[AnAmericanMother]

It is not necessarily wishful thinking or mere fashion.

Fact is, the Cherokee were a highly civilized, intelligent, and attractive people, who were in more contact with European settlers than most tribes. Especially in the South, because the Scots and the Irish (the last aboriginal warrior tribes in Europe) had absolutely no problem with intermarriage (unlike the English and to a lesser extent the Germans). Sir William Johnson was a fluke in New York, he would not have been so in the Carolinas.

I don't claim it because we're not on the rolls, but the family tradition and the names line up -- and the ancestor in question was a MacGregor who was on the run from the law in Scotland, so he headed for the mountains of WNC as fast as he could go.

[Eagles6]

One of the reasons for the removal, aside from settlers wanting land, is that the Cherokee and other so called "Civilized Tribes" had sided with the British during the Revolutionary War and slaughtered thousands of settlers at their behest.

Men and boys were killed, women were raped and disembowelled, while young girls were taken as slaves.

Jackson knew many wanted revenge and wanted to end the animosity for good.

Another little known fact was that the Cherokee had many black slaves and some Cherokee fought for the Confederates during the War.

After the war, federal troops had to be sent to Indian Territory to force the Cherokee to free their slaves.

[Albion Wilde]

the Scots and the Irish (the last aboriginal warrior tribes in Europe)

Damn right!