|
| In the year 1838, 16,000 Native Americans were
marched over 1,200 miles of rugged land. Over 4,000 of these Indians died
of disease, famine, and warfare. The Indian tribe was called the Cherokee
and we call this event the Trail of Tears. As you will soon learn, it is
one of the most brutal and racist events to happen in America. |
| The Trail of Tears happened when Hernando
De Soto took his adventures to America. After he came to America more and
more Europeans came and began to invade on Indian land. The Indians became
lost in bewilderment and anger. Some tribes didn’t feel this way until later
on, for some helped the new comers win wars during the colonial periods.
Often when the Indians’ side lost the war, the Indians would have to give
up a large portion of their land. So as you can see the greed for Indian
Territory started early. |
| As we get back to the Trail of Tears you
will learn that there were many treaties signed between 1684 and 1835. Every
treaty was broken, however, because of discoveries of gold on Indian territory. |
| In 1830 congress passed the Indian Removal Act
because gold was discovered on Cherokee land. Whites wanted the Indians out
of the way. President Andrew Jackson said, ”The Indian Removal Act will place
a dense population in large tracts of the country now occupied by a few savage
hunters.” This era was popular with voters. However, not everyone agreed.
Davy Crockette was a very strong opponent. He once said, “ I would sooner
be honestly damned than hypocritically immortalized.” The act passed regardless.
Once passed, President Jackson signed the bill into action. |
| While the white people thought this idea
was just great, the Indians thought otherwise. They didn’t like the idea that
they had to give up their lands when they had been living on them for so
long. Aitoweyah, a Cherokee Indian , wrote a letter to John Ross saying, “
We the people think only of the love we have for our land for… we do love
the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land
go… to let it go would be like throwing away our mother that gave us birth.” |
| No matter how much they fought it with
letters and statements they couldn’t stop it physically and so General Winfield
Scott took six hundred wagons, k No matter how much they fought it
with letters and statements they couldn’t stop it physically and so General
Winfield Scott took six hundred wagons, keelboats, and steamers to Cherokee
Land and forcefully moved 16,000 Cherokee from their homes to make shift
forts until they could be moved to their reservation in Oklahoma. Keelboats,
and steamers to Cherokee Land and forcefully moved 16,000 Cherokee from their
homes to make shift forts until they could be moved to their reservation
in Oklahoma. |
| The Cherokee Removal Forts are not as
well known in the aspect of the Trail of Tears, They are overshadowed by the
long journey itself. Over fifteen of the of these forts were located in Georgia
alone. |
| The camps were filled with human waste
and many women and children were raped. To make things worse on top of all
that, the round up took over five months to complete; which was quite
a bit longer than expected. Approximately one third of the deaths attributed
to the trail of tears are a result of these forts. Many of these diseased
camps have been lost to our history books. |
A Georgia soldier once wrote in his journal, “ I fought
in many wars between the states and have seen many men killed, some by my
own hands, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.”
|
Before the journey was over 4,000 innocent
men, women, and children were stolen from the Cherokee existence.
Will Thomas, an adopted Cherokee, purchased 56,000 acres
of land, which eventually became known as the Qualla Boundary where the Eastern
band of Cherokees now reside peacefully.
|
A startling story captured my heart as
I was searching through my information and I would like to share it with you.
It is called The Cherokee Rose.
|
| When the Trail of Tears started in 1838,
the mothers of the Cherokee tribes were grieving so much that they were unable
to help their children survive the journey. The elders prayed for a sign that
would lift the mothers’ spirits and give them strength. The next day a beautiful
rose began to grow where each of the mothers’ tears had fallen. The rose
is white for the tears that were shed, it has a gold center that shows the
gold stolen form the Cherokee, and seven leaves that represent the seven
Cherokee clans. The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail
of Tears into Eastern Oklahoma to this day. |
|
The
Brave Cherokee By John Howard Payne
|
O’ soft fills the dew on the twilight descending
And night over the distant forest is bending
Like the storm spirit, dark o’er the tremulous rain |
|
But midnight enshrouded my lone heart
in it’s dwelling
A tumult of woe in my bosom is swelling
And tear unbefitting the warrior is telling
That hope has abandoned the brave Cherokee
|
Can a tree that is torn from its root by the fountain
The pride of the valley; green spreading and fair
Can it flourish, removed to the rock of the mountain
Unwarmed by the sun and unwatered by care? |
Though vesper be kind, her sweet dews in bestowing
No life giving Brook in its shadows is flowing
And when the chill winds of the desert are blowing
So droops the transplanted and lone Cherokee |
|
Sacred graves pf
my sires, and I left you forever
How melted my heart when I bade you adieu
Shall joy light the face of the Indian? Ah, never
While memory sad has the power to renew.
|
As flies the fleet deer when the bloodhound has started
So fled the winged hope from the poor broken hearted
Oh, could she have turned ere forever departing
And beckons with smiles to her sad Cherokee |
Is it the low wind through the wet willows rushing
That fills with wild numbers my listening ear?
Or is it some hermit rill in the solitude gushing
The strange playing minstrel, whose music I hear? |
Tis the voice
of my father, slow, solemnly stealing
I see his dim form by yon meteor
kneeling
To the God of the White man,
the Christian appealing
He prays for the foe of the dark
Cherokee
|
Great spirit
of good, whose abode is in Heaven,
Whose wampum of peace is the
bow in the sky
Wilt though give to the wants
of the calmorous ravens,
Yet turn a deaf ear to my piteous
cry?
|
O'er the ruins
of home, o'er my heart's desolation
No more shalt though hear my
unblest lamentation
For death's dark encounter, I
make preperation
He hears the last groan of the
wild Cherokee
|
