The Cherokee War of 1776 : native destruction at the dawn of American independence / Kevin Kokomoor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kokomoor, Kevin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dragging Canoe, -1792.

Dragging Canoe.

Indians of North America--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--History.

Indians of North America--Wars.

Cherokee Indians--History.

Cherokee Indians.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

ix, 367 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Native destruction at the dawn of American independence

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Americans remember 1776 as the year liberty was declared, the moment they cast off tyranny and proclaimed the self-evident truths of equality and freedom. But that same summer, as patriots celebrated their defiant new nation, American armies launched another campaign -- this one aimed at destroying the Cherokee nation. The Cherokee War of 1776 recasts America's founding moment by tracing the importance of westward ambition and settler violence to the origins of the Revolutionary War. In this gripping and sobering book, historian Kevin Kokomoor uncovers the rarely acknowledged war waged by the emerging United States against the Cherokee people just days after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Far from a spontaneous frontier skirmish, this war was a coordinated, state-backed campaign with a clear aim: seize Indigenous land and crush Native resistance. Many of the very men who championed liberty on parchment simultaneously advocated for the wholesale destruction of a sovereign Native nation. At the heart of this story is Cherokee resistance, which was strategic, determined, and deeply rooted in community dynamics. Figures like Dragging Canoe emerged to lead a movement that endured long after American armies had burned Cherokee towns to the ground. Kokomoor foregrounds Cherokee voices, motivations, and resilience, challenging the notion that they were merely pawns in a colonial struggle and forcing us to reckon with the real costs of independence and the long fight for Indigenous sovereignty."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Celebrating independence and invasion in Charleston, 1776

Prologue: From the first Cherokee War to 1763

Part I: Revolution and the Cherokees. A postwar push for Cherokee land ; Conflicted Cherokees, united neighbors ; A struggle for Cherokee neutrality ; American antagonizers, native instigators, British abbettors

Part II: The Cherokee War of 1776. The Cherokee War of 1776, part 1 ; Blaming, invading, "extirpating" ; The Cherokee War of 1776, part 2 ; Conquering Americans, conquered Cherokees

Part III: The Revolutionary War and the Cherokees. Regrouping, rebuilding, resisting ; Rejoining the frontier war ; Charleston and Cherokees in 1780 ; A Chickamauga rise and a British collapse

Epilogue: From the Cherokee War to the Chickamauga War.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-356) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Burt fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781421454566

1421454564

OCLC:

1528171121