Book Review: Trail of Tears

By John Ehle, Reviewed by Jaycie Smith

Stepping away from his usual fiction work, John Ehle penned what some have called the definitive story on the Cherokee Indian removal. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation gives a strong voice to the Cherokee Indians. Ehle describes the events leading up to the Trail of Tears and details the lives of the important Cherokee Indians who led them. At times sweeping and at times poignant, Trail of Tears provides modern readers with perhaps their first in-depth look at the largest Indian removal of the nineteenth century. Overall, Ehle’s Trail of Tears is a powerful book that evaluates the Indian removal that took place in the 1830s. 

The beginning of the eighteenth century saw a new nation embrace many changes in society. In addition, white settlers had an insatiable appetite for land and gold. Ehle points out that Native American Indians, and specifically the Cherokee Indians, did not realize that change was inevitable (97). Ehle argues that for the most part, full-blooded Cherokee Indians were more resistant to assimilation into the white culture (137). While some Indians wanted to remain in the East, given the hostile circumstances and drastic differences in white culture and Indian culture, monumental change was imminent. While Andrew Jackson’s removal of the “civilized indian” tribes was anything but peaceful, by the time he took office removal was unavoidable. The Cherokee Indians were at every disadvantage in a white man’s world. 

In addition, internal division wrecked the Cherokee Indians. A small handful of Cherokee leaders were interested in working with the United States government to negotiate a mutually beneficial compromise. But, there were Cherokee leaders who would accept personal bribes instead of keeping the Indian’s best interests at heart. Ehle is able to differentiate between the two groups and provide understanding behind each’s motives. 

Although best known for his fiction, Ehle branched out to the historical drama known today as the Trail of Tears. In an attempt to set the story straight on the Cherokee Trail of Tears and despite using hundreds of historical sources, Ehle’s Trail of Tears disappointingly reads like fiction. No sources are cited within the reading, so the reader must rely on Ehle’s narrative interpretation to distinguish fact from what is indeed fiction. “Sad are the lullabies an Indian mother sings to her baby as she measures the time from day to day, danger to danger” (8). While this writing style makes for a beautiful sentence, Ehle should leave the undocumented imagery to his fiction writing. 

The core Cherokee characters in Trail of Tears are undoubtedly elite Cherokee men. John Ross. Major Ridge. John Ridge. Very few times does Ehle allude to what the average Cherokee Indian would have experienced leading up to the mass immigration. Not to mention, Andrew Jackson’s Removal Act did not just remove the Cherokee Indians from their homeland, but five “civilized” tribes were removed: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole. However, Ehle barely speaks of these other four tribes, and certainly depicts them as having very little to do with negotiations or government before their forced removal. In order to complete an accurate representation of the Trail of Tears, more information on non-elite Indians and the other four Indians tribes must be given. 

With his chilling sentences, Ehle points to gold as the definitive defining moment in the Cherokee’s own ability to control their lands: “Gold was the great elevator of men’s fortunes. Luck and gold. Gold and luck. Lucky gold. Golden luck. (222)” Not long after in his inaugural speech, Andrew Jackson proclaimed it time for the Indians to remove themselves from eastern America.

If not an Indian removal, what would have been an acceptable alternative to the Indian “problem?” Ehle hardly touches the surface of this question, but does admit that “a practical alternative to Indian removal never ams before the government” (395). Ehle quotes a lengthy paragraph to Indian agent Return J. Meigs, who suggested that each Cherokee Indian be personally deeded over six hundred acres apiece of lands claimed by the Cherokee, leaving a surplus of over eight million acres that could be sold to benefit the Indians. 

Trail of Tears is a personal book revealing much about men such as John Ross and Major Ridge. Ehle presents these men and their families as real people, much like their counterparts the white settlers. These Cherokee Indians were not the tee-pee living Indians whom children learn about in grade school. These Indians were tribes, families, and friends who hunted, farmed, and supported their communities. Many Cherokees could read and they were certainly intelligent. Ehle’s work would be a great starting point from someone interested in learning more about the Cherokee Indians or the Indian removal, but those interested in a more precise and historical interpretation should perhaps look elsewhere.