Kokomoor, Kevin The Cherokee War of 1776

Native Destruction at the Dawn of American Independence

For Americans, 1776 is the year liberty was proclaimedthe moment they cast off the yoke of tyranny and declared the self-evident truths of equality and freedom. Yet that same summer, while patriots celebrated their defiant new nation, American armies launched another campaign: one aimed at the destruction of the Cherokee Nation. The book *The Cherokee War of 1776* sheds new light on Americas founding era by revealing the roles played by the drive for westward expansion and settler violence in the unfolding of the War of Independence. In this compelling and sobering work, historian Kevin Kokomoor uncovers a little-known war waged by the young United States against the Cherokee people just days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Far from a spontaneous frontier skirmish, this war was a coordinated, state-backed campaign with a clear objective: the appropriation of Indigenous land and the crushing of Native resistance. Many of the men who championed liberty on paper simultaneously advocated for the total destruction of a sovereign Indigenous nation. At the heart of this story lies Cherokee resistancea resistance waged with strategic acumen and determination, and deeply rooted in the community.