The Cherokee

The Cherokee tells the story of the Cherokee people from early times to the present, including the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. The Cherokees had an early turbulent history dealing with the Spanish, French, and English invaders. Having fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution, they continued to fight the Americans after the war ended, but soon signed a peace treaty with them. In 1794 some Cherokees left the old homeland in the Appalachian Mountains and settled in Missouri for a time, but the 1811 earthquake drove them out to Arkansas. In 1838 the U.S. government drove most of the rest of the Cherokees out to resettle in what is now northeast Oklahoma. During the U.S. Civil War, some Cherokees became Confederate soldiers and fought for the South. A reconstruction treaty called for organizing the Cherokee Nation into a new Indian Territory, leading to the state of Oklahoma.