Short answers, pulled from the story.
A Spanish record listed the name Chalaque for people living near the Keowee River in 1755. One theory suggests they migrated south from the Great Lakes region while another perspective indicates proto-Iroquoian languages originated within the Appalachian region itself approximately 4,000 years ago.
Cherokee communities practiced agriculture and built permanent towns along river valleys spanning over 40,000 square miles. Women controlled property such as dwellings and land while children inherited status from their mothers under a matrilineal system where her eldest brother served as a more important mentor to her sons than their father.
Over 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly relocated westward to Indian Territory between 1838 and 1839 during what is known as the Trail of Tears. Disease exposure and starvation caused up to 4,000 deaths representing nearly one fifth of the population.
Sequoyah began developing a written form of the Cherokee language around 1809 despite speaking no English himself. He introduced the Cherokee syllabary in 1821 becoming the first written syllabic form of an American Indian language outside Central America.
On the 25th of June 1865 two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to stand down. He had fought hit-and-run cavalry tactics capturing Union supply trains and steamboats saving a Confederate army by covering retreat after Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862.