The Texas Cherokees: A People Between Two Fires 1819-1840 (Civilization of the American Indian Series)

About this book

In 1819 to 1820 several hundred Cherokees-led by Duwali a chief from Tennessee-settled along the Sabine Neches and Angelina rivers in east Texas. Welcomed by Mexico as a buffer to U.S. settlement Duwalis people had separated from other Western Cherokees in an effort to retain the tribes traditional lifeways. As Dianne Everett details in The Texas Cherokees they found themselves "caught between two fires" in many respects: between the Cherokee ideal of harmony and the reality of factionalism between white settlers pushing westward and western Indians resisting incursions and between traditional ways and the practical necessity of accommodating to whites. In 1819 to 1820 several hundred Cherokees-led by Duwali a chief from Tennessee-settled along the Sabine Neches and Angelina rivers in east Texas. Welcomed by Mexico as a buffer to U.S. settlement Duwalis people had separated from other Western Cherokees in an effort to retain the tribes traditional lifeways. As Dianne Everett details in The Texas Cherokees they found themselves "caught between two fires" in many respects: between the Cherokee ideal of harmony and the reality of factionalism between white settlers pushing westward and western Indians resisting incursions and between traditional ways and the practical necessity of accommodating to whites.