The Cherokee was one of the largest tribes in North America.  They went to war often.  A quote from Red Man’s America tells of a Cherokee warrior stating, “We cannot live without war.”  

Two famous Cherokee fighters were Bloody Fellow and Attakullakilla.  Bloody Fellow raided American settlements after the American Revolution.  He also held peace talks with George Washington.  Attakullakilla sided with the Americans during the American Revolution.  He helped raise 500 Cherokee warriors to fight on the side of the Americans.

When deciding to go to war, both men and women helped in making the decision.  One of the major reasons that the Cherokee went to war was to seek revenge for someone killed by another tribe.  When preparing to go to war, the warriors would stay in a council house, fasting and drinking special tea called black drink.  On their way to war, they walked in a single-file line to the enemy’s territory.  The warriors tried to step inside the footsteps of the person in front of them to make the trail difficult to track.  Some of the tribes only moved at night.  Except during sandstorms, snowstorms, or drenching rain, the Cherokee regularly patrolled the area where they lived .