Much more Cherokee history has been introduced into the curriculum in public schools over the years but I don't know how much or how they deal with the topic. Most people know very little about the Civil War and less about events in the Trans-Mississippi and even less about the Indian Territory. In some respects the Indian Territory was like Missouri and other border slave states, being split in "loyalties" (There's that word again!). As a Cherokee and living in the Cherokee Nation, I of course know more about the Cherokee. At the time of the war, the "mixed bloods" were in the minority but now the mixed bloods are the vast majority of tribal citizens. The mixed blood Cherokee tend to identify with the Southern Cherokee and know about Brig Gen Stand Watie -- the only Native American general officer and the last general to surrender. Most of my ancestors were Southern Cherokee. Little is known or written about the "Union" Indians though the tribe has emphasized that more Cherokee fought for the North than the South since the end of the war to stay in the good graces of the US Government -- including the current administration. In the debate about whether the so-called "Cherokee Braves Flag" (a Confederate 1st National with 5 red stars for the Five Civilized Tribes and the words Cherokee Braves in the white bar -- an original is on display at the Sweeny Museum at Wilsons Creek), current principal chief Chad Smith is quoted in the newspapers as stating that it was not a Cherokee national flag and most Cherokee sided with the Union, both of which are true statements. There are some excellent Cherokee history courses offered to the public that are reasonably popular. Chief Smith is very knowledgeable on Cherokee history and, in fact, I first met him at a history symposium he sponsored in the early 90s, long before he was elected chief. He has done much to promote history and language classes in public schools, for the general public, and at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah (whose origin traces to the Cherokee Female Seminary in the 1850s).

The sort answer is, if I asked any school age kid (Indian or white) who Stand Watie or Robert E. Lee or U.S. Grant was they wouldn't have a clue but they could show me how to twitter on my Blackberry.