hike through it.
Can anyone recommend a similar book on Dollyworld or The World of Magnets?
June 12, 2025
― “Later the Indians would put in claims to the government for the value of their losses, but much loss was of a personal sort. It was agonizing to be told to bring what one could and leave the rest. And what was the rest? A favorite cow. A pet dog. The tree that had been a sapling when Mother married and now shaded the house and spring. The field Papa and my brothers cleared with fire and then beat the roasted roots with clubs and stone. The hearth, where the bread had been baked for many years, every day; the apple house; the smokehouse with five prime, golden hams and three sides of bacon.”
― John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s main welcome center for the eastern (North Carolina) side. It lies just two miles north of Cherokee, North Carolina. Here, you will find the Museum of the Cherokee People and the Oconaluftee Indian Village. This is the home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. While visitors to the town might not realize it, this is a sovereign nation located within the United States.
My first visit to Cherokee was in the summer of 1971. I have been back many times since that summer. In Cherokee, history flows through every trip here. The ancestors of today’s Cherokees were hunters and gatherers going back thousands of years before the white man came. By the time the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto first encountered the natives in 1540, the Cherokees had already developed a thriving and sophisticated culture, with an agricultural system and peaceful self-government.
Author John Ehle was an American novelist known best for his fiction set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. He was raised in Asheville, North Carolina, just fifteen miles west of our home in Black Mountain. I had previously read one of his novels (The Land Breakers) and thoroughly enjoyed it; but I found his foray into history to be a little less satisfying.
In Trail of Tears, Ehle provides a history of the Cherokees from roughly 1770 to 1838, describing the people and events that led to the infamous Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of about 60,000 Cherokees to “Indian Territory” in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The story opens with some background and the birth of a Cherokee boy named Ridge (later Major Ridge while serving under General Andrew Jackson) just a few years before the American Revolutionary War. At the time of his birth, the impact of whites on the Cherokees had already begun to be felt. Major Ridge would one day become a leader of the Cherokee nation.
Ridge would go on to support acculturation of his people in dealing with the United States. He would also come to disagree with the Cherokee chief John Ross on how the Cherokee tribe should respond the United States’ passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. It required the Cherokee to surrender their lands in the Southeast to the United States and to relocate to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Ridge believed removal was inevitable and tried to protect Cherokee rights in the process. Blamed for the loss of their land, Ridge would be assassinated by members of the Ross faction.
I would like to think that the author is sympathetic to the Cherokees, but what does he mean by the “rise” of the Cherokees in the book’s title? By “rise” does he mean the adoption of white culture, language, religion, farming and government? The Cherokees seemed pliable, willing to make these changes, but to what end?
― “In his speeches, John Ridge called for fairness: ‘You asked us to throw off the hunter and warrior state: We did so—you asked us to form a republican government: We did so—adopting your own as a model. You asked us to cultivate the earth and learn the mechanic arts: We did so. You asked us to learn to read: We did so. You asked us to cast away our idols, and worship your God: We did so.’”
― John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
Ehle has provided an impressive bibliography, yet it appears he has chosen to weave history with bits of fiction. Some characters and incidents are revealed with little or no explanation. Few dates are provided. Yet this “history” makes up for its lack of historical rigor with a strong emotional impact.
― John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s main welcome center for the eastern (North Carolina) side. It lies just two miles north of Cherokee, North Carolina. Here, you will find the Museum of the Cherokee People and the Oconaluftee Indian Village. This is the home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. While visitors to the town might not realize it, this is a sovereign nation located within the United States.
My first visit to Cherokee was in the summer of 1971. I have been back many times since that summer. In Cherokee, history flows through every trip here. The ancestors of today’s Cherokees were hunters and gatherers going back thousands of years before the white man came. By the time the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto first encountered the natives in 1540, the Cherokees had already developed a thriving and sophisticated culture, with an agricultural system and peaceful self-government.
Author John Ehle was an American novelist known best for his fiction set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. He was raised in Asheville, North Carolina, just fifteen miles west of our home in Black Mountain. I had previously read one of his novels (The Land Breakers) and thoroughly enjoyed it; but I found his foray into history to be a little less satisfying.
In Trail of Tears, Ehle provides a history of the Cherokees from roughly 1770 to 1838, describing the people and events that led to the infamous Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of about 60,000 Cherokees to “Indian Territory” in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The story opens with some background and the birth of a Cherokee boy named Ridge (later Major Ridge while serving under General Andrew Jackson) just a few years before the American Revolutionary War. At the time of his birth, the impact of whites on the Cherokees had already begun to be felt. Major Ridge would one day become a leader of the Cherokee nation.
Ridge would go on to support acculturation of his people in dealing with the United States. He would also come to disagree with the Cherokee chief John Ross on how the Cherokee tribe should respond the United States’ passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. It required the Cherokee to surrender their lands in the Southeast to the United States and to relocate to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Ridge believed removal was inevitable and tried to protect Cherokee rights in the process. Blamed for the loss of their land, Ridge would be assassinated by members of the Ross faction.
I would like to think that the author is sympathetic to the Cherokees, but what does he mean by the “rise” of the Cherokees in the book’s title? By “rise” does he mean the adoption of white culture, language, religion, farming and government? The Cherokees seemed pliable, willing to make these changes, but to what end?
― “In his speeches, John Ridge called for fairness: ‘You asked us to throw off the hunter and warrior state: We did so—you asked us to form a republican government: We did so—adopting your own as a model. You asked us to cultivate the earth and learn the mechanic arts: We did so. You asked us to learn to read: We did so. You asked us to cast away our idols, and worship your God: We did so.’”
― John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
Ehle has provided an impressive bibliography, yet it appears he has chosen to weave history with bits of fiction. Some characters and incidents are revealed with little or no explanation. Few dates are provided. Yet this “history” makes up for its lack of historical rigor with a strong emotional impact.
April 8, 2009
ok, i won't lie - this took a long time to get through. it's often incredibly dense, and the amount of research that went into it must have been astounding. and truth be told, i eventually found myself struggling to read each-and-every historical detail... but that's a shortcoming of my own attention span, not of the book.
as an inquiry into race and assimilation, this is about as good as it gets. it's not really the story of white settlers and native americans. it's the story of cherokees, creeks, moravians, methodists, baptists, slaves, slave-owners, "half-breeds," choctaws and seminoles. ehle goes to great lengths to render the transformations the cherokees undertook in their encounters with white civilization. yes - as most reviews of this book note - they "took on white customs," but the ambiguity involved in doing so is given fantastic expression.
the book contains lots of strange little portraits. consider general john wool, who arrives to police the cherokee with a strong arm... and instead finds himself disgusted with his own people in the face of their treatment. ehle gives us a glimpse at some of his letters, which seem sincere, patronizing and paternalistic simultaneously. wool's scrappy, military persona is ill-suited to his new-found empathy. so he argues ineffectively on behalf of the cherokee and is eventually removed from his post. wool's story is emblematic of the book's remarkable ambiguity. ehle considers his subjects in three dimensions. the stories are complicated and unsentimental, but also intimate and moving.
as a 21st century reader, it's interesting to note the incredible bureaucratic posturing that went into the cherokee's catastrophic removal from georgia. when confronted with the native american genocide, it's easy to imagine white settlers as barbaric sadists. i'm sure many of them were, but trail of tears rarely focuses on scandals and visceral brutality. instead, the atrocities arrive slowly - through unfair court hearings, shady legislation, broken promises and changing political allegiances. its horror is systematic. at times it's even somewhat familiar.
finally, this book is beautifully written. ehle occasionally adopts a literary style that runs the risk of embellishment. he gets inside the heads of his subjects to a degree that some historians might be uncomfortable with, but i found it tasteful and engrossing. i also enjoyed the diversity of his stylistic approaches. the text moves sharply from cold facts to literary poetics, with a healthy dose of original source material thrown in (sometimes stretching several pages at a time).
if you're interested in native american history (and willing to commit to something dense and challenging), this book is essential reading.
as an inquiry into race and assimilation, this is about as good as it gets. it's not really the story of white settlers and native americans. it's the story of cherokees, creeks, moravians, methodists, baptists, slaves, slave-owners, "half-breeds," choctaws and seminoles. ehle goes to great lengths to render the transformations the cherokees undertook in their encounters with white civilization. yes - as most reviews of this book note - they "took on white customs," but the ambiguity involved in doing so is given fantastic expression.
the book contains lots of strange little portraits. consider general john wool, who arrives to police the cherokee with a strong arm... and instead finds himself disgusted with his own people in the face of their treatment. ehle gives us a glimpse at some of his letters, which seem sincere, patronizing and paternalistic simultaneously. wool's scrappy, military persona is ill-suited to his new-found empathy. so he argues ineffectively on behalf of the cherokee and is eventually removed from his post. wool's story is emblematic of the book's remarkable ambiguity. ehle considers his subjects in three dimensions. the stories are complicated and unsentimental, but also intimate and moving.
as a 21st century reader, it's interesting to note the incredible bureaucratic posturing that went into the cherokee's catastrophic removal from georgia. when confronted with the native american genocide, it's easy to imagine white settlers as barbaric sadists. i'm sure many of them were, but trail of tears rarely focuses on scandals and visceral brutality. instead, the atrocities arrive slowly - through unfair court hearings, shady legislation, broken promises and changing political allegiances. its horror is systematic. at times it's even somewhat familiar.
finally, this book is beautifully written. ehle occasionally adopts a literary style that runs the risk of embellishment. he gets inside the heads of his subjects to a degree that some historians might be uncomfortable with, but i found it tasteful and engrossing. i also enjoyed the diversity of his stylistic approaches. the text moves sharply from cold facts to literary poetics, with a healthy dose of original source material thrown in (sometimes stretching several pages at a time).
if you're interested in native american history (and willing to commit to something dense and challenging), this book is essential reading.
December 12, 2019
I wish everyone could read this book. If you happen to get the chance to read this, PLEASE DO..
April 22, 2018
History books were written very differently 30 years ago. First this isn’t a book about the trail of tears. It’s barely a book about the Cherokee people. This is a book about the lives of the major figures involved in negotiating with the US government leading up to resettlement. It’s sources are the documents white people wrote about those Cherokee leaders. Cherokee wasn’t a written language so contemporary first person accounts are probably non existent. However, this creates a one sided tone the author did little to counter. The only time any Cherokee voices come through are those couple of years when the Cherokee Phoenix was being published.
There is one chapter on the round up and removal. It’s so white washed as to be embarrassing. He notes there are “camps” and that some people had to be led away at bayonet point, but nothing else. There’s a bit more detail in the Epilogue as he mentions some of the factions that stayed behind. The part about the actual March acknowledges that there was sickness and death and folks seemed unhappy but it was written in the style of a fever dream. Very different from the rest of the book and confusing.
At the end, though he clearly thought Andrew Jackson was an abhorrent human, he plays apologist for the government, arguing it was either removal or war and the Cherokee were warriors who owned slaves so we shouldn’t assume they wouldn’t have caused more problems if they stayed.
I am generously giving two stars because the details about the negotiations with the government before removal and the situation the Georgia government created was well done and very informative.
There is one chapter on the round up and removal. It’s so white washed as to be embarrassing. He notes there are “camps” and that some people had to be led away at bayonet point, but nothing else. There’s a bit more detail in the Epilogue as he mentions some of the factions that stayed behind. The part about the actual March acknowledges that there was sickness and death and folks seemed unhappy but it was written in the style of a fever dream. Very different from the rest of the book and confusing.
At the end, though he clearly thought Andrew Jackson was an abhorrent human, he plays apologist for the government, arguing it was either removal or war and the Cherokee were warriors who owned slaves so we shouldn’t assume they wouldn’t have caused more problems if they stayed.
I am generously giving two stars because the details about the negotiations with the government before removal and the situation the Georgia government created was well done and very informative.
July 7, 2009
Well, this is exactly how I learned it in school. Oh,well,uh, maybe not exactly. In fact, not at all. Actually, it's alarming to realize how this version of reality is so totally inconsistent with public school education. OK, enough rant.
This fascinating story constructed from a personal viewpoint made it that much more compelling. I'll take on faith the quoted letters but suspect that some dots were connected by leap of faith and not historical documentation. But that's good enough for me to paint a picture of yet another dirty little era in the rich history of European domination of the western world in the land of the free and the former home of the braves. The native americans blew it but then they weren't dealt a particularly strong hand and then played it poorly but not to be faulted. I was embarrassed at my ignorance of the degree to which the Cherokee people took steps to adapt in the new world circumstances as well as the amount of inter-marriage and assimilation.
I am working my way through the book and don't find the writing particularly good. It seems like a pastiche of well-researched facts, historical novel and personal opinions with blurred lines among them. But it sure is interesting.
Finally finished this book. Not a particularly fun read. But the subject matter is so compelling and the presentation of facts so incredibly inconsistent with my naive appreciation of New World occupation that the content of this book just pulled me along.
Reading this book - or something pretty close to it - should be required to maintain citizenship.
This fascinating story constructed from a personal viewpoint made it that much more compelling. I'll take on faith the quoted letters but suspect that some dots were connected by leap of faith and not historical documentation. But that's good enough for me to paint a picture of yet another dirty little era in the rich history of European domination of the western world in the land of the free and the former home of the braves. The native americans blew it but then they weren't dealt a particularly strong hand and then played it poorly but not to be faulted. I was embarrassed at my ignorance of the degree to which the Cherokee people took steps to adapt in the new world circumstances as well as the amount of inter-marriage and assimilation.
I am working my way through the book and don't find the writing particularly good. It seems like a pastiche of well-researched facts, historical novel and personal opinions with blurred lines among them. But it sure is interesting.
Finally finished this book. Not a particularly fun read. But the subject matter is so compelling and the presentation of facts so incredibly inconsistent with my naive appreciation of New World occupation that the content of this book just pulled me along.
Reading this book - or something pretty close to it - should be required to maintain citizenship.
June 2, 2008
I had mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's obvious that the author did his homework; it's very well researched. On the other hand, I didn't find it to be a very readable book. I often lost track of the main characters and felt this was largely because the author didn't do a great job transitioning from one subject to the next. Also, I found his own intrepetations of what might have happened or what might have been going through one of the main actor's mind frequently unsubstantiated and confusing. Finally, I had a hard time following much of his research and often wondered about the accuracy -- knowing that history can never be one hundred percent objective -- of his representation of events.
September 10, 2012
I wanted to like this book. I really did.
I did finish reading it, but it was one of the most difficult to read books I have come across in a very long time. For anyone interested in this subject matter, there are other, much better, books. "Empire of the Summer Moon" about Quanah and the Comanches was fantastic! "Blood and Thunder" about the Navajos and Kit Carson was awesome too! I am a fan of this subject matter, even though it is quite obviously a tragic one. What "Manifest Destiny" did to all of the Native American tribes as the country spread West is something we should all know about.
There is never a way that these tribes can all be re-paid for what was taken from them: their lands, homes, health, dignity, hunting grounds, customs, traditions and heritage. At the very least, it should be taught better to America's youth in a more truthful and respectful way.
But, the truth remains that this author's style was not easy to read. At times it read like a non-fictional textbook. At other times, it got really "artsy" and poetry-like. Some pages shifted from one medium to another and then back again. It just all seemed so disjointed to me... Frankly, I think that it would have been a much better book if it was 100 or so pages shorter!
I will continue to look for another story about the Cherokees, because this one was obviously not the right one for me.
I did finish reading it, but it was one of the most difficult to read books I have come across in a very long time. For anyone interested in this subject matter, there are other, much better, books. "Empire of the Summer Moon" about Quanah and the Comanches was fantastic! "Blood and Thunder" about the Navajos and Kit Carson was awesome too! I am a fan of this subject matter, even though it is quite obviously a tragic one. What "Manifest Destiny" did to all of the Native American tribes as the country spread West is something we should all know about.
There is never a way that these tribes can all be re-paid for what was taken from them: their lands, homes, health, dignity, hunting grounds, customs, traditions and heritage. At the very least, it should be taught better to America's youth in a more truthful and respectful way.
But, the truth remains that this author's style was not easy to read. At times it read like a non-fictional textbook. At other times, it got really "artsy" and poetry-like. Some pages shifted from one medium to another and then back again. It just all seemed so disjointed to me... Frankly, I think that it would have been a much better book if it was 100 or so pages shorter!
I will continue to look for another story about the Cherokees, because this one was obviously not the right one for me.
July 31, 2011
My great, great grandfather volunteered to remove the Cherokees, so I bought this book to find out more about what he was commissioned to do. The book is called “Trail of Tears” and since I was only interested in the part my ancestor played, I thought I would only have to read half the book. Three quarters of the way through I realized the book’s subtitle is “The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation” and that I would probably be reading the whole book. Believe it or not, that was OK with me. I couldn’t put the book down. I wanted to know what happened to the Ridges, just as if this book were a novel. I’ve never read historical non-fiction before because I thought it would be boring, but this was not. Things I learned: the Indians really did make sport of killing people but they were changing their ways; that Andrew Jackson was an S.O.B. and not worthy of his picture on any denomination of U.S. currency.
September 18, 2011
I'm a third Cherokee so this book really means a lot to me. Using actual written documents from that time, it depicts the Cherokee Nation as it was before the White man began to enforce his ideals and beliefs. It's centered around one of the greatest Cherokees Major Ridge and his family as they grew, adopted the white man's ways, and then fought against Andrew Jackson in court to remain on their ancestral land. Trail of Tears takes the history of a great people and examines what life was like and to what extremes they went to in order to fit in with the white man society growing around them. It was a time of shame for the United States and a must read for any history enthusiast.
June 7, 2020
We zoom in on a piece of history, the long walk of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands in the east to the land assigned to them, by the U.S. government, in the west.
We see not just the forced evacuation and tragic march, we focus in on the individual people and decisions that led to this outcome. It doesn't become any less tragic but it takes on a great deal of depth and complexity with a lot of shades of gray.
Recommended
We see not just the forced evacuation and tragic march, we focus in on the individual people and decisions that led to this outcome. It doesn't become any less tragic but it takes on a great deal of depth and complexity with a lot of shades of gray.
Recommended
December 15, 2009
I had to do a summary of a pov on the trail of tears, and this book was among the armload of books I used for research. However, it is so good, I kept reading it. Eventually it played a part in my final term paper re Andrew Jackson's presidency.
This book is not biased. It gives due where the Cherokee are concerned, and the controversy between chief ross and major john ridge, who was a chief under ross. Another example is that Jackson was correct in wanting the Cherokee to follow state laws and not their own. What this book is about, is what occurred BEFORE the Trail of tears. Historically it is very valuable because it covers all surrounding issues re the Cherokee. Like they actually joined Jackson AGAINST Tecumseh.
Recommended for anyone interested in early american history, and of course native american history.
This book is not biased. It gives due where the Cherokee are concerned, and the controversy between chief ross and major john ridge, who was a chief under ross. Another example is that Jackson was correct in wanting the Cherokee to follow state laws and not their own. What this book is about, is what occurred BEFORE the Trail of tears. Historically it is very valuable because it covers all surrounding issues re the Cherokee. Like they actually joined Jackson AGAINST Tecumseh.
Recommended for anyone interested in early american history, and of course native american history.
April 22, 2012
More than the Trail of Tears this is a very well written history of a crucial span of almost 100 years of the Cherokee and other tribe of the southeast. Their social life, the differing political current and their experiences with the 'whites' and more. Very comprehensive. The author is intentionally emotive or expressive at times but done very well. He also includes lots of original source material.
It also challenges a number of myths about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee were not appreciably becoming integrated in 'white' culture. A few half-bloods were, but not the vast majority were very traditional, never learning to speak English or read Cherokee. Sequoyah was honored for his creation of the Cherokee alphabet but was otherwise irrelevant to the history of his times, having little or no impact on the political and social developments of the tribe. Four hundred, not four thousand Cherokee died on the Trail of Tears and smallpox was not a factor for them. It was for one of the other five tribes however. The Trail of Tears would have been much more benign (as a removal process, not as an overall event in the history of the people, had it not been taken over from the U.S. Army and contracted out to the main chief of the Cherokee! The Cherokee did not live peacefully with their neighbors or among themselves. They were very warlike and violent towards their neighboring tribes and among themselves.
The main historical point, that the 'whites' were inhumane (racist), greedy, violent, unprincipled, undignified and uncouth, is reinforced throughout. The the Cherokee were exceptionally dignified, honest, etc. is also made manifest.
It also challenges a number of myths about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee were not appreciably becoming integrated in 'white' culture. A few half-bloods were, but not the vast majority were very traditional, never learning to speak English or read Cherokee. Sequoyah was honored for his creation of the Cherokee alphabet but was otherwise irrelevant to the history of his times, having little or no impact on the political and social developments of the tribe. Four hundred, not four thousand Cherokee died on the Trail of Tears and smallpox was not a factor for them. It was for one of the other five tribes however. The Trail of Tears would have been much more benign (as a removal process, not as an overall event in the history of the people, had it not been taken over from the U.S. Army and contracted out to the main chief of the Cherokee! The Cherokee did not live peacefully with their neighbors or among themselves. They were very warlike and violent towards their neighboring tribes and among themselves.
The main historical point, that the 'whites' were inhumane (racist), greedy, violent, unprincipled, undignified and uncouth, is reinforced throughout. The the Cherokee were exceptionally dignified, honest, etc. is also made manifest.
June 11, 2024
Tragedy is too general and misleading a term for the Trail of Tears, because it conjures up every angle of historical interpretation, room for every armchair American to judge the faults of someone who was not likely as innocent of incidents as we like to believe. And yet tragedy may also be the most narrow and righteous term for what happened, based on the outline of Ehle’s account, more often tracing each event through the eyes and writings of the Cherokees themselves. Fifteen pages from the end, I was left with a heavier knot in my stomach than any other in the book, from an unseen and unpredicted act so gruesome, cruel, and ultimately unpunished within Cherokee ranks that I felt more angered by humanity than anything else. Most remarkable in this portrait of American History are three things, that Georgia was more of a threat to the Native American people than the Federal Government (even when Jackson was president), that the decision to emigrate each tribe west was an act that in many ways offered these Native Americans protection from local whites in the South, and that the decision/treaty/agreement between certain members of the Cherokee Tribe and the Federal Government to accept emigration was what led to both their future safety (a still-existent Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma) as well as their internal undoing between those who left the East on their own and those who waited to be forced.
January 19, 2024
The United States has a long, long, long history of taking land away from Native Americans, relocating them on parcels of land we’ve deemed valueless, then retaking the land we’ve given to them after discovering it actually does contain value, and relocating them somewhere else, a process that always results in vile, cruel injustice, and bloodshed.
The last paragraph is especially haunting, after Ehle described the ways in which so many lives were senselessly lost, he ends with “They and the Cherokees, the Choctaws, and Creeks, the government officers and missionaries, all walking into history, which is owned by us all,” a line that I think will stick with me forever, and is still heartbreakingly relevant today, seeing as we’re still forcibly taking land from Native Americans when we find anything of value to us on it.
The last paragraph is especially haunting, after Ehle described the ways in which so many lives were senselessly lost, he ends with “They and the Cherokees, the Choctaws, and Creeks, the government officers and missionaries, all walking into history, which is owned by us all,” a line that I think will stick with me forever, and is still heartbreakingly relevant today, seeing as we’re still forcibly taking land from Native Americans when we find anything of value to us on it.
July 15, 2018
As a piece of history writing - regardless of subject matter - it's strong - well researched. The story is not known enough. I think it makes sense for people to read this now...enough said on that for now.
Sadly Ehle's great writing doesn't really take flight until the last chapter and the epilogue which on its own ranks a full 5. No way around it - it doesn't read easy for long periods of time and I swear the 6pt font (for longer references only etc.) was going to make me blind.
Read the Land Breakers from Ehle - much better writing in general.
The subject is nothing less than heartbreaking national embarrassment. Nobody is spared. If you are curious about this subject - and you should be - this is a must read.
Sadly Ehle's great writing doesn't really take flight until the last chapter and the epilogue which on its own ranks a full 5. No way around it - it doesn't read easy for long periods of time and I swear the 6pt font (for longer references only etc.) was going to make me blind.
Read the Land Breakers from Ehle - much better writing in general.
The subject is nothing less than heartbreaking national embarrassment. Nobody is spared. If you are curious about this subject - and you should be - this is a must read.
August 1, 2020
This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I learned a lot of history that I had never heard before, some of it a bit surprising. But all of it supported the notion that whites are more important than anyone else. The attitudes and behaviors of a lot of the leaders in that time are appalling, though there were some that come through historically as being different, willing to learn and to treat all people as people. Maybe most upsetting is how the encouraged, and then forced, emigration caused the Cherokee people to turn on each other, and eventually resulted in mass murder in the new Indian lands in Oklahoma.
March 13, 2020
Engaging at times, but writing was all over, and in my opinion did not flow well at all. Nonetheless, this book captures a history of the Cherokee that starts in the 1700's and moves to the Trail of Tears. Hence the title, rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation.
I've been to the play "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, NC. Recalling aspects of it, depicted Cherokee John Ross in a positive light, whereas, in this book, he comes across as an antagonist of sorts, with Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot the favored characters.
Despite this it traces how the Cherokee lived, and how missionaries and other whites, tried to help educate them, etc, turning them from hunters/warriors in the wild, to landowners, educated citizens of the U.S. But as you read, this is more a minority of them.
The actual Trail of Tears part does not cover but several chapters. There are a lot of excerpts from key players, during this time, which adds credence, but as the author notes, some can be romanticized.
I've been to the play "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, NC. Recalling aspects of it, depicted Cherokee John Ross in a positive light, whereas, in this book, he comes across as an antagonist of sorts, with Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot the favored characters.
Despite this it traces how the Cherokee lived, and how missionaries and other whites, tried to help educate them, etc, turning them from hunters/warriors in the wild, to landowners, educated citizens of the U.S. But as you read, this is more a minority of them.
The actual Trail of Tears part does not cover but several chapters. There are a lot of excerpts from key players, during this time, which adds credence, but as the author notes, some can be romanticized.
June 30, 2013
The book was a bear to get through. I enjoy reading history books, but this was repetitive and monotonous in places. I did appreciate learing about the Cherokee nation, which is why I gave the book two stars instead of one. However, I do not believe I will read another book by this author again. Normally, I expect my history books to stick to the facts. I normally assume there will be some elaboration on the part of the author, but this was too much. Consistently, Mr. Ehle places words into the mouths of the individuals in the book, attempting to convey what they might be thinking or saying. I do not know if you would call this history, or historical fiction. In any case, it was not what I was expecting.
October 19, 2024
devastating - a history of the Cherokee Nation during colonization by white settlers, rather than a full history of the Cherokee Nation, so the title is a bit misleading, but nonetheless thoroughly researched. You can absolutely tell it was written in the 1980s, but it's still such a complete coverage of those years that it was well worth the read.
April 28, 2017
Being that I am part Cherokee (something my dad never let us forget), I always knew about the Trail of Tears. This book really goes into deep detail about everything leading up to and during the Trail of Tears. Super informative and interesting.
September 29, 2019
interesting content but i would have liked it if ehle had just made a decision on whether or not he wanted to make this nonfiction or historical fiction. too much switching between narratives as well as some sentences that just didn't make grammatical sense.
February 4, 2016
My father gave this book to me years ago. I think I was just getting out of high school. A touch of his fathers history. I only remember bits and pieces of it. I liked it though its sad.
August 29, 2020
I did not know about the Cherokee Nation and their History. I do now. An excellent read and a great History reference for research or Term paper. Enjoy!
January 18, 2026
⭐️⭐️
I’ve wanted to learn more about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears for a long time. Growing up in North Carolina, I was aware of the Cherokee from a young age and remember reading a children’s book on the Trail of Tears that stuck with me.
I looked for a book that would be detailed, historically accurate, and would include Cherokee voices. I prefer the writing style and perspectives of a modern author. I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, and ended up reading John Ehle's 1988 book Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation because it was available at my local library, it was recommended as foundational and comprehensive, and I didn’t want to keep delaying reading about the topic until I found the perfect book.
Trail of Tears by John Ehle is highly detailed but also dense. The writing style varies, ranging from very factual, to flowery, to passages with original source material. When Ehle slipped into his dramatic and colorful writing style, I found myself confused about what was factual versus descriptive. While many of the facts outlined are devastatingly sad, I also didn’t feel like Ehle’s writing style conveyed the necessary impact. It took me a while to read and my interest in the topic kept me more engaged than the writing itself.
Concerningly, I came to distrust Ehle as a narrator. I felt he was particularly complimentary of assimilation, and was sometimes judgmental of traditional Cherokee ways of living.
I felt Ehle was biased towards the Treaty Party leaders who are some of the main characters of the book (Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot) over Chief John Ross who was against removal at all costs. At the end of the book, Ehle mostly speaks favorably about the legacy of the Treaty Party while posing a number of questions about Ross’s actions. My takeaway was that both groups were trying to do their best to support their nation through complex and recurring abuses. The fault obviously lied with the encroaching settlers, state governments, and US government who repeatedly harmed the Cherokee.
I often felt Ehle’s perspectives on the traditional Cherokee culture were patronizing. An example that particularly bothered me was when Ehle ended the book by mentioning disease being the main cause of death on the Trail of Tears and implying that the treatment provided by the traditional Cherokee and African healers contributed to the deaths.
He includes a direct quote from a Lieutenant Joseph W. Harris who said the mortality “resulted from the perversity of the Indians in adhering to their own peculiar treatment of the sick.”
In his own words, Ehle continues, “Few died of causes other than disease. The Trail of Tears—or, as Indians more often said, the Trail where they Wept—was a trail of sickness, with Indian sorcerers as doctors. Yes, and African voodoo doctors, too.”
To me this seemed like an odd, minimizing, and even racist notion to end the book on.
I also would have appreciated if Ehle discussed which tribes previously inhabited or claimed the Cherokee lands in the west prior to removal. This seems like an oversight not to discuss in a book that focuses on the impacts of displacement and removal.
Lastly, the Cherokee Nation didn’t go away after the Trail of Tears, and today the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 450,000 tribal citizens worldwide. I wish the modern Nation was referenced in the epilogue.
There’s a lot of nuance involved in history and I appreciated that Ehle presented both injustices done to the Cherokee as well as the injustices they committed, such as participating in chattel slavery and the slave trade. In the epilogue Ehle also outlines that many Cherokee men fought for the confederacy in the Civil War and that tragically a group returned home and harmed Cherokee men, women, and children who were Union sympathizers.
Despite all of my criticisms, I learned a lot of detailed history from this book, and I think there is still a lot to be gained as long as you read it with a critical lens.
I decided I want to supplement the content I read in this book with modern perspectives from the Cherokee Nation, and started by reading the history page on their website.
It’s hard for me to give a negative rating since this is a historical topic that is so important for people to read about. At the beginning of the book I was thinking of rating it three stars because I felt the style was difficult to read. Towards the middle of the book I considered four stars as I got used to the style and appreciated everything I was learning. But then I started to take issue with how Ehle described the Trail of Tears itself and found myself questioning him more and more.
I am not at all an expert on the topic. I think Ehle likely did present some information well, but it’s challenging for me to know which parts those are. I’d love to see reviews from Cherokees or modern day historians.
After finishing the book I did more research, and I think Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt would be a better fit for the type of book I was looking for. While it isn’t exclusively about the Cherokee, the focus and perspectives are very interesting to me. I’ll be adding to my list for a future read!
I’ve wanted to learn more about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears for a long time. Growing up in North Carolina, I was aware of the Cherokee from a young age and remember reading a children’s book on the Trail of Tears that stuck with me.
I looked for a book that would be detailed, historically accurate, and would include Cherokee voices. I prefer the writing style and perspectives of a modern author. I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, and ended up reading John Ehle's 1988 book Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation because it was available at my local library, it was recommended as foundational and comprehensive, and I didn’t want to keep delaying reading about the topic until I found the perfect book.
Trail of Tears by John Ehle is highly detailed but also dense. The writing style varies, ranging from very factual, to flowery, to passages with original source material. When Ehle slipped into his dramatic and colorful writing style, I found myself confused about what was factual versus descriptive. While many of the facts outlined are devastatingly sad, I also didn’t feel like Ehle’s writing style conveyed the necessary impact. It took me a while to read and my interest in the topic kept me more engaged than the writing itself.
Concerningly, I came to distrust Ehle as a narrator. I felt he was particularly complimentary of assimilation, and was sometimes judgmental of traditional Cherokee ways of living.
I felt Ehle was biased towards the Treaty Party leaders who are some of the main characters of the book (Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot) over Chief John Ross who was against removal at all costs. At the end of the book, Ehle mostly speaks favorably about the legacy of the Treaty Party while posing a number of questions about Ross’s actions. My takeaway was that both groups were trying to do their best to support their nation through complex and recurring abuses. The fault obviously lied with the encroaching settlers, state governments, and US government who repeatedly harmed the Cherokee.
I often felt Ehle’s perspectives on the traditional Cherokee culture were patronizing. An example that particularly bothered me was when Ehle ended the book by mentioning disease being the main cause of death on the Trail of Tears and implying that the treatment provided by the traditional Cherokee and African healers contributed to the deaths.
He includes a direct quote from a Lieutenant Joseph W. Harris who said the mortality “resulted from the perversity of the Indians in adhering to their own peculiar treatment of the sick.”
In his own words, Ehle continues, “Few died of causes other than disease. The Trail of Tears—or, as Indians more often said, the Trail where they Wept—was a trail of sickness, with Indian sorcerers as doctors. Yes, and African voodoo doctors, too.”
To me this seemed like an odd, minimizing, and even racist notion to end the book on.
I also would have appreciated if Ehle discussed which tribes previously inhabited or claimed the Cherokee lands in the west prior to removal. This seems like an oversight not to discuss in a book that focuses on the impacts of displacement and removal.
Lastly, the Cherokee Nation didn’t go away after the Trail of Tears, and today the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 450,000 tribal citizens worldwide. I wish the modern Nation was referenced in the epilogue.
There’s a lot of nuance involved in history and I appreciated that Ehle presented both injustices done to the Cherokee as well as the injustices they committed, such as participating in chattel slavery and the slave trade. In the epilogue Ehle also outlines that many Cherokee men fought for the confederacy in the Civil War and that tragically a group returned home and harmed Cherokee men, women, and children who were Union sympathizers.
Despite all of my criticisms, I learned a lot of detailed history from this book, and I think there is still a lot to be gained as long as you read it with a critical lens.
I decided I want to supplement the content I read in this book with modern perspectives from the Cherokee Nation, and started by reading the history page on their website.
It’s hard for me to give a negative rating since this is a historical topic that is so important for people to read about. At the beginning of the book I was thinking of rating it three stars because I felt the style was difficult to read. Towards the middle of the book I considered four stars as I got used to the style and appreciated everything I was learning. But then I started to take issue with how Ehle described the Trail of Tears itself and found myself questioning him more and more.
I am not at all an expert on the topic. I think Ehle likely did present some information well, but it’s challenging for me to know which parts those are. I’d love to see reviews from Cherokees or modern day historians.
After finishing the book I did more research, and I think Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt would be a better fit for the type of book I was looking for. While it isn’t exclusively about the Cherokee, the focus and perspectives are very interesting to me. I’ll be adding to my list for a future read!
August 29, 2020
It took awhile to get through the book. Because I’m obsessed with the Native American History and Culture this book provided a very in-depth look at the Cherokee Indians and what happened when “the white man wanted their 100,000 acres (Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.). In my travels I have noticed several Cherokee reservations in different states. That’s what happened when the white man moved them.
It was very interesting to me that the Cherokee Indians really tried to do their best to assimilate in the white mans world. The wealthier Indians even had Slaves which I have never heard before.
If your interest is in the Native American story this is as accurate as it gets with actuall letters, treaties, etc.
It was very interesting to me that the Cherokee Indians really tried to do their best to assimilate in the white mans world. The wealthier Indians even had Slaves which I have never heard before.
If your interest is in the Native American story this is as accurate as it gets with actuall letters, treaties, etc.
October 9, 2018
This is more of a review of the audio version on Recorded Book than the actual book itself, but authorized versions of the book represent the book itself.
I listened to about half of the book as read by John McDonough. The subject is interesting, but the actual reading turned out to be a cure for insomnia. McDonough paused too long when reading the sentences and read the book in a very monotone manner---which is impressive in and of itself because I didn't know that it was possible to speak with a British accent that flat.
I listened to about half of the book as read by John McDonough. The subject is interesting, but the actual reading turned out to be a cure for insomnia. McDonough paused too long when reading the sentences and read the book in a very monotone manner---which is impressive in and of itself because I didn't know that it was possible to speak with a British accent that flat.
June 1, 2024
Good book and well written. But in my option it needs much editing. I understand why a history writer would want to include everything they found during research but lines like 'Thomas Lorain McKenney-a tall, friendly man with blue eyes, a hawkline nose, and a clump of white hair' are just too much detail. That is just one example. There are other instances where name after name are included and those names are not important characters.
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