To start off with this is written by a good friend of mine. He is a Cherokee Indian, he goes to schools to educate students on the history of his ancestors.
The Trail of Tears
Please if you read the following do not reply with hate or bashing remarks. I did not ask you to read, you chose to yourself.
As a cultural advisor in Native American Indians and my Cherokee Nation I have been educating schools, colleges, social, history, and cultural groups of this the Indigenous Tribes of North America. Usually around this time of the year I always have questions on: Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and the now noticed National Native American Heritage Month and American Indian Day. But, this one question always comes from the mouths of those who want to know: What is the Trail of Tears? Why is the Cherokee so well known for this event? My answer as given to me by my family with the knowledge of my fathers grandfathers father jumping from this event known by the government as The Removal Act. What follows is as sugar coated as I could bring myself to be for the posting allowance of myspace. But I assure you that the events that you read are only a brief history of what I have been told and what I have read from government documents recently released. If it seems that the following reading goes astray it's simply because I had to break and take my mind from some of the pain that I am writing for those who are wanting to understand the truths. I apologize if the following seems spread out or not enough information. This is a heated topic and is hard to write, speak, or think for those of us who have this dreaded event in our family history. If my people had not survived then you would not be reading my words today.
The Trail of Tears... Yes, I know of this. All Cherokee know of this terrible event. The actual term came from the Choctaw in the early year of 1830 as the US Government started and forced the Removal Act which was removing all Native Indians from the eastern states and moving them west to Indian Territory present day Oklahoma. The Cherokee was the last to be moved as we fought hard to stay in our homelands. In 1835 a young Indian boy found a yellow rock "gold" in our new lands of Georgia given to our people after being pushed from Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, this started a war between the European settlers and the Cherokee Indians. The white settlers wanted this gold for themselves and pushed for Andrew Jackson to forcefully move the Cherokee out of the land and let the white settlers have it. After repeated meetings with Andrew Jackson the verdict was decided. " Did I not once issue the Removal Act?" "Then let it be enforced now." "Remove the Cherokee Indians!" In the early months of 1838 the Cherokee faced harsh actions by the Federal Government Military by being removed from their homes, beaten and taken in stocks and chains. Cherokee Chief John Ross seeing this gave orders to all Cherokee to report to the Fort Blockhouses located in Georgia saying "It was the right thing to do." Chief John Ross returned to Washington to lobby for his people fighting each day for the rights that were bestow upon us and having no victory in the end. The Cherokee were forced into fences and corrals to be held until the removal can take place. Given blankets from fallen soldiers with small pox many children and elderly were drained slowly of life as the months slowly traveled through time then killing many upon many. General Winfield Scott was our only hope during that time. General Scott decreed that "All Cherokee man, woman, and child be given meat, corn, water and bread." But, his orders were ignored by those who were not under his command. The Federal Government Military found pleasure in torture and rape of women and children while the men were restrained and made to watch, soldiers forced their captives to perform acts of depravation so disgusting they cannot be told here. As the 1,000 plus miles was planned many new settlers were so happy to finally have the new land. The winter of 1838 soon came with hundreds of the Cherokee already dead from the many ruthless acts of the government army the march begins. As the winter march began the thousands of thousands of footprints left by my people in this earth faded as the snow to fresh sunlight. I have read solider journal accounts describing each suffering night as follows "I sit in horror as the screams and moans fill the night air," " Many of the Cherokee young and old have fallen to the elements and disease our government have brought upon them." I count as many as 200 each night die." "This is a sorrowful time for these people who did nothing to deserve this tragedy." It was said that when the Removal Act was applied to the Cherokee our number in the beginning march was roughly 12,000 strong but when our trail ended in present-day Oklahoma in the early spring of 1839 some 5 months later only roughly 5,000 plus Cherokee made it alive. This is why the Trail of Tears name is so remembered by the United States as applying to the Cherokee Indians, this was classified as the largest mass murder of the New World by the US Government on innocent people. In the mid 1865s during the ending of the Civil War a soldier who was present during the Removal of the Cherokee writes, "During the Civil War I watched as hundreds of men died, including my own brother, but none of that compares to what we did to the Cherokee Indians." We call it "Nunna daul Tsuny [Trail Where They Cried )," As we almost lost our people, traditions, culture, and our future. I hope that this helps explain to you the severe actions and why we feel certain ways about the government and certain holidays the US celebrate. I have walked only a fraction of this infamous "Trail" I still can not imagine what it was like for my ancestors.
Rain Fallen Crow
