Littlefield unravels the complex history of the demise of the Cherokee nation. In overwhelming detail he reconstructs the nation's 40 year struggle to define the social, political, and legal status of the freed blacks among them. The freedmen issue led to federal intervention on behalf of the blacks, which eroded the nation's autonomy; it exhausted the nation's resources; it bred division among the Cherokees; and it persuaded white Americans that the Cherokees had no special claim to Indian land or governmental favors.