Oblivion’s
Altar
E Pluribus
Unum! Out of many,
one.
This uniquely American ideal met its first great
challenge when the young Republic confronted a
thousand tribal nations that spread across the
whole of the North America, the same continent
that Anglo-European immigrant majority aspired to
dominate with their culture and law. After a
century of escalating violence, the founders of
the United States advocated a more enlightened
policy toward the Native American inhabitants:
assimilation into the Union through education and
agriculture, a process estimated by them to
consume at least one hundred years. George
Washington called this policy civilization,
and the most influential leaders of the Anglo and
Native races immediately embraced it as American’s
greatest hope for her future.
No tribe responded to Washington’s benevolence
better than the Cherokee. A core group of young,
ambitious, (and in some cases mixed-blood)
chiefs emerged in one generation from a Stone Age
culture to educate their children in the arts and
sciences, organize a constituted government and
judicial system, develop a printed language and
publish their own newspaper and books, and adopt a
plantation-style surplus crop and
manufacturing-based economy.
At the heart
of this remarkable transformation stood a warrior
and chief known as Major Ridge. His
unprecedented journey toward “civilization”
astounded the world. His success, however,
only alienated him from his own people, and
targeted him as America’s most dangerous Native
American leader, the illiterate “savage” whose
campaign for justice forced Andrew Jackson’s
America to the brink of civil war.
Oblivion’s
Altar is his
inspirational story.
Andrew
Jackson ascended to the presidency in 1828.
The first “westerner” and second military leader
since Washington to hold office ran on a cynical
platform of expansionism and Indian
Removal. Despite the miraculous efforts
of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and
Choctaw Nations (among others) to transform
themselves in only one generation, the policy of
Civilization was described by Jackson’s political
machine as an abject failure. Removal to the
Great American Desert (now known as Oklahoma)
was considered to be the most humane and most
expedient method to clear the way for American
expansion and realize her destiny to control the
northern hemisphere and rule “from sea to shining
sea.”
Indian
Removal was a highly charged, deeply emotional
issue, second in its time only to slavery and
every bit as acrimonious as the abortion debate is
today. Bitterly contested, the Indian
Removal Act passed into law by only one
vote. Stunned Indian leaders watched on as
the President of United States blatantly broke the
founders’ faith. Progressive chiefs like
Major Ridge, who had fought alongside Jackson in
the Creek War, found themselves between two
fires—the Anglos who had lied to them, and the
full-blood majority among their own tribes who
believed they had been misled.
For a man of
Major Ridge’s nature, sophistication, and
resources, however, the fight was far from
over. Along with his New England-educated
son and nephew, Major Ridge waged a brilliant
campaign on two fronts—he battled Jackson’s
administration all the way to the Supreme Court;
and went head-to-head with Principal Chief John
Ross (who was only 1/8 Cherokee and did not speak
the language) for the hearts and minds of the
full-blood Cherokee majority. He won the
first battle, only to be betrayed by his former
friend and ally, Andrew Jackson, who trampled
treaties and ignored his own constitution to crush
Cherokee resolve. Ridge lost the
second, which branded him as a rogue and outsider
at the exact moment when the Cherokee needed his
leadership most.
And still
Major Ridge battled on. Aging, ill, and
politically isolated, Ridge realized that Jackson
had left the Cherokee little more than the choice
between two evils. He alone understood that
Cherokee culture was equally at stake along with
their ancestral home. His final act of
defiance was to personally sacrifice everything to
preserve the people above the land. For
some, his efforts seemed heroic, the stuff of
legend. For the Cherokee majority, however,
they were a capitol crime.
Many
contemporary Cherokee revile the memory of Major
Ridge. History has largely swept him aside
as a footnote. But in his day he was the
most remarkable chief the Cherokee had ever known
and the most dangerous American Indian leader the
United States ever faced. Major Ridge
defined vision, charisma, and virtue. His
life was a testament to the strength of the human
heart and the courage of the human spirit.
Even Andrew Jackson could not defeat Major Ridge
and the Cherokee without ignoring the constitution
and tarnishing the American ideals of basic human
rights and justice for all. If nothing else,
Major Ridge deserves recognition as one of
America’s greatest tragic heroes.
A Talk with David
Marion Wilkinson:
Oblivion’s Altar
How did you learn about Major
Ridge?
I intended to write a novel about
Sam Houston’s lost years in the Indian Territory
(early 1830’s). Knowing that Houston had
lived with the Cherokee as a teenager and spoke
their language fluently, I knew that I had to have
a fair command of Cherokee history and culture to
do a decent of job of getting inside his
head. I had grown up with some
Cherokee people in my hometown in Arkansas, but I
was ignorant of whom they were and all they’d been
through in the shadow of a belligerent United
States. To orient myself, I picked up a used
copy of Marion L. Starkey’s Cherokee
Nation. Ms. Starkey’s timeless voice
first told me the powerful story of Major Ridge
and I forgot all about Sam Houston.
What inspired you to write
this story?
First, even as true history Ridge’s
life was beautiful, compelling, dramatic and
haunting. Next, with the fate of an ancient
culture hanging in the balance the stakes could
not have been higher. I also believed that
Major Ridge possessed some remarkable human
qualities that shined through this unparalleled
period of social upheaval, natural disasters,
political conflict, and all out war. Last, I
felt that in some quarters Ridge had suffered a
bum rap in history that is completely unjustified.
While Oblivion’s Altar is my attempt to
introduce an extraordinary American historical
figure to a mainstream audience, it is also my
response to Ridge’s critics.
What sort of research was
involved in writing this novel?
I pride myself in historical
accuracy and any story tells you what you need to
know as you write it. I gave a full account
of the best primary and academic sources in the
novel’s “Acknowledgments” section, but I can
easily say that I consulted close to twenty-five
books, numerous journal articles and websites, and
spoke personally with as many experts as I could
find. In the end, however, my take on
Cherokee history and Major Ridge’s struggles
becomes a matter of my own perspective.
Did you travel to some of the
places described in the book?
When I was a child, my family
vacationed each summer in the Blue Ridge. I
grew up in Arkansas, not too terribly far from
where the book begins. So I was vaguely
familiar with the Ridge’s old haunts. But my
connection with that land was not strong enough to
bring the setting back to life or attempt to
describe the Cherokee’s attachment to their
ancestral home. I had to go there and get a
sense of the place myself. Among other
places, I went to the Chieftain’s museum in Rome,
Georgia, which is Ridge and Sehoya’s last home in
the old country. Subsequent owners added on
to the structure, but by and large it remains as
it was when Ridge’s family lived there. I
loved walking the grounds alone one crisp autumn
afternoon. I visited New Echota State Park,
Vann House, and then drove north and east from
there into the heart of the southern Blue Ridge,
where the Eastern Band of the Cherokee still
live. I spent some time in other places of
grave importance to Ridge’s life, but to explain
these in detail would ruin the end of the
novel. You should read the book to get a
sense of these special places and maybe go see
them for yourself.
How did you know about the
details of Ridge’s life—the clothes, food,
household items, and
decorations?
I had written another novel set in
the same time period and read over sixty books to
get a feel for the era. I felt like I
understood very well how the pioneers lived from
day-to-day. To a certain degree, some of the
mixed-blood Cherokee adapted some of these methods
and used these devices. In addition, the
missionaries kept meticulous diaries. I read
three separate missionary accounts to get a sense
of what it was like to be neighbors with the
Cherokee during this period. The research on
Ridge’s life and times is also very rich and
detailed. The culture of so many Indian
Nations was devastated in the 18th and
19th centuries, which means that much
is lost forever. But for over a hundred
years, certain individuals—both red and white—have
sacrificed to preserve as much as they
could. Basically, I read everything I could
get my hands on about the Cherokee way of like and
then attempted to weave in as much as I could into
the fabric of the novel.
Who do you feel is responsible
for the Trail of Tears?
I don’t think you can put the finger
on any one individual. Certainly one
shouldn’t blame Major Ridge—although he emerged as
the villain. What makes this period of
American history so compelling is the violent
confrontation of a technologically advanced
European culture that had evolved over many
centuries coming face to face with the Stone
Age. These conflicting societies had no idea
of how to deal with each other. The Indian
Removal Law was so controversial in its time that
one can’t even say the Trail of Tears was the
collective will of Anglo America. No one
really knew how to incorporate Native American
Nations into the feuding family known as the
United States; and no Anglo American politician
advocated that the United States government should
recognize the tribal nations like independent
countries. Cynical politicians and military
leaders never took Indian treaties
seriously. They were simply the first step
toward defrauding Indians of their land.
The sad truth is that Asian- and
European-based nations only recognized each
other. Any culture or society that didn’t
play by a ruthless set of established
international rules and wasn’t strong enough to
defend itself fell prey to colonization.
What happened in America was happening throughout
the world. The difference with
the Cherokee was that they put up a heroic fight
and although they were “defeated,” misled, lied
to, and utterly oppressed during this shameful era
of American history, they would not allow
themselves to be destroyed. This makes their
struggle the stuff of legend.
The Trail of Tears, in my opinion,
was a worst-case scenario that played out in the
most tragic manner possible after a number of
events, decades in the making, had set it in
motion. It is my firm belief that Major
Ridge had no idea that his plans for the Cherokee
would even remotely resemble the debacle of the
Trail of Tears. That being said, Andrew
Jackson bears the lion’s share of responsibility
for this human disaster. He felt like
removal was truly the most humane way to deal with
the Indian “problem.” He was dead
wrong.
There seems to be trend now
that Native American stories belong only to Native
American authors. Would you like to comment
on that?
Yes,
the culture club…Well, I can’t imagine telling
another novelist what story he or she can or can’t
write. It’s simply not my place. And I
don’t respond well to someone making similar
determinations about my work. I invested
four years of my life to tell Major Ridge’s
story. Anyone who can do it differently or
better can have at it with my blessing. I
certainly don’t buy into the notion that any one
group or race of people has a literary franchise
on their history. There seems to be this
terrible guilt over this era by mainstream America
that indulges this racist elitism. We
shouldn’t feel good about what happened to the
American Indian Nations as the United States
spread from sea-to-sea, but I’ll be damned if I’ll
take the wrap for it. I’m no more
responsible for the Trail of Tears that I am for
southern slavery or the Viet Nam War. This
river was running long before I stuck in my
toe. And I have never believed that it’s a
positive response to meet racism with
racism. For me, the modern world is hungry
for great leaps of understanding and
tolerance. Excluding Anglo writers from
Native American culture doesn’t help a
thing. I’m certainly willing to debate the
themes presented in Oblivion’s Altar
with
anyone who has read it. But I’m won’t listen
to anyone who condemns the novel solely because of
its Anglo author. That’s prejudice, not
criticism.
The reality is that Cherokee and American Indian
blood has mixed with Anglo-Europeans on this
continent for over three hundred years. Both
races are forever entwined. We now share a mutual
destiny. The past belongs to us both.
And any writer who can muster a passion for any
story owns
it. Oblivion’s Altar
has
no other ambition than to celebrate the life of a
remarkable human being who lived in tumultuous
times, believed in himself and in his people,
fought a good and just fight, and then made the
greatest personal sacrifice so that others could
live beyond him. I stood over Major Ridge’s
grave and promised him that I would give him
everything I had to tell his story. My
obligation was to him and no one else. As
far as I’m concerned, I kept my word. I make
no apologies. I have no
regrets.
I’m going to write about the Chinese next and I
suppose I’ll have an argument waiting for me in
Beijing. I’ll be ready for it…
