Although many Indian nations fought in the Civil War, general history often underrepresents the role of Native Americans in the conflict. Indian nations did, in fact, suffer a higher percentage of casualties than any Union or Confederate state, and the war almost destroyed the Cherokee Nation. In The Confederate Cherokees, W. Craig Gaines provides an absorbing account of the Cherokees involvement in the early years of the Civil War, focusing in particular on the actions of one group, John Drew s Regiment of Mounted Rifles.

By the time the Civil War began, internal political...