Most Americans understand the Revolutionary War was fought in defense of human rights and has since been celebrated on the ideals of conquest over tyranny. The conquerors, it is said, are those who record the history we inherit. What we weren’t told, until now, is how the Revolution played out in the backcountry between Cherokees and colonials. Using first-hand accounts from British Indian agents, Cherokee headmen, and colonial militia, A Demand of Blood presents a war fought in the shadows of the American Revolution.

We see rebels defending frontier settlements as a crucial part of the rebellion against Britain. For the Cherokees, it was their fight for freedom against the inroads of intruding illegal immigrants. After drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson propounded the necessity of crippling the Cherokees—Britain’s powerful southern Indian ally.

A Demand of Blood introduces for the first time in a historical narrative the legendary Cherokee war chief Dragging Canoe who deftly navigated his way through treachery and betrayal, and led the charge to regain sovereignty over Cherokee land.