A Nation of Widows and Orphans: The Devastation of the Cherokees, 1861-1865
Four years of murderous internecine warfare during the Civil War desolated the once prosperous Cherokee Nation. Previous LACWRT presenter Richard Miller will discuss how intra-tribal rivalries dating to the early 19 th century divided the Cherokees into bitterly opposed pro-southern and pro-northern factions; their unrelenting conflict, fighting on behalf of the Union and the Confederacy, contributed to the ruin of their homeland. He will feature two little-known battles in Indian Territory – one a southern victory and one a northern victory – that encapsulate the wartime trauma experienced by native people in Indian Territory and will reflect on understanding the Civil War and the American West in the context of the war in Indian Territory.

Mr. Richard Miller
Richard Miller is the author of John P. Slough: The Forgotten Civil War General, published in 2021 by the University of New Mexico Press. He earned a B.A. in history from Carleton College and an M.A. in history from Princeton University.  He is a past president of the Puget Sound Civil War Roundtable and is a frequent presenter to Civil War roundtables and other history groups.  He lives in Seattle with his wife Karin.