“A Demand of Blood: The Cherokee War of 1776” (by Nadia Dean) is nothing more than a revision of former books, with added information from the Colonial records. This author, like all previous authors, has re-created an old folklore and false story about the Cherokee nation and it’s situation beginning in 1775,at the commencement of the revolutionary war.
The falsehoods are due, in part, by the usage of one letter in the Colonial records dated Aug. 25, 1776. Additionally, this book has many misrepresentations of facts and non-use of imperative records.
For example, non-use of the Jan. 8, 1776 letter Stuart to Germain in which he explains that 62 Cherokees were at his headquarters at St. Augustine, that they are in very bad situation, but remain loyal to the King. She uses the July 5 letter from rebel Gen. Rutherford to Gen. Christian in a conspicuous manner. This letter spells out details of a three-way invasion into the Cherokee Nation. However, in Chapter10, she makes her case against the Cherokee contemplating war in early July, and in Chapter 11, she protects this planned attack by the rebels by beginning the chapter in late July (30th) so the reader will naturally feel as though their plans were reactionary rather than a well-planned assault. She then separates the same situation in her other chapters.
Sgi,
Paul T. Vickers
Lakeview, Arkansas
