Cherokee Echoes

The history of Northeastern Oklahoma is a gift that just keeps giving, not only the chronological sequence of events but the anecdotal stories as well. As evidenced by archeological studies, prehistoric tribes enjoyed the region for centuries, then disappeared. Although Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto came near to Oklahoma in western Arkansas, it was a Frenchman, Claude du Tisne, who in 1519 was the first white man documented in the region, seeking a trade route to the Spanish in the southwest. After the founding of Arkansas Post in 1685, a plethora of French trappers and traders saturated the area and two centuries later the Western Cherokee followed by the Eastern Band carved out a new nation. Within twenty years the combined Cherokee tribes had developed a body of governing laws and organized an education system dubbed "The Athens of the Southwest." Then following a seemingly endless sequence of horrific events, including the American Civil War and three decades of lawlessness, the region was reconfigured by the Dawes Commission. In a testament to resiliency, in more recent decades it has re-emerged as a well functioning sovereign nation. This book is composed of 120 articles chronicling events that occurred in Northeastern Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation, its people and their communities.