If you are referring to the US government initiation of the Trail of Tears you are correct. If you are referring to the civilian population you are incorrect.
Intermarriage with the Cherokee in the South is why my family went from blond to dark hair in a single generation. MANY old southern families have Cherokee, Choctaw or Chickasaw ancestors. You will also find a surprising number of tribes still intact in the South - Seminole, Houma, Coushatta, Choctaw, Cherokee etc. Exceptions can always be found, but there is a distinct difference in how whites and Indians interacted in Canada and the southern US, on one hand, and the northern US, on the other.
A picture is worth a thousand words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:American_progress.JPG
I do agree the Cherokees and other Indians did integrate into society far better in the South than elsewhere - however, the end result was the same - whites wanted Cherokee land and they found a way to take it.
