Ned Christie's War

Admittedly, Ned Christie’s War was not my favorite book, but it was an interesting way to examine Cherokee history through a work of fiction.

A theme during the days of Indian Territory that was central to Robert Conley’s novel is the relationship between Indians and the illegal settlers. Ned and the other Cherokees of Tahlequah who were running a totally functional community were constantly confronted with the fact that “they want to turn us into white men.” This was Federally-recognized Indian territory, a place where white settlers initially were not even allowed to live, yet these white men stepped in and assumed their own cultural dominance (as usual).

Isaac Parker assumed that Indians are “woefully incapable of making the great transition from dark savagery to enlightened civilization alone.” This is Conley’s sarcastic humor, adding in characters like Parker to point fun at the general incorrect assumptions about Indian during that time period. Sure, “lawlessness was rampant in the nations,” but that was most likely due to the presence of the white men. In reality, rather than serving as important law enforcement in the territory, the white men were the root of the problem.

As a consequence of the white settlers moving into Indian territory, there were “lots of mixed-blood citizens. Some of them are almost white.” According to Ned, “they think like whites” and were infiltrating and slowly changing the Cherokee government. Julia Coates’ class dealt with this issue of mixed-bloods in the government in her class by showing that although there have been mixed-blood chiefs throughout history; they all have uncles who were chiefs, giving them much legitimacy. In Cherokee matrilineal society, the maternal uncles are responsible for teaching the boys the ways of their clan, and therefore it makes sense that an uncle who is a chief might pass this duty onto his nephew. Nevertheless, what Ned Christie is more referring to is some mixed-bloods who were trying to change the Cherokee Nation, perhaps highly affected by white society. This is just one of the issues that the book deals with. Although the style of historical fiction was not my favorite, I could see how this book could engage people and teach them about the days of Indian Territory. I, however, preferred Robert Conley’s Cherokee Thought.