I have been reading the book Trails of Tears: Paths of Beauty by Joseph Bruchac. In this book he describes the history of the Cherokee: "In 1823, John Haywood made the first serious study of Cherokee origins. He asserted that they were the descendants of two distinct nations that had migrated from Asia. There Cherokees were, in his estimation, linked to the ancient Hebrews and the Hindus. Haywood and others based such beliefs on the stories told them by Cherokees of their time.
"In tales they interpreted as 'traditional' legends, events included the expulsion from Eden, the Tower if Babel, and Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea were all related in a Cherokee context. Clear evidence, these scholars concluded, of their amazing claims. James Adair's History of the American Indians, published in 1775, also refers to such Cherokee myths as proof of their Hebrew origin."
Some scholars feel that the Cherokee retold lessons they had learned from early Christian missionaries with this regard, rather than stories original to the Cherokee. The Cherokee do seem related linguistically to the Iroquois. It appears they did migrate from the north, arriving in their traditional area around Georgia in 1000 A.D. The Book of Mormon stories indicate that there was a great war in the Great Lakes, upper New York area about 400 A.D. This war was between the Nephites and Lamanites, two groups that came from the Middle East of Hebrew origin. The Lamanites defeated the Nephites. The Nephites were destroyed, except those that joined the Lamanites. It may very well be that the Cherokee left the northeast about this time and slowly traveled to the southeast.
