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Trail Of Tears

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In 1828, the Cherokee Indians living in Arkansas made a treaty with the government for lands in the Indian Territory, and moved completely from the state. They were called the Western Cherokees.

The Cherokees of the East, mostly from Georgia and North Carolina, had been living as the white man for several years. They raised crops and had their own slaves, but when they discovered gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, the white man began crowding them off their farms. For years the government tried without success to purchase their lands and to give them land West of the Mississippi River. John Ross, who was the principal Chief at that time had refused to sign any treaty. Finally in 1835, other members of the tribe signed a treaty giving up all lands East of the Mississippi, for lands in the Indian Territory. Many of the Indians fled into the mountains of N.C. and never were removed. Many of the others had to be forcibly removed by the military.

It was not until 1838-39 that the removal began. The contract for moving them was let to individual bidders for the sum of $54.00 per head. The Indians were in companies of 1,000 each and they brought all their belongings that had not been stolen by the white settlers. There were wagons, carriages, buggies, horse back riders and many were forced to walk all the way.

In 1838, Judge Alfred Greenwood, who had started from Georgia with 1,000 Indians, surrendered his command at the Hiwasse River, in Tennessee and returned to Georgia and brought his family to Bentonville. In March, 1839, the same troop passed through Bentonville that he had started with. Judge Greenwood was later named Commissioner of the five civilized tribes.

It was reported that about one-fourth of the Indians died on their way to the new lands, as it was in the winter of 1838-39 that they were forced out of their old homes.

A few of the many companies that were moved passed down the old Wire Road and went through Bentonville, while several others went on through Fayetteville and entered the Nation near Westville.

Some of the advance members who came in 1838 met with the Western Cherokees on the Illinois River below Siloam Springs and made a treaty, which was called the treaty of the Eastern and Western Cherokees. According to the Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation, published in 1875, the treaty party met at the Illinois Camp Ground on July 12, 1838. John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Eastern Cherokees, Going Snake, Speaker of the Council. John Looney, was acting Chief of the Western Cherokees. Some of the Indians names signed to this treaty were, Te-Ke-Chulas-Kee, Te-Nah-L A-We-Stah, Tobacco Will, Young Wolf, Ah-Stola-Ta, Looney Price, Young Eld. Ers, Deer Track, Young Puppy, Turtle Fields, The Eagle and The Crying Buffalo.

Many of the descendents of the above Indians still live in the Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma, since 1907.

Alvin Seamster. Trail of Tears. The Battle Of Pea Ridge 1862.

Federal Indian Removal Policy

Early in the 19th century, the United States felt threatened by England and Spain, who held land in the western continent. At the same time, American settlers clamored for more land. Thomas Jefferson proposed the creation of a buffer zone between U.S. and European holdings, to be inhabited by eastern American Indians. This plan would also allow for American expansion westward from the original colonies to the Mississippi River.

Between 1816 and 1840, tribes located between the original states and the Mississippi River, including Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, signed more than 40 treaties ceding their lands to the U.S. In his 1829 inaugural address, President Andrew Jackson set a policy to relocate eastern Indians. In 1830 it was endorsed, when Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to force those remaining to move west of the Mississippi. Between 1830 and 1850, about 100,000 American Indians living between Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida moved west after the U.S. government coerced treaties or used the U.S. Army against those resisting. Many were treated brutally. An estimated 3,500 Creeks died in Alabama and on their westward journey. Some were transported in chains.

The Cherokees

The Treaty of New Echota

Most Cherokees opposed removal. Yet a minority felt that it was futile to continue to fight. They believed that they might survive as a people only if they signed a treaty with the United States.

In December 1835, the U.S. sought out this minority to effect a treaty at New Echota, Georgia. Only 300 to 500 Cherokees were there; none were elected officials of the Cherokee Nation. Twenty signed the treaty, ceding all Cherokee territory east of the Mississippi to the U.S., in exchange for $5 million and new homelands in Indian Territory.

More than 15,000 Cherokees protested the illegal treaty. Yet, on May 23, 1836, the Treaty of New Echota was ratified by the U.S. Senate – by just one vote.

Three groups left in the summer, traveling from present-day Chattanooga by rail, boat, and wagon, primarily on the Water Route. But river levels were too low for navigation; one group, traveling overland in Arkansas, suffered three to five deaths each day due to illness and drought.

Fifteen thousand captives still awaited removal. Crowding, poor sanitation, and drought made them miserable. Many died. The Cherokees asked to postpone removal until the fall, and to voluntarily remove themselves. The delay was granted, provided they remain in internment camps until travel resumed.

By November, 12 groups were trudging 800 miles overland to the west. The last party, including Chief Ross, went by water. Now, heavy autumn rains and hundreds of wagons on the muddy route made roads impassable; little grazing and game could be found to supplement meager rations.

Two-thirds of the ill-equipped Cherokees were trapped between the ice- bound Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during January. Although suffering from a cold, Quatie Ross, the Chiefs wife, gave her only blanket to a child.

She died of pneumonia at Little Rock. Some drank stagnant water and succumbed to disease. One survivor told how his father got sick and died; then, his mother; then, one by one, his five brothers and sisters. "One each day. Then all are gone."

By March 1839, all survivors had arrived in the west. No one knows how many died throughout the ordeal, but the trip was especially hard on infants, children, and the elderly. Missionary doctor Elizur Butler, who accompanied the Cherokees, estimated that over 4,000 died-nearly a fifth of the Cherokee population.

In August 1839, John Ross was elected Principal Chief of the reconstituted Cherokee Nation. Tahlequah, Oklahoma was its capital. It remains tribal headquarters for the Cherokee Nation today.

About 1,000 Cherokees in Tennessee and North Carolina escaped the roundup. They gained recognition in 1866, establishing their tribal government in 1868 in Cherokee, North Carolina. Today, they are known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

National Park Service. Trail of Tears.

Trail of Tears In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, the author of the highly acclaimed The Winter People tells the moving, searing story of the betrayal and brutal dispossession of the Cherokee Nation.

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