CHEROKEE TRAGEDY; THE STORY OF THE RIDGE FAMILY AND THE DECIMATION OF A PEOPLE. University of Oklahoma Press The Civilization of the American Indian Series, Volume #169.

Wilkins, Thurman. [Major Ridge, ca. 1771-1839; John Ridge, ca.â 1802-1839.]

ISBN 10: 0806119667 / ISBN 13: 9780806119663

Published by Norman, OK and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986., 1986

About this Item

First printing (as stated) of the revised second edition. xvi, 416 pages. Hardcover: H 23.5cm x L 15.75cm. Dust jacket well rubbed with some foxing and soiling; scuffing/nicks at edges. Black boards with red and gilt lettering to spine. Slight foxing to text block edges. Some slight foxing to interior pages which otherwise remain clean. Binding retains some crispness. A very good+ copy in a very good- dust jacket. ISBN 0806119667.

Seller Inventory # Z626X-3325

Bibliographic Details

• Title: CHEROKEE TRAGEDY; THE STORY OF THE RIDGE FAMILY AND THE DECIMATION OF A PEOPLE. University of Oklahoma Press The Civilization of the American Indian Series, Volume #169.
• Publisher: Norman, OK and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0806119667
• ISBN 13: 9780806119663
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Native Americans

About this title

Synopsis

Beginning with the birth of the Cherokee patriarch Major Ridge in the 1770â s, Thurman Wilkins tells the events that led to the Trail of Tears, through the eyes of the illustrious Ridge family. Major Ridge and his Connecticut-educated son John were willing to abandon the rich tribal homelands in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia and emigrate west to the Indian Territory to escape the white invaders.

During the decades of fruitless negotiations that culminated in the infamous Treaty of New Echota, Georgia, in 1835, the Ridges and their relatives Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie became persuaded that further protests by the Cherokees would lead only to their annihilation at the hands of the whites. The pro-treaty Ridge faction was opposed by fiery John Ross, the leader of the majority National Party, who wanted to stay and fight in the Southeast against all odds.

In this revised edition of his great work, Thurman Wilkins addresses the new scholarship of the past fifteen years and reconsiders the important questions raised by Cherokee history aficionados: Were Major Ridge and John Ridge paid off by the United States for their support of removal? If not, how did these Cherokee patriots come to change their minds about emigrating west? Was Chief John Ross a hero or a villain?

Since Cherokee Tragedy was first published in 1970, it has been valued as a penetrating social and political history of neither the whole Cherokee Nation-nor just the Ridge family- from the last quarter of the eighteenth century to the 1838 Trail of Tears and the subsequent “executionâ of the Ridges in Indian Territory.

About the Author

Thurman Wilkins, Professor Emeritus of English of New York's Queens College, was also the author of widely acclaimed biographies of the geologist-surveyor Clarence King and the artist Thomas Moran.