Having recently read a first hand account of the round up to start off the Trail of Tears in one of the news magazines I follow that referenced it, this story sounded pretty familiar. I like that the story clarifies that many natives by that time would have just been on ordinary homesteads, sometimes prosperous, and we're simply having their stuff taken, as this was often the case in real life.
Seems like there is always something to take, and somebody to take it, in history. Any excuse will do.
The story had the makings of a basic ghost story, but there was something pretty engaging to its narrative, and it sums up well in the end as the supernatural elements creep in.