research on the trail of tears

Trail of Tears Research Paper Topics

This page presents a comprehensive guide to Trail of Tears research paper topics , tailored for students of history who seek to delve into this tragic chapter of American history. From an extensive list of topics to valuable tips on selecting and crafting research papers, this page aims to equip students with the necessary tools to navigate through the complexities of the Trail of Tears and to understand its significance in shaping the nation’s past and present. Additionally, we introduce iResearchNet’s writing services, a reliable partner in providing top-quality custom research papers that meet students’ academic requirements and elevate their understanding of this critical historical event.

100 Trail of Tears Research Paper Topics

The Trail of Tears remains a poignant and significant episode in American history, exemplifying the dark side of westward expansion and the profound impact it had on Native American communities. To aid students in their research endeavors, we present a comprehensive list of Trail of Tears research paper topics, divided into 10 categories, each offering valuable insights into different aspects of this tragic event.

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• The Indian Removal Act of 1830: Origins and implications
• The political climate and public opinion surrounding Native American removal
• Examination of treaties and agreements leading to forced removal
• Comparison of Native American removal policies with other historical instances
• The role of President Andrew Jackson in the Trail of Tears
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on U.S. government and policies toward Native Americans
• Native American resistance and activism during the removal
• The Trail of Tears as a turning point in Native American-U.S. government relations
• The Trail of Tears in the broader context of American expansionism
• The ethical and moral implications of the Trail of Tears
• Cherokee culture and society before the Trail of Tears
• Principal Chiefs and tribal leadership during the removal
• The impact of removal on Cherokee communities
• Cherokee cultural preservation and adaptation after the relocation
• The significance of Cherokee language and education during the Trail of Tears
• The role of Cherokee women during the removal process
• The representation of Cherokee people in contemporary literature and media
• The legacy of Cherokee removal in modern-day Cherokee Nation
• Cherokee-Native American relations after the Trail of Tears
• The portrayal of the Cherokee removal in oral histories and folktales
• The different routes taken by various tribes
• Conditions and challenges faced during the journey
• Accounts of individual experiences during the relocation
• The impact of geography and environment on the Trail of Tears
• The role of military escorts and their treatment of Native Americans
• The significance of rivers and waterways in the forced removal
• The role of missionaries and churches in aiding or opposing the removal
• The Trail of Tears as a transnational event affecting multiple Native American nations
• The use of primary sources, such as diaries and letters, to reconstruct the journey
• The archeological evidence and artifacts related to the Trail of Tears routes
• The experiences of Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes
• Comparisons between the different tribes’ experiences
• Resilience and adaptation of Native American communities after relocation
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on intertribal relations and alliances
• The legacy of the Trail of Tears in other Native American removals
• The influence of non-removal tribes in advocating for those affected by the Trail of Tears
• The role of Native American leaders and activists in response to removal policies
• The cultural exchange and conflicts between different Native American tribes during the relocation
• The representation of other Native American tribes in historical accounts of the Trail of Tears
• The historical memory and commemoration of the Trail of Tears among non-Cherokee tribes
• Attempts at legal challenges and resistance against removal
• Life in the Indian Territory and efforts at rebuilding communities
• Comparing pre- and post-removal living conditions and challenges
• The impact of forced assimilation policies on Native American communities
• Native American efforts at preserving cultural practices and traditions in the Indian Territory
• The role of trade and economic activities in the Indian Territory
• The role of education and mission schools in the Indian Territory
• The influence of European settlers and traders in the Indian Territory
• The significance of land ownership and distribution in the Indian Territory
• The consequences of disease and illness on Native American populations in the Indian Territory
• Effects on the economies of Native American tribes
• Influence on the Southern economy and agricultural labor
• Interactions and tensions between Native Americans and white settlers
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on the Southern labor force
• The role of African American slaves in the removal process and the Indian Territory
• The economic and social dynamics between Native American tribes and African American slaves in the Indian Territory
• The role of Native American labor and participation in the Southern economy after removal
• The role of missionaries and churches in aiding Native American economic development in the Indian Territory
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on Southern society and culture
• The representation of economic aspects of the Trail of Tears in historical documents and literature
• The psychological trauma experienced by Native American communities during the Trail of Tears
• The impact of forced assimilation and acculturation on Native American identity
• The preservation and revival of cultural practices and traditions after the removal
• The role of storytelling and oral traditions in passing down the memory of the Trail of Tears
• The representation of the Trail of Tears in Native American art and literature
• The intergenerational effects of the Trail of Tears on Native American communities
• The influence of the Trail of Tears on Native American religious beliefs and practices
• The relationship between Native American spirituality and land in the context of the removal
• The depiction of Native American cultures in the media and popular culture after the Trail of Tears
• The exploration of cultural resilience and adaptation in the face of adversity
• The response of U.S. government and political leaders to the Trail of Tears
• The justification and debate over Native American removal policies
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on the U.S. Supreme Court and legal interpretations of indigenous rights
• The influence of the Trail of Tears on subsequent federal Indian policies
• The role of advocacy groups and activists in challenging removal policies
• The legacy of the Trail of Tears in modern Native American rights movements
• The examination of treaties and agreements violated during the removal process
• The international response and criticism of the U.S. government’s removal policies
• The role of local and state governments in facilitating or opposing the removal
• The exploration of reparations and recognition efforts for the descendants of those affected by the Trail of Tears
• The involvement and experiences of African American slaves during the Trail of Tears
• The relationship between Native American slaveholders and their African American slaves
• The role of African American slaves in the Cherokee Nation and other tribes
• The challenges faced by African American communities after the removal
• The intersectionality of African American and Native American identities and experiences
• The impact of the Trail of Tears on African American migration and settlement patterns
• The legacy of the Trail of Tears in African American cultural memory and heritage
• The portrayal of African American perspectives on the removal in historical accounts
• The influence of the Trail of Tears on African American civil rights movements
• The examination of race relations and interactions between African Americans and Native Americans in the Indian Territory
• The ways in which the Trail of Tears is commemorated and memorialized today
• The establishment and significance of Trail of Tears National Historic Trails and museums
• The representation of the Trail of Tears in public history and education
• The exploration of contested narratives and perspectives on the removal
• The role of historical preservation and archeology in understanding the Trail of Tears
• The significance of local and community efforts to remember the Trail of Tears
• The impact of cultural heritage and tourism on the memory of the Trail of Tears
• The comparison of American and indigenous perspectives on the Trail of Tears
• The role of storytelling and oral history in preserving the memory of the Trail of Tears
• The examination of ongoing efforts to reconcile and come to terms with the historical legacy of the Trail of Tears

This comprehensive list of Trail of Tears research paper topics provides students with a diverse array of avenues to explore the Trail of Tears, examining its historical context, cultural implications, and long-lasting effects on both Native American tribes and the nation as a whole. Each topic offers unique opportunities for critical analysis and contributes to a deeper understanding of this tragic and significant event in American history. Whether focusing on the experiences of specific tribes, the socio-economic impact, or the event’s portrayal in popular culture, students can uncover a wealth of insights and perspectives that shed light on the complex legacy of the Trail of Tears.

Trail of Tears: A Tragic Chapter in American History

The Trail of Tears stands as one of the most tragic and consequential events in American history, leaving an indelible mark on the nation’s conscience. This 1000-word article will delve into the historical context, causes, and profound consequences of the Trail of Tears, shedding light on the forced removal of Native American tribes from their ancestral lands and the devastating impact it had on their cultures and livelihoods. Moreover, this article will highlight the significance of researching the Trail of Tears and the relevance it holds in contemporary times, as its legacy continues to shape the course of Native American communities and the United States as a whole.

Historical Context and Causes

To comprehend the significance of the Trail of Tears, it is crucial to understand its historical context. In the early 19th century, the United States underwent rapid expansion, driven by a fervent desire for territorial acquisition and economic growth. This ambition came at the expense of the indigenous peoples who inhabited the fertile lands of the Southeastern United States. As white settlers sought more land for agriculture and settlement, the federal government pursued a policy of forced removal of Native American tribes, leading to the tragic events that would become known as the Trail of Tears.

The Forced Removal

The Trail of Tears refers to the forced relocation of several Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole, from their ancestral homelands to lands west of the Mississippi River. The removal process was marked by deception, coercion, and violence. The tribes were subjected to treaties that were often obtained through unfair negotiations and signed under duress. These treaties stripped them of their land rights and forced them to leave behind their homes, communities, and cultural heritage.

Impact on Cultures and Livelihoods

The consequences of the Trail of Tears were devastating for the Native American tribes. The forced migration resulted in the loss of countless lives due to exposure, disease, and hunger. Families were torn apart, and entire communities were uprooted from their traditional ways of life. The removal had a profound impact on the tribes’ cultures, as they struggled to maintain their customs, languages, and religious practices in their new, unfamiliar surroundings. The forced assimilation into white American society further eroded their cultural identity and threatened the survival of their distinct ways of life.

Significance of Researching the Trail of Tears

Researching the Trail of Tears is not merely an academic pursuit but a moral imperative. Understanding the historical injustice and the human toll of this dark chapter in American history is essential for acknowledging the wrongs committed against Native American communities. It provides an opportunity to confront the legacy of dispossession, discrimination, and marginalization that continues to affect these communities today. By exploring this historical event, researchers can gain insights into the complexity of Native American experiences and the resilience of their cultures in the face of immense challenges.

Relevance in Contemporary Times

The legacy of the Trail of Tears reverberates in contemporary American society. It serves as a stark reminder of the profound impact of colonization, racism, and forced assimilation on indigenous peoples. The struggle for land rights, self-determination, and recognition of cultural heritage remains ongoing for Native American communities. Researching the Trail of Tears allows for a deeper understanding of the historical and ongoing injustices faced by these communities and the urgent need for reconciliation and social justice.

The Trail of Tears represents a dark and tragic chapter in American history, marked by the forced removal of Native American tribes and the immense suffering they endured. This article has provided insights into the historical context, causes, and consequences of the Trail of Tears, shedding light on its devastating impact on Native American cultures and livelihoods. Moreover, it has emphasized the importance of researching this pivotal event and its relevance in contemporary times, calling for greater awareness and acknowledgment of the historical injustices committed against Native American communities. By studying the Trail of Tears, we can strive for a more inclusive and empathetic understanding of American history, fostering a commitment to justice, reconciliation, and respect for the diverse cultures that shape our nation.

How to Choose Trail of Tears Research Paper Topics

Selecting a research paper topic on the Trail of Tears requires careful consideration and sensitivity to the historical significance and cultural implications of this tragic event. This section will provide valuable guidance on how to choose compelling and meaningful Trail of Tears research paper topics that delve into different aspects of the Trail of Tears. By following these 10 tips, students can navigate the complexities of this subject and contribute to a deeper understanding of this pivotal moment in American history.

• Define Your Area of Interest : Begin by identifying your area of interest within the Trail of Tears. Are you fascinated by the historical context, the impact on Native American cultures, the political dynamics involved, or the legacy in contemporary society? Narrowing down your focus will help you choose a topic that resonates with your passion and curiosity.
• Explore Different Perspectives : The Trail of Tears was a multi-faceted event with far-reaching consequences. Consider exploring different perspectives, such as the experiences of specific tribes like the Cherokee or the Choctaw, the roles of government officials involved in the removal process, or the viewpoints of white settlers who supported or opposed the removal.
• Examine Cultural and Social Implications : The forced removal of Native American tribes had profound cultural and social implications. Consider topics that delve into the impact on Native American languages, religions, traditions, and family structures. You could also explore the resilience and preservation of cultural identity among the displaced tribes.
• Analyze Political and Legal Aspects : The Trail of Tears was shaped by political decisions and legal mechanisms. Investigate topics related to the treaties, legislation, and court cases that paved the way for the removal, as well as the political motivations behind these actions.
• Study Human Rights and Ethics : The Trail of Tears raises ethical questions about human rights violations and the treatment of indigenous peoples. Explore topics that delve into the ethical considerations of the removal policy, the responsibility of the government, and the lessons it offers for modern-day human rights issues.
• Consider Economic Factors : Economic interests played a significant role in the forced removal of Native American tribes. Trail of Tears research paper topics exploring the economic motivations behind the removal, the impact on the tribes’ economies, and the consequences for both Native Americans and white settlers can provide valuable insights.
• Investigate Resistance and Resilience : Despite the hardships they faced, Native American tribes displayed remarkable resistance and resilience. Trail of Tears research paper topics that highlight the efforts of tribes to resist removal, such as legal challenges, petitions, and peaceful protests, as well as their efforts to rebuild their communities in new territories.
• Examine Intercultural Encounters : The Trail of Tears brought Native American tribes into contact with other cultures, such as white settlers and African Americans. Investigate topics that explore the interactions, conflicts, and exchanges between these different groups during this tumultuous period.
• Explore Art and Literature : Artists and writers have captured the emotions and experiences of the Trail of Tears through various mediums. Consider research paper topics that analyze the portrayal of the removal in art, literature, and media, and how these representations shape public memory and understanding.
• Reflect on Modern Implications : The Trail of Tears has lasting implications in contemporary society. Trail of Tears research paper topics that examine the ongoing impact on Native American communities, the recognition of historical injustices, and the importance of reconciliation and healing can contribute to current discussions on social justice and cultural heritage.

Choosing a research paper topic on the Trail of Tears is a critical step in contributing to the understanding and commemoration of this significant event in American history. By exploring different angles, perspectives, and implications, students can shed light on the complex and poignant story of the forced removal of Native American tribes, providing valuable insights into the legacy and ongoing relevance of the Trail of Tears in the modern world.

How to Write a Trail of Tears Research Paper

Writing a research paper on the Trail of Tears requires careful planning, in-depth research, and a nuanced understanding of historical events and cultural complexities. In this section, we will guide you through the process of crafting a comprehensive and compelling research paper that explores the Trail of Tears and its significance in American history. Follow these 10 tips to ensure your paper effectively communicates the profound impact of this tragic chapter.

• Thoroughly Research the Trail of Tears : Begin your journey by delving into a wide range of reputable sources, including academic books, scholarly articles, primary documents, and online databases. Gain a comprehensive understanding of the historical context, the various tribes involved, the removal process, and the aftermath of the Trail of Tears.
• Develop a Clear Thesis Statement : Your thesis statement is the foundation of your research paper. It should succinctly state the main argument or focus of your paper. Ensure that your thesis statement reflects the specific aspect of the Trail of Tears you intend to explore and the significance of your findings.
• Outline Your Paper’s Structure : Organize your research and ideas by creating a detailed outline for your paper. Include sections for the introduction, literature review, methodology (if applicable), main body paragraphs, analysis, and conclusion. Each section should flow logically and support your thesis.
• Use Diverse Sources and Evidence : To present a well-rounded analysis, utilize a diverse range of sources and evidence. Incorporate historical records, firsthand accounts, official documents, statistical data, and scholarly interpretations. Using varied sources strengthens the credibility of your research.
• Analyze Historical Context and Causes : Devote a section of your research paper to the historical context and causes of the Trail of Tears. Explain the political, economic, and social factors that led to the forced removal of Native American tribes. Provide a comprehensive overview to set the stage for your analysis.
• Address the Impact on Native American Tribes : Explore the profound impact of the Trail of Tears on the affected Native American tribes. Discuss the devastating consequences of forced relocation, loss of ancestral lands, and disruptions to their cultures, languages, and traditions. Highlight the resilience and perseverance of the tribes amidst adversity.
• Evaluate Government Policies and Decisions : Examine the government policies and decisions that led to the Trail of Tears. Analyze the role of President Andrew Jackson, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and the enforcement of removal treaties. Assess the ethical implications and historical consequences of these policies.
• Analyze Intercultural Encounters and Conflicts : Within your research paper, explore the interactions and conflicts that arose between Native American tribes, white settlers, and government officials during the removal process. Discuss the cultural clashes, misunderstandings, and power dynamics that shaped these encounters.
• Discuss Historical Memory and Commemoration : Address how the Trail of Tears is remembered and commemorated in contemporary society. Explore how different groups interpret and remember this event, and discuss the efforts made to honor the memory of those who suffered during the forced removal.
• Conclude with Reflection and Implications : In your conclusion, restate your thesis and summarize your main findings. Reflect on the lasting implications of the Trail of Tears in shaping American history and the ongoing challenges faced by Native American communities. Offer insights into the importance of understanding this historical event and its relevance in the present day.

By following these tips and conducting rigorous research, you can craft a thought-provoking and insightful research paper that honors the legacy of the Trail of Tears and contributes to a deeper understanding of this tragic chapter in American history.

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Trail of Tears

By: History.com Editors

Updated: September 26, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. But by the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk hundreds of miles to a specially designated “Indian Territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult and oftentimes  deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears.

The 'Indian Problem'

White Americans, particularly those who lived on the western frontier, often feared and resented the Native Americans they encountered: To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted (and believed they deserved).

Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington , believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was to simply “civilize” the Native Americans. The goal of this civilization campaign was to make Native Americans as much like white Americans as possible by encouraging them convert to Christianity , learn to speak and read English and adopt European-style economic practices such as the individual ownership of land and other property (including, in some instances in the South, enslaved persons).

In the southeastern United States, many Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee people adopted these customs and became known as the “Five Civilized Tribes.”

Did you know? Indian removal took place in the Northern states as well. In Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, the bloody Black Hawk War in 1832 opened to white settlement millions of acres of land that had belonged to the Sauk, Fox and other native nations.

But the Native Americans’ land, located in parts of Georgia , Alabama , North Carolina , Florida and Tennessee , was valuable, and it grew to be more coveted as white settlers flooded the region. Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and often resorted to violent means to take land from their Indigenous neighbors. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns; committed mass murder ; and squatted on land that did not belong to them.

Worcester v. Georgia

State governments joined in this effort to drive Native Americans out of the South. Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory.

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations “in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force.”

Even so, the maltreatment continued. As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “[fall]…still born.” Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory.

Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson had long been an advocate of what he called “Indian removal.” As an Army general, he had spent years leading brutal campaigns against the Creeks in Georgia and Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida–campaigns that resulted in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of acres of land from Indian nations to white farmers.

As president, he continued this crusade. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act , which gave the federal government the power to exchange Native-held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for land to the west, in the “Indian colonization zone” that the United States had acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase . This “Indian territory” was located in present-day Oklahoma .

The law required the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, voluntarily and peacefully: It did not permit the president or anyone else to coerce Native nations into giving up their ancestral lands. However, President Jackson and his government frequently ignored the letter of the law and forced Native Americans to vacate lands they had lived on for generations.

In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw became the first nation to be expelled from its land altogether. They made the journey to Indian Territory on foot (some “bound in chains and marched double file,” one historian writes), and without any food, supplies or other help from the government.

Thousands of people died along the way. It was, one Choctaw leader told an Alabama newspaper, a “trail of tears and death.”

The Indian-removal process continued. In 1836, the federal government drove the Creeks from their land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma did not survive the trip.

Treaty of New Echota

The Cherokee people were divided: What was the best way to handle the government’s determination to get its hands on their territory? Some wanted to stay and fight. Others thought it was more pragmatic to agree to leave in exchange for money and other concessions.

In 1835, a few self-appointed representatives of the Cherokee nation negotiated the Treaty of New Echota, which traded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi — roughly 7 million acres — for $5 million, relocation assistance and compensation for lost property.

To the federal government, the treaty (signed in New Echota, Georgia) was a done deal, but a majority of the Cherokee felt betrayed. Importantly, the negotiators did not represent the tribal government or anyone else. Most Cherokee people considered the Treaty of New Echota fraudulent, and the Cherokee National Council voted in 1836 to reject it.

“The instrument in question is not the act of our nation,” wrote the nation’s principal chief, John Ross, in a letter to the U.S. Senate protesting the Treaty of New Echota. “We are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people.” Nearly 16,000 Cherokees signed Ross’s petition, but Congress approved the treaty anyway.

By 1838, only about 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian Territory. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while his men looted their homes and belongings.

Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory. Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey.

Legacy of the Trail of Tears

By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans had been driven off of their land in the southeastern states and forced to move across the Mississippi to Indian Territory. The federal government promised that their new land would remain unmolested forever, but as the line of white settlement pushed westward, “Indian Country” shrank and shrank. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state and Indian Territory was considered lost.

A 2020 decision by the Supreme Court, however, highlighted ongoing interest in Native American territorial rights. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that a huge area of Oklahoma is still considered an American Indian reservation .

This decision left the state of Oklahoma unable to prosecute Native Americans accused of crimes on those tribal lands — only federal and tribal law enforcement can prosecute such crimes. (A later 2022 Supreme Court decision rolled back some provisions of the 2020 court finding.)

The Trail of Tears — actually a network of different routes — is over 5,000 miles long and covers nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Today, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail is run by the National Park Service and portions of it are accessible on foot, by horse, by bicycle or by car.

Trail of Tears. NPS.gov . Trail of Tears. Museum of the Cherokee Indian . The Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears. North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources . The Treaty That Forced the Cherokee People from Their Homelands Goes on View. Smithsonian Magazine . Justices rule swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation. Associated Press . Justices limit 2020 ruling on tribal lands in Oklahoma. Associated Press . 

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History Resources

Perspectives on the Trail of Tears

By elizabeth berlin taylor, introduction.

In this lesson, student groups will design and create a poster containing facts about the Trail of Tears as well as a collage and concluding statement expressing the group’s feelings about the event.  

The Trail of Tears was the result of Andrew Jackson’s policy of Indian Removal in the Southeastern United States. While Jackson’s designs on Indian territory east of the Mississippi River involved Indian nations such as the Cherokees, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, as well as others from approximately 1814 until 1840, "the Trail of Tears" refers to the forced march of Cherokees from Georgia to Oklahoma from 1838 to 1839. This episode, legitimized by the disputed Treaty of New Echota, resulted in thousands of deaths and the removal of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral homelands.  

• Map of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia, 1827 , David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
• Map of Cherokee Removal Routes , Smithsonian Institution
• Interactive map of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (Scroll down and click on "The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail")
• The Trail of Tears by Robert Lindneux, 1942

Secondary Sources

• Cherokee Nation Timeline
• "What happened on the Trail of Tears?"

Primary Sources

• "General Winfield Scott’s Address to the Cherokee Nation," May 10, 1838
• Letter from Chief John Ross protesting the Treaty of New Echota
• Transcript of President Andrew Jackson’s message to Congress "On Indian Removal" (1830)
• Treaty of New Echota , final paragraph of Article 1

Essential Question

What incidents led to the Trail of Tears and what is your perspective of this event?

• Students will be able to read and understand primary and secondary documents that are germane to the events and points of view of the Trail of Tears.
• Students will be able to communicate data about the Trail of Tears on a poster.
• Students will be able to create a collage and a statement that captures the group’s feelings about the Trail of Tears.

Ask students the question: "Does the United States government have the right to make you move out of your house? Why or why not?" After students spend about two minutes writing responses to these questions, ask them to share their answers and respond to each other. As a follow-up question, ask students what they would do if they were required to move by their government.

• Introduce background information on the Trail of Tears via a very brief lecture or discussion.
• Project the maps of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia, 1830, and the Cherokee Removal Routes. Discuss the distance that the Cherokees walked and conditions they endured. If you have access to computer technology, have students investigate the interactive map of the Trail of Tears to understand how long the march was and would be today.
• Project The Trail of Tears by Robert Lindneux. Have students discuss what is happening in the painting and how its subjects are depicted.
• Divide the class into groups of four and distribute an information packet to each group. The packet should contain four copies of the two secondary sources and one copy of each primary source. It would be most effective to keep the materials in a folder.
• Ask students to read the secondary sources individually. Then as a group, have students write one paragraph that responds to the question, "What was the Trail of Tears?"
• Next, ask each student in the group to read one of the primary sources and complete the " Who, What, Where, and When " worksheet. Group members should then share information from their documents with the group.
• Conclude this day’s class by asking for volunteers to explain the events and share their perceptions of the Trail of Tears.

Ask students to return to their groups and review the information they discovered in the previous class period. Hand out the  Perspectives on the Trail of Tears poster template to each group. Ask students to answer the following questions in the corners of the poster:

• What was the Trail of Tears? 
• Who was removed (and from where were they removed)? Where did they resettle? 
• What was John Ross’s opinion of Indian Removal? 
• What was Andrew Jackson’s opinion of Indian Removal? 

In the center of the poster, have students create a collage showing how the group feels about the Trail of Tears. Underneath the collage, the group should write a one-sentence statement explaining their feelings about the Trail of Tears.

After they complete their work, debrief students on the material they have learned. Pose the concluding question: "Could another removal of an ethnic group happen in the present-day United States?"

Students may research the experiences of other Indian nations subjected to removal as a result of Andrew Jackson’s policies and write a short essay explaining their research.

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Articles on Trail of Tears

Displaying all articles.

Joel Roberts Poinsett: Namesake of the poinsettia, enslaver, secret agent and perpetrator of the ‘Trail of Tears’

Lindsay Schakenbach Regele , Miami University

Gangsters are the villains in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ but the biggest thief of Native American wealth was the US government

Torivio Fodder , University of Arizona

The story of Ohio’s ancient Native complex and its long journey for recognition as a World Heritage site

Stephen Warren , University of Iowa

In Danielle Smith’s fantasy Alberta, Indigenous struggle is twisted to suit settlers

Daniel Heath Justice , University of British Columbia

Cherokee Nation wants to send a delegate to the House – it’s an idea older than Congress itself

Julie Reed , Penn State

Who gets Cherokee citizenship has long been a struggle between the tribe and the US government

Aaron Kushner , Arizona State University

Indigenous Peoples Day comes amid a reckoning over colonialism and calls for return of Native land

Abel R. Gomez , Syracuse University

Oklahoma is – and always has been – Native land

Dwanna L. McKay , Colorado College

The long history of separating families in the US and how the trauma lingers

Jessica Pryce , Florida State University

Related Topics

• African Americans
• Cherokee Nation
• Indian Removal Act
• Indigenous peoples
• Native American culture
• Native Americans
• Religion and society
• US government

Top contributors

Cherokee Nation citizen, Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English, University of British Columbia

Executive Director, The Florida Institute for Child Welfare, Florida State University

PhD Candidate, Religion Department, Syracuse University

Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Studies, Colorado College

Postdoctoral Scholar, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University

Associate Professor in History, Penn State

Professor of History and Program Coordinator, Native American and Indigenous Studies, University of Iowa

Indigenous Governance Program Manager and Professor of Practice, University of Arizona

Associate Professor of History, Miami University

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The Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal

The Cherokee Nation was one of many Native Nations to lose its lands to the United States. The Cherokee tried many different strategies to avoid removal, but eventually, they were forced to move. This interactive uses primary sources, quotes, images, and short videos of contemporary Cherokee people to tell the story of how the Cherokee Nation resisted removal and persisted to renew and rebuild their nation. Explore this resource to better understand the impact of removal and how the Cherokee still celebrate and sustain important cultural values and practices.

Resource Information

1: American Indian Culture Native people continue to fight to maintain the integrity and viability of indigenous societies. American Indian history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience.

5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions Today, American Indian governments uphold tribal sovereignty and promote tribal culture and well-being.

6: Power, Authority, and Governance A variety of political, economic, legal, military, and social policies were used by Europeans and Americans to remove and relocate American Indians and to destroy their cultures. U.S. policies regarding American Indians were the result of major national debate. Many of these policies had a devastating effect on established American Indian governing principles and systems. Other policies sought to strengthen and restore tribal self-government.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS →

D3.4.6-8 Develop claims and counterclaims while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both.

D3.4.9-12 Refine claims and counterclaims attending to precision, significance, and knowledge conveyed through the claim while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both.

CCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

6–8 Grades CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

6–8 Grades CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

6–8 Grades CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

9–10 Grades CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

11–12 Grades CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Learning Resources

Teaching beyond the "trail of tears", read for understanding:.

This Learning Resource explores the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the southeast United States in the 1830's-1850's. It was developed as many schools were closed during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Suggested tips for teachers and students engaging in remote learning are included, and some learning strategies and directions have been modified to assist schools with both face to face and virtual instruction.

Key Vocabulary

Annex – forcibly adding new land to a state or nation

Assimilate – for a person or group of people to become similar to others in habits or culture

Atrocities – violent, cruel acts

Barbarity - cruelty, inhumane treatment

Blasphemous – being disrespectful to religion or God

Covenant – An agreement in a deed to real estate (land/property) that restricts future use of the property, often enforceable against future owners. Restrictive covenants based on race were declared unconstitutional in 1949

Inferior – a lower political or social status of a group of people

Missionary - someone who promotes his religion to others in an effort to recruit new followers

Plunder - to steal valuables from others

Reconciliation – restoring positive relations between groups or individuals

Sovereign – government authority over others

Vociferations - speaking out in protest

How did the Indian Removal Act impact Native Americans?

Between 1830 and 1850, over 60,000 Native Americans were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the southeast region of the United States, under President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830. These included members of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee peoples, as well as other mixed-race people and enslaved Africans who previously lived among these nations.

Forced to march over a thousand miles, several thousand died and many were buried in unmarked graves along the route often referred to as “The Trail of Tears.” Those who survived were displaced and escorted by state or local militias into government-designated Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. 

Take a few minutes to study this painting, The Trail of Tears , by artist Robert Lindneux , depicting their Journey of Injustice.

Select one person from the painting to analyze by completing the following:

• List five details about this person.
• What is the mood of this painting?  What feeling does it give you?
• What do you think is happening?

To learn more about the Trail of Tears, read this excerpt on Bunk – “Work of Barbarity”: Eyewitness account excerpt Missionary journal, June 16, 1838.  

“Work of Barbarity”: An Eyewitness Account of the Trail of Tears

A missionary's account of the atrocities perpetrated against Cherokees shows that the Trail of Tears is no laughing matter.

www.bunkhistory.org

After reading the excerpt, turn and talk to a partner, or if working remotely, use the chat box or other collaboration strategy recommended by your teacher to Think - Pair - Share three examples of unfair treatment experienced by the Cherokees as explained by a missionary who witnessed Indian removal.  You may choose to continue reading the complete article by selecting the “View on...” button. 

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket. 

Why were the Cherokee and other Native Americans removed from their lands in the 1830s?

Watch this brief video on the PBS LearningMedia site to learn more about President Andrew Jackson’s use of the Indian Removal Act.

Trail of Tears | PBS LearningMedia

In this video segment adapted from American Experience: "We Shall Remain," reenactments help tell the story of how the Cherokee people were forced from their lands in the southeast.

www.pbslearningmedia.org

While watching the video, complete the following S-I-T prompts:

• One Surprising fact or idea
• One Interesting fact or idea
• One Troubling fact or idea

Afterwards, turn and talk with your partner sharing some of your reflections.   If working remotely, your teacher may provide opportunities to collaborate with classmates using video conferencing, access to an online chat feature, or breakout rooms.

Next, examine the routes taken by different Native American tribes at part of the Indian Removal Act.

To recognize the events of this journey, the National Park Service has established a National Historic Trail along the routes of the Trail of Tears.  Go to the NPS website to discover more information about National Historic Trails.  

What is a National Historic Trail (NHT)? - Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Next, investigate the interactive map that follows the Trail of Tears routes. Click on locations that are near you or in which you are interested. Notice the variety of historically significant places you can visit including homes, museums, and visitor centers. 

Places To Go - Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

You can also see various exhibits, photos, and videos if you want to learn even more about the Trail of Tears.

Photos & Multimedia - Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

photos and multimedia

What steps did leaders take to resolve the arguments over Native Americans’ lands?

Some Native American tribes, like the Seminole tribe of Florida, physically resisted removal from their lands.  Others fought using legal means.  In the case of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831),  the Cherokee tribe asserted that Georgia laws passed to take their lands were a violation of previous land treaties.  The Supreme Court dismissed the case, noting that the Cherokee Nation was not a foreign nation within the U.S. boundaries, and thus the federal government had no right to interfere in the actions of the state of Georgia.  

However, one year later, the Supreme Court ruled very differently when a Christian minister named Samuel Worcester sued the state of Georgia challenging that it did not have a right to regulate activities on the Cherokee lands.  

Learn more by reading the brief article about the court case Worcester v. Georgia (1832) and complete the chart explaining the role of each leader regarding Indian removal.  The information about Samuel Worcester has been completed for you.

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

In the court case Worcester v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers. Although the decision became the foundatio

www.georgiaencyclopedia.org

NAH Leaders in Worcester v Georgia

New American History

docs.google.com

Read the following quotes made by key leaders in the conflict over Native American lands:

“To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement."

“The Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights as the undisputed possessors of the soil.”

“We are denationalized; we are disfranchised.  We are deprived of membership in the human family!  We have neither land nor home, nor resting place that can be called our own.”

Select your favorite quote listed above and use this link to create a  SketchQuote .  Sketchnotes are a form of visual note taking that allows you to combine hand lettering and sketches to annotate a variety of content, including quotes.  You can also use information from your chart to add to your SketchQuote.

  Your teacher may ask you to share your SketchQuote or record your answers on an exit ticket. 

What challenges are Native American tribes facing today?

Using the Bunk website, investigate the modern issues facing Native American tribes by searching “Native Americans” and clicking on one of the articles that interests you.

Notice the related content to the right of the excerpt. The stack of cards contains other articles, maps or content somehow connected to the original article on the left of the screen. 

The connection icons located to the left of the cards here represent Idea, Person, Place and Time, which refers to a connected article from a different time period. These icons and the connected articles you see on the screen may change over time as new content is added to Bunk.  

Select the “ View Connections ” button. 

Notice how the screen changes.

Take some time to explore this and other connections to the original excerpt you chose. Notice how each of the connections icons (Idea, Place, Person, Time) leads you to a new stack of cards with different articles and topics. Each of these topics in turn has a list of “tags” below the icon to help guide you towards new and different content. 

Now that you know how Bunk Connections work, you will be building a collection * of articles to help you answer the question, What challenges are Native American tribes facing today?

To build a collection, click on the first article that you have chosen and scroll down to the bottom of the excerpt to locate the Add to Collection button.

You will see a box labeled “Add a note.” This is where you will annotate, or write a brief description of how this excerpt helps you answer the question. Be sure to save your note using the green Save Note button. If you decide you want to remove an excerpt from your collection, you can return to the excerpt and select the red “Remove from Collection button.

Continue adding 3-5 excerpts to your collection, exploring the connections on Bunk and annotating each one. Be sure you are saving as you go along. Once you are finished, you may locate the blue bar at the bottom of your screen and select finalize. You MUST save and finish this during one class period. 

You will need to give your collection a title, and add your name and teacher’s name/class period. You may reorder the excerpts, and edit or delete a note or excerpt until you are satisfied with your work. Be sure you SAVE CHANGES before you select the green Complete Collection button. 

You will need to use an email address to share or retrieve your collection. For safety reasons, your teacher may choose to have you use their school email address, or they may use the Assignment feature instead of Collections on Bunk. 

Keep checking back on Bunk for more content. New is added every day!

*(Note: Your teacher may prefer you to complete an assignment they created in Bunk if your school does not allow students to access email. This is similar to the Collections feature in Bunk).

How has the modern United States government addressed past and current issues facing Native Americans?

In recent years, the United States government has begun acknowledging past transgressions against Indigenous populations in our country. Read this excerpt of the Senate Joint Resolution 14 from the 111th Congress (2009).

Text - S.J.Res.14 - 111th Congress (2009-2010)

Text for S.J.Res.14 - 111th Congress (2009-2010): A joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.

www.congress.gov

Answer the following questions:

• Which three provisions do you think are the most significant?
• Does the apology go far enough?  Why or why not?
• What additional steps should the US government take in its relationship with Native American tribes?

In an effort to make all Americans more aware of historic Native American territories, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture is calling “on all individuals and organizations to open public events and gatherings with acknowledgment of the traditional Native inhabitants of the land.”  If you would like to join this action, you can read more about it on the USDAC site . 

Not all Indigenous peoples are in agreement with the practice of using a Land Acknowledgement.   This Bunk excerpt explores the topic in more depth. Before adding a Land Acknowledgement to the agenda for a public event, a public-facing document, or as part of a learning experience for students, use the  Native-land.ca map territories map to access and contact the local nations in your area and open a dialogue on the topic. 

#HonorNativeLand — U.S. Department of Arts and Culture

Next, determine which Native American tribes lived in your area by using this map . 

NativeLand.ca

Welcome to Native Land. This is a resource for North Americans (and others) to find out more about local Indigenous territories and languages.

native-land.ca

Finally, you can share this information by creating a graphic design that you can share in your school, community, or via social media.  This poster is one example created by others that is displayed on the USDAC site .

Your teacher may ask you to share your poster or record your answers on an exit ticket.

Brownback, Sam. “Text - S.J.Res.14 - 111th Congress (2009-2010): A Joint Resolution to Acknowledge a Long History of Official Depredations and Ill-Conceived Policies by the Federal Government Regarding Indian Tribes and Offer an Apology to All Native Peoples on Behalf of the United States.” Congress.gov, August 6, 2009. https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/14/text .

“Cherokee Nation v. Georgia.” Federal Judicial Center. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/cherokee-nation-v-georgia .

Garrison, Tim Alan. “Worcester v. Georgia (1832).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. New Georgia Encyclopedia, February 20, 2018. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/worcester-v-georgia-1832 .

“Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgement.” U.S. Department of Arts and Culture. Accessed August 1, 2020. https://usdac.us/nativeland .

Jones, Evan, and Matthew Dessem. “‘Work of Barbarity’: An Eyewitness Account of the Trail of Tears.” Bunk History. Slate, February 10, 2019. https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/3885 .

Lindneux, Robert. “Trail of Tears.” Painting, 1942.   http://robertlindneux.com/art/lindneux-at-woolarco/ .

Native American Removal from the Southeast . National Geographic . National Geographic . Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/may28/indian-removal-act/ .

Native Land. Native Land Digital. Accessed August 1, 2020. https://native-land.ca/ .

Parker, Bryan D. You Are on Traditional Land . Honor Native Land . U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, October 1, 2017. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQH6z0rb-sxULDqJhvblfa0hg6A80aHYS80fA&usqp=CAU .

Pillar, Wendy, and Heather Marshall. “NAH Sketchquotes.” Google Docs. Google, June 24, 2020. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OpRRe9eK-xyb9UOY-AtEMCFjAtC7bQSuiAQcVAyXKcc/edit .

“Places To Go Trail of Tears Interactive Map.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, November 18, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/trte/planyourvisit/places-to-go.htm .

President Jackson's Message to Congress "On Indian Removal." December 6, 1830. Records of the United States Senate, 1789‐1990. Record Group 46. Records of the United States Senate, 1789‐1990. National Archives and Records Administration.  https://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/MANZ/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf

Ross, John. “Letter from Chief John Ross ‘To the Senate and House of Representatives September 28, 1836.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3083t.html .

“Samuel A. Worcester, Plaintiff in ERROR v. THE STATE OF GEORGIA.” Legal Information Institute. Legal Information Institute. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/31/515 .

Sobo, E., Lambert, M., & Lambert, V. (2021, October 7). Land acknowledgments meant to honor indigenous people too often do the opposite. Bunk History. Retrieved from https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/8864 .

Trail of Tears . PBS LearningMedia . American Experience, 2020. https://vpm.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/akh10.socst.ush.exp.trail/trail-of-tears/ .

“Trail of Tears Photos & Multimedia.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, November 22, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/photosmultimedia/index.htm .

This work by New American History is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) International License . Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at newamericanhistory.org.

Comments? Questions?

Let us know what you think about this Learning Resource. We’d also love to hear other ideas or answer questions from you!

Primary Sources: Native Americans - American Indians - Indigenous Americans: Trail of Tears

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Online Sources: Trail of Tears

• Digital Library of Georgia Search for "Trail of Tears" to locate letters, images, etc. more... less... "The Digital Library of Georgia is a gateway to Georgia's history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, government documents, newspapers, maps, audio, video, and other resources. "
• Gen. Winfield Scott's Address to the Cherokee Nation (May 10, 1838) more... less... Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), A Wilderness Still The Cradle of Nature: Frontier Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1994), pp. 137-38
• Indian-Pioneer Papers Collection University of Oklahoma - Western History Collections more... less... "The Indian-Pioneer Papers oral history collection spans from 1861 to 1936. It includes typescripts of interviews conducted during the 1930s by government workers with thousands of Oklahomans regarding the settlement of Oklahoma and Indian territories, as well as the condition and conduct of life there. Consisting of approximately 80,000 entries, the index to this collection may be accessed via personal name, place name, or subject."
• Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History
• Major General Winfield Scott’s Order No. 25 Regarding the Removal of Cherokee Indians to the West more... less... 5/17/1838 Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands National Archives Identifier: 6172200
• President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal' (1830) more... less... "On December 6, 1830, in his annual message to Congress, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress on the progress of the removal of Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River to land in the west."
• DPLA: Primary Source Set: Cherokee Removal and the Trail of Tears Digital Public Library of America more... less... "This primary source set uses documents, images, and music to reveal the story of Cherokee removal, which is part of a larger story known as the Trail of Tears. Thousands of Native Americans—Chickasaw, Creek Choctaw, Seminole, and Cherokee—suffered through this forced relocation."
• See Also Assimilation & Removal section
• The Trail of Tears Through Arkansas more... less... Material from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Sequoyah National Research Center
• Treaty with the Cherokee, 1835, Page 439
• “Our Hearts are Sickened” more... less... "Chief John Ross was the principal chief of the Cherokee in Georgia; in this 1836 letter addressed to “the Senate and House of Representatives,” Ross protested as fraudulent the Treaty of New Echota that forced the Cherokee out of Georgia. In 1838, federal troops forcibly displaced the last of the Cherokee from their homes; their trip to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) is known as the “Trail of Tears.” "

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• Andrew Jackson Papers The Andrew Jackson Papers collection documents Jackson's life in its several phases including his Indian policy as President.
• Cherokee Removal and the Trail of Tears Primary source set and teaching guide from the Digital Public Library of America.
• Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History Digital materials at the Library of Congress related to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and its after-effects, as well as links to external websites and a selected print bibliography.
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Family Stories from the Trail of Tears

Edited by Lorrie Montiero

Table of Contents

Alexander, jobe, life story of her grandfather, washington lee, cherokee indian, carnes, solomon, incidents of the trail of tears.

Cook, Wallace

Davis, Susanna Adair

Dodge, rachel, fleming, effie oakes, removal to ind. ty., guernsey, charles, harnage, w. w., migration to oklahoma, receives formal notice, the migration to the west of the muskogee, james, rhoda, removal to indian territory, lattimer, josephine usray, lewis, d. b., mann, richard, mcgirt, dick, life and experience of a cherokee woman, the migration, pierce, nannie buchanan, purcell, joe, the trail of tears, migration of the creeks, vann, e. f., men and boys walked, interview with mr. ellis waterkiller, life and customs after migration, source of information received from a personal interview., the removal as told to mrs. watts by her grandparents, divided into detachments, old indian days, the trail of tears., immigration from alabama, agnew, mary cobb.

May 25, 1937 L. W. Wilson Field Worker An Interview with Mary Cobb Agnew; 917 North M Street; Muskogee, Oklahoma

My name was Mary Cobb and I was married to Walter S. Agnew before the Civil War.

I was born in Georgia on May 19, 1840. My mother was a Cherokee woman and my father was a white man. I was only four years old when my parents came to the Indian Territory and I am now ninety-three years old.

My mother and father died when I was but seven years old and I was raised by an aunt, my mother's sister. I never attended school and my education is practical except what I was taught by my husband.

My parents did not come to the Territory on the "Trail of Tears" but my grandparents on my mother's side did. I have heard them say that the United States Government drove them out of Georgia. The Cherokees had protested to the bitter end. Finally the Cherokees knew that they had to go some place because the white men would kill their cattle and hogs and would even burn their houses in Georgia. The Cherokees came a group at a time until all got to the Territory. They brought only a few things with them traveling by wagon train. Old men and women, sick men and women would ride but most of them walked and the men in charge drove them like cattle and many died enroute and many other Cherokees died in Tennessee waiting to cross the Mississippi River. Dysentery broke out in their camp by the river and many died, and many died on the journey but my grandparents got through all right.

I have heard my grandparents say that after they got out of the camp, and even before they left Georgia, many Cherokees were taken sick and later died.

The Cherokees came through Tennessee, Kentucky, part of Missouri and then down to Indian Territory on the "Trail of Tears".

Some Cherokees were already in the country around Evansville, Arkansas, before my grandparents came. They called them Western Cherokees. It was in 1838 when my grandparents came and I heard them say it was in the winter time and all suffered with cold and hunger.

My mother and father remained in Georgia about six years after Mother's folk's came on the "Trail of Tears" and Mother worried continually about her parents. Then when I was four years old, I with my parents and other kin, came west to join my grandparents. I don't know why the Government let Mother stay longer than the rest of the Cherokees in Georgia unless it was because she married a white man. We came by wagons to Memphis, Tennessee. At Memphis we took a steamboat and finally landed at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, in June, 1844. I don't know how long it took us to come from Memphis nor do I remember the names of the towns we came through but I have heard my folks say that we had to change boats two or three times because the rivers became shallow and we had to change to smaller boats.

After our arrival at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, we met our kinspeople in the Flint District and settled in the Territory a short way from Evansville, Arkansas. It was in the Flint District and around Fort Gibson that I grew to be a young lady.

May 3, 1938 Jesse S. Bell-Investigator Indian-Pioneer History, S-149 Interview with Jobe Alexander Proctor, Oklahoma

I am a full blood Cherokee Indian born in Going-Lake District, Indian Territory, Cherokee Nation, March 10, 1854, and raised there. My father, Dun-Ev-Nall Alexander was born in Georgia and was driven West during the immigration. All the Indians were gathered up or rounded up by Federal soldiers and put in pens and guarded until ready for the move; they were gathered up by the "Clans" and left their gardens and crops, and some of the old homes of the Cherokee are still standing in Georgia.

The last group that was rounded up revolted; the leader gave the signal to revolt and all turned on the guards and took their guns away and murdered the guards and they made for hide aways in the mountains. That is why the Indians are back in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. They never were found or hunted much.

Anderson, Lilian

August 20, 1837

Margaret McGurie

Field Worker

An Interview with Lilian Anderson

Eufaula, Oklahoma

In 1838, my grandfather, Washington Lee, came to the Territory and stopped at Westville. He was driven from his home in Georgia over the Trail of Tears with all the other Cherokee Indians and while on the trail somewhere he lost his father and mother and sister, and never saw them any more. He did not know whether they died or got lost.

The Cherokees had to walk; all the old people who were too weak to walk could ride in the Government wagons that hauled the food and the blankets which they allowed to have. The food was most always cornbread or roasted green corn. Some times the men who had charge of the Indians would kill a buffalo and would let the Indians cut some of it and roast it.

The food on the Trail of Tears was very bad and very scarce and the Indians would go for two of three days without water, which they would get just when they came to a creek or river as there were no wells to get water from. There were no roads to travel over, as the country was just a wilderness. The men and women would go ahead of the wagons and cut the timber out of the way with axes.

This trail started in Georgia and went across Kentucky, Tennessee and through Missouri into the Territory and ended at Westville, where old Fort Payne was. Old Fort Wayne was built to shelter the Indians until some houses could be built.

Aunt Chin Deanawash was my grandmother's sister and she came from Georgia on the Trail of Tears. Her husband died shortly after they got out of Georgia and left her to battle her way through with three small children, one who could not walk. Aunt Chin tied the little one on her back with an old shawl, she took one child in her arms and led the other by the hand; the two larger children died before they had gone so very far and the little one died and Aunt Chin took a broken case knife and dug a grave and buried the little body by the side of the Trail of Tears.

The Indians did not have food of the right kind to eat and Aunt Chin came on alone and lived for years after this.

Joe Southern, Interviewer

Indian-Pioneer History

An interview with Solomon Carnes of Bentley, Oklahoma, a full blood Choctaw Indian, as to the disposition of the shipment or removal of Mississippi Choctaws at Atoka, Indian Territory. Age 57 years of age.

Solomon Carnes, a native full blood Choctaw Indian, who lives near Bentley, Oklahoma, born December 27, 1880, states: In 1898 Congress, under the Treaty made with the Choctaw and the Chickasaws, passed an act allowing all Mississippi Choctaw Indians that remained in all other states to move into the Choctaw-Chickasaw country and reside for one year. Under this agreement they were allowed to allot and have equal rights as to the allotment of lands as to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation.

In 1903 there were about 450 Choctaws under the supervision of the United States Indian Agency established at Muskogee. The Mississippi Choctaws were loaded into box cars in the state of Mississippi and shipped to and unloaded at Atoka, under the supervision of W. H. Angel as Supervisor, Leon Harkins as Field Superintendent and Peter Maytubby as Choctaw Indian Police. These Mississippi Choctaws were unloaded and established in camps three miles southwest of Atoka, near what is known as the Mary Ann Brown spring.

This camp was established in August, 1903, for the purpose of locating these Mississippi Indians on their homestead allotment in and around what is now Atoka County. The expense for food at this camp and other expenses were defrayed by the United States Indian Department located at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Leon Harkins, as Field Supervisor, would take heads of these families and drive out over the country and show them different lands that were unallotted, for the purpose of helping them make decisions from among the different locations as to their homestead allotment.

The camp was kept intact for four months as those different heads of families made decisions of where they want to allot. They were supplied with a tent, crosscut saw, ax, wedges, hoes, and other tools, also thirty days of groceries, and they moved out on their homestead allotments near some spring or live stream of water, where they could undertake to clear or fence and build houses on these lands for the purpose of establishing permanent homes there.

Chambers, Jennie McCoy

Mary D. Dorward,

Jennie McCoy Chambers

A Biographical Sketch

From a personal Interview with the Subject.

(1530 East 14th Street; Tulsa, Okla.)

(The subject of this sketch was very difficult to interview, for, while she was very willing to talk, she is very deaf, is eighty-three years old, and her mind seems to wander.)

Jennie McCoy Chambers was born April 24, 1854, in the Koo-wee-skoo-wee (her spelling) district of the Cherokee Nation, near the town of now Claremore. The house, a log cabin, still stands. It is at the north end of Claremore Lake on Dog Creek, has two large rooms and a small room downstairs and a room upstairs. Has clapboard doors.

Mrs. McCoy is about half Cherokee (which she calls Cher o 'kee, just as she says Tahl ee 'quah), her mother, Mary Hicks, coming over the Trail of Tears from Alabama when a child. Her father, Joseph McCoy, was a rancher and the family lived on the place near Claremore until the Civil War when they went over near Saline, and "refugeed" in the Cherokee Nation until the close of the War. Evidently they did not remain at Saline because she said that she and her sister many times walked from Tahlequah to Fort Smith and back for supplies from the Government, and many times they almost starved. Her people sympathized with the Union.

Mrs. Chambers' grandfather and grandmother Hicks, together with her own mother, came in the emigrant train over the Trail. On the way they picked up to children who were lost. One, a boy whose people had all died of smallpox, came to them when they were encamped along a creek. He was known as S. S. Stevens and never knew but what he was an Indian. The other child was a little girl who knew no name but Polly. When she grew older she married and was known as Aunt Polly Myers.

March 17, 1937

Grace Kelley, Field Worker

When my grandfather, Emeithle Harjo, was twenty-five or thirty years old, he was removed to the Indian Territory, from Alabama. The boat that he was to cross the Mississippi in was a dilapidated affair and sank in the Mississippi River. He swam pretty near all night saving the women and children. They were all brought here and turned loose like something wild. He had to walk from here to the Fort Gibson to get the axe and gun that the Government promised and gave to him. He built his home across the highway from here. There are some house there but they are not the ones he built, they burned, and rotted down.

March 18, 1937

Wm. T. Holland, Field Worker

Interview with Mrs. Susanna Adair Davis

106 s. Quannah; Tulsa, Oklahoma

My first husband was William Penn Adair, known as a full-blood Cherokee Indian. He was born in the Indian Territory, Cherokee Nation, in Flint Dist. near Stilwell, Oklahoma on November 13, 1857.

His father was Red Squirrel Adair and his mother was Sallie Sunday Adair. They were born in the "old" country, Georgia, and came west before general transfer of the Indians. I have heard them tell of their journey. Red Squirrel Adair met his future wife, and also a full blood, on this trip. They were allowed to bring their herds so Grandpa Red Squirrel walked the entire distance and drove his father's sheep. That was about 1810 and he was 16 years of age at that time. They would camp together and in this way Red Squirrel and Sallie Sunday met. They had similar jobs. Sallie however, got to ride a pony but her job was to drive the sheep and cattle. At night time her herds would often get mixed and this, of course, resulted in confusion and arguments, many of these between Red Squirrel Adair, 16 years of age and Sallie Sunday, 11 years of age. However, this did not keep them from being friends. Their families settled in the Cherokee Nation, Red Squirrel's near Stilwell, Oklahoma, and the Sunday's further north and east of them.

May 14, 1937

Field Worker: Grace Kelley

Interview with Rachel Dodge; Born 1886

11 miles SE of Henryetta

Father: Christopher Columbus Clay

Born in the I. T. Cherokee Nation

Mother: Polly Silk

Born, I. T. Cherokee Nation

Trail of Tears by Rachel Dodge

Aggie Silk was my grandmother and she has told me of the many hardships of the trip to this country. Many had chills and fever from the exposure, change of country and they didn't have too much to eat. When they would get too sick to walk or ride, they were put in the wagons and taken along until they died. The Indian doctors couldn't find the herbs they were used to and didn't know the ones they did find, so they couldn't doctor them as they would have at home. Some rode in wagons, some rode horses and some had to walk. There was a large bunch when she came; she was sixteen years old. They were Cherokees and stopped close to Muldrow where they built log houses or cabins but they didn't like this country at first as everything was so strange. She married at twenty years of age.

Doublehead, Bird

I. W. Wilson, Field Worker

Father-Bird Doublehead. Born in Georgia, and first settled in Arkansas. I don't know the date of his birth or death.

Mother-First name unknown, last name Timson, was born in Georgia and first settled in Arkansas.

The information that I have as to the migration of my parents, who came west from Georgia, came on their own free will, paid their own expenses and settled around the present town of Coal Hill, south and east of the present town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. This removal from Georgia to Arkansas was about the year of 1815. They remained there about thirteen years thus and moved to the Indian Territory in 1828, and settled in the Saline District at which place I was born. My aunt has told me that later these Western Cherokees like my parents were increased with the Eastern Cherokees who came by various methods and ways to the Indian Territory.

Dowson, Lucy

Melissa Bird, an old woman of the Eufaula tomi ( tulwa) has often talked of the life and incidents occurring in the Muskogee-Creek Indian removal from the old country of Alabama to the Indian Territory.

Prior to the beginning of the move, the Indians had already begun the holding of religious services at night. They were told of old Jerusalem.

When the move was finally begun a group of the Muskogee-Creek Indians arrived at the Mississippi River. There was a log building on the banks of the river wherein some Indians were holding religious meetings. The inside of the log house was covered with red clay and the Indians of the vicinity wore kerchiefs around their heads, long shirts and leggings.

It was in the Mississippi River, known as the Wewogufkee Thakko (Big Muddy Water) in the Muskogee Creek language, that one of the ships with a load of the Muskogee-Creek Indians was wrecked. Although many perished, a few were saved or swam to shore. Many of the dead bodies were taken from the river and given burial on the west banks of the great river. Search was carried on for several days for other lost bodies yet a number were never found or recovered.

June 12, 1937

Field Worker: Hazel B. Greene

Interview with Mrs. Effie Oakes Fleming

Hugo, Oklahoma

Born: 3 1/2 miles northeast of Hugo

Parents: Joel E. Oakes, father, born near Old Goodwater. Choctaw Nation, on Red River, about 15 miles S. E. Hugo; Josephine Cronk, mother, born Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Mrs. Effie Oakes Fleming, forty-nine years old, one-sixteenth Choctaw Indian, daughter of Joel E. and Josephine Cronk Oakes, was born at the present home of her father, 3 1/2 miles northeast of Hugo, Oklahoma. I guess it was then Kiamichi County. She was raised there and got all of her schooling just a mile from home, at Nook Hill school. Started at the age of seven and finished U. S. History, Geography, Arithmetic, Spelling, Rhetoric, Algebra and elocution. The last year they had her study Texas history to keep her busy. Hers would probably equal the present day high school education. The schools weren't graded then. She finished school at fifteen years of age. Aunt Mary Oakes Hibbins died in 1928, and is buried at Oakes Cemetery. Three other children died young and are buried there of course.

About ten or fifteen years ago George Oakes bought out the other heirs of the old place but stipulated that the cemetery should still belong to all of the Oakes family.

After grandpa died, grandmother, made her home in the winter with the Tom Hibbins, at the home that she and grandfather settled. In summer she visited around, sometimes she would stay with us till late in the fall. I knew she was there a lot after I would start to school in the fall, and when I was studying history, she would tell us of the history of the Indian Territory, and of their coming to this "wilderness" over the "Trail of Tears". She was old and had nothing much to do but sit in the corner and live her life over and tell us about it. She said that everybody who was able to, had to walk, but if babies gave out of the parents could not carry them the drivers of the ox wagons would just take then and swing them against a tree and knock their brains out and leave them by the road side like a dog or a cat and not bury them. Her baby brother, Joel (who later became supreme court judge of the Choctaw Nation) was four years old and very fat. She was just eight years old, but she took her turn at carrying him because he could not walk much, and she said that she would get so tired she'd think she was going to die but she would hang on to him. She was so afraid they would kill him. She said she saw them kill babies who were too big to be carried and would give out walking. Nobody rode. Occasionally a woman was confined. She was permitted to ride for a few days.

There were ox wagons and they hauled necessities only; food, clothes, bedding, and garden seed. Those drivers were employed by the government just like grandpa was when he was sent out here.

Geboe, Dave

May 4, 1937

By, Nannie Lee Burns, Field Worker,

Indian-Pioneer History Project S-149

Interview with Dave Geboe-1/2 Ottawa, 1/4 Miami

Miami, Oklahoma

My father, Frank Geboe, was Eel River Miami Indian, disbanded at Peru, Ind. He was Indian and French and spoke both languages. He died in 1871 and was 35 years old then and he is buried at Ottawa Cemetery in this county.

My mother, Pa-tes-noquah Geboe, was a full blood Ottawa. They lived near Ottawa, Franklin Co., Kansas, where they were married and my sister and myself were born. I was born November 24, 1861, and my sister, Emma, was born in 1865.

My parents came in the fall of 1866 and located 2 miles north, one mile east and three-fourths mile back south of Ottawa. The place is now Clay Stevens' place. They came in two wagons and brought with them, cattle and all the furniture, stoves and things that they could load in the two wagons. My mother's nephew, Joe Holmes, came with them and drove one of the wagons.

They were thirty days on the road. Whenever they wanted to, they would stop and let the stock graze and rest, they camped at night, wagons all drawn up close together. Built fires and sat round them after supper, the men talking.

When they reached the land bought for the Ottawas, they went around over it and each selected the place where he wanted to settle. We had a big spring and were not far from Spring River, though not in the woods. Our home was a double low house with clapboards for a roof. The men helped each other and went to the timber and cut and prepared the logs and when they had enough, then they were hauled to the place where the building was to be, and the men all came and had a log-rolling. Our house and stable were both built this was so by the cold days we had a home for the winter. We had a fireplace in one room for heat but cooked on a stove. We had coal-oil lights and sometimes used tallow candles. The Indians of our tribes in this county have had plenty of money and so have not had to live like some. They are all from the northeast, and lived like white folks even before they came to Kansas and there we had nice farms, nice homes, good furniture and lots of good stock.

There was a fort here then. Where was it? You know where Sunnyside School is, Yes. It was on the first hill north of there on right hand side of the road. It is about six miles south of Baxter Springs. What was it called? I don't know the name but the name of the hill was Hunt Hill. Now it is called the Abrams Hill, as they took the land. The old earth works may still be there. There were stationed at the fort then one company of Calvary and a company of Infantry. Col. Toe, I think was in command. Several buildings, two commissaries, soldiers quarters, etc.

Why was this fort established? It was to keep the white settlers out of Indian lands. There was a strip 2 1/2 miles wide from the Missouri Line on the east, west along the Kansas Line to the Neosho River. Sometimes referred to as the Neutral Strip-along the north end of the Quapaws. White settlers kept coming over the line and trying to settle here. When these soldiers looked after the Nez Perces while they were camped near the fort. They gave them rations and kept them together. They were northern Indians, I think, anyway they did not stay long. They were soon moved.

In 1873, I think the Modocs were brought to Baxter from Oregon on troop trains in charge of soldiers. I remember seeing them. They were hideous. They wore rings in their noses and ears, had flat heads. They bound boards to the children's heads over forehead, and shaved the hair high over the ears leaving the hair through the center of the head. This was placed and hung down the back. They wore feather headdress. They wore blankets, the men wore moccasins, leggins and breechclout. They were not friendly and gave the soldiers lots of trouble. They were settled on a tract 2 1/2 mile square in the northeast corner of the Shawnee Reservation just west of Seneca, Mo.

They came from a different climate and they died like sheep. It did not agree with them here and then they were not satisfied. I remember Steamboat Frank. He was a fine looking young man about a half-breed I should think. He wore citizen's clothes and nice ones, acted as interpreter and talked English well. He died here and is buried in the Modoc Cemetery. So is Scar-Face Charlie.

April 17, 1937

Field Worker: Don Whistler

Biography of : Chas. e. Guernsey

1951 N. W. 12th Street

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Born: 1849, in Niles, Michigan

I was born in Niles, Michigan in 1849 and while I was still a boy we moved to Illinois and later to Iowa. I was living in Iowa when I heard that the government needed men to help move the Indians out of Kansas, so I sent in my application, and was accepted. I went to Lincoln County and went to work in 1869 when I was twenty-one years old.

I went to the new Sac and Fox Agency in the Indian Territory in March of 1870. The Sac and Foxes had been moved to their new reservation in the fall of 1869. Through a mistake, they had located too far east and were really in the Creek country. The Creeks protested and asked for a new survey, in the spring of 1870.

The Sac and Foxes moved further west and the agency was located in a big horse-shoe bend of the Deep Fork River about six miles south of the present town of Stroud.

Miller, who was the Indian agent and Dr. Cook, the government doctor for the Indians, and I lived in a long log house and kept "batch" that first year.

One time while we were eating, an Indian by the name of Chuck-a-ho (Shack-a-ho) came along. I had learned enough Sauk to talk a little with the Indian, and Miller told me to invite him to eat with us. While we were eating Miller asked Chuck-a-ho why he didn't wear pants? I did the interpreting. Chuck-a-ho asked Miller if he would give him some pants, and Miller said that he would. So Miller told me to go down to John Whistler's store and buy a pair of pants for Chuck-a-ho. The next time we saw him, he was wearing the pants, but he had cut the seat and the crotch out and was wearing then like leggins. When asked why he had done that, he said that they choked his seat.

That first year the Government provided the Sac and Foxes with rations which were issued every other day. They were given Salt Pork, Flour, Lard, green coffee, and tobacco. I remember being a dinner guest at an Indian camp one time, and as a special delicacy they melted a cup of Lard and gave it to me to drink.

There was a company of soldiers stationed at the Sac and Fox Agency, about one hundred, I believe. They were given rations every other day, but on the alternate days for the Indians.

When I first went to the Agency we hauled supplies from Kansas City. We had a great big wagon with six mules to the wagon. I remember one time we went after potatoes. The weather was cold. We took some hay with us but that didn't last so after that we cut down cottonwood trees and let the mules eat the tiny branches. However, we did have grain for them. We loaded up six wagons with potatoes and started toward home. When we were near Ottawa, Kansas, the weather turned extremely cold and all of the potatoes froze. We hauled them along and they began to rot. When we got to Honey Falls we dumped them the whole load.

Sometimes we would be six weeks making a trip. Later the Government made an arrangement to buy supplies by contract in Arkansas and they were delivered by the seller.

There was a great deal of sickness among the Sac and Foxes that first year. I believe there was about seven hundred died between the first payment and the second payment. Dr. Cook was the first doctor for the Sac and Foxes and was succeeded by Dr. Williams.

One of my duties at the agency was to drive the Ambulance. It was not the same as an ambulance these days. But was somewhat like an old stage coach or a hack. the drivers' seat was raised above the others. The seats for passengers were a long ways of the coach and faced each other. We usually hitched four mules to it.

March 19, 1937

Interview with

W. W. Harnage

L. W. Wilson, Field Worker; Historical-Indian Research Worker

Interview was secured March 19, 1937, and Mr. Harnage states as follows:

I am one-fourth Cherokee and was born in 1852 in Tyler, Texas, which makes me eighty-five years of age, last January.

My Father's name was George W. Harnage, born in Georgia, date unknown. Died at the age of seventy and was buried at Chapel Hill, Texas, near the present town of Tyler, Texas.

Mother's name was Nancy Mayfield, born in Tennessee, date unknown, and was buried at Overton, Texas.

Grandfather, Jesse Mayfield, on my mother's side, was born in North Carolina at date unknown to me. He died in 1847. He was buried at Belleview, Texas on the old home place. The Mayfield Plantation.

Grandmother, Sally Starr-Mayfield, on my mother's side was born in Tennessee, at a date unknown to me. She died in the early part of 1860 and was buried at Belleview, Texas, alongside her husband. Grandmother, when about twelve years of age, went to the river to see the party, under Chief Bowls, who was Chief of a band of Cherokee Indians, leaving in canoes seeking a new land in which to live.

Chief Bowls and his party left in canoes and drifted down the Tennessee River, until they came to the Mississippi River. When they reached the mouth of Red River they ascended Red River to the mouth of the Sabine River, thence up the Sabine, to the headwaters of the Neches and here he established a village.

He remained there until the Mexican War. At the beginning of the Mexican War, with the solicitation of Sam Houston, and agreement was made, whereby Chief Bowls would protect their rear from attack from wild Indians. The reason that they solicited Chief Bowls was because he lived among the Indians, and knew their traits, character, and tactics. For his services as such, he was promised a concession of land, which embraced about three counties, the names of the counties were Rusk, Smith, and Cherokee County, Texas. The result of the Mexican War was that the United States whipped them. "Chief Bowls never did receive for his reward, the three counties promised."

The line was run and started at the head-waters of the Neches River and went with the wind of the Naches to some point on the Angelina River, thence, down the Angelina to a certain point, thence due north to the Sabine, embracing about three counties. Houston went to Bowls camp or village. He told Bowls that he would give him that land and would make him a title as soon as it could be done.

After the war, Houston became the first Governor of Texas. Later he was elected United States Senator, which was after the annexation of the state of Texas. While he was in the Senate, Governor Lamar became Governor. He was the first Governor after the annexation.

Bowls was in his little village in the Neches and the people began to encroach on him. He thought that he had a promised reservation. Bowls went to Lamar and told him that the people were encroaching on his reservation. Lamar did not give him any encouragement. The third time Lamar just answered him: "The boundary of Texas is marked by the sword." Bowls understood it and he left. He went back to his reservation and began a removal. He crossed the Neches and camped off his reservation. He was pursued by the Texas Rangers, and Bowls was killed and the larger part of his tribe slaughtered. Some of them, however, got away. The Rangers pursued them, and they were captured. They took them, as prisoners, to Fort Towson, in the Indian Territory and turned them over to the Government. They were then moved to Fort Smith and turned over to the Cherokee Nation.

My father was an old settler. He settled within about four miles of the present town of Evansville, Arkansas, in about 1825 and remained there until a treaty was signed back east by John Ridge and Elias Boudinot for the removal of the entire Cherokee tribe from Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and other states, and he then moved to the Indian Territory and settled in the Going Snake District.

My mother came through at the instigation of the treaty made as above mentioned and known to all as the "Trail of Tears". They traveled in caravans and wagons and were pushed along by the United States troops. Many of the Cherokees did not care to leave their lands, that were so productive and also to leave behind the burial grounds, where their loved ones were buried, to come to this Western country. It was forced upon them and consequently a great deal of dissatisfaction reigned among them, causing a faction known as the Treaty Party and the Anti-Treaty Party.

My mother has told me that they came to the Mississippi River, that is was up and that it was necessary for them to remain there six or seven weeks, before they could cross the river, as they had no means, other than canoes and flat boats to put them across. This put them on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in Arkansas, and they continued to travel, often wading streams with little food and practically no medical attention and hundreds of them died enroute, caused by exposure and unsanitary conditions. Even while they were waiting for the river to recede, while in Tennessee, hundreds of them died on the banks of the river from dysentery. As they died along the route they were buried in unmarked graves. My mother was one of the fortunates that made it through and it is useless to say that she endured many hardships, was grief stricken and sorrowful. She weathered the storm, while others, even after arriving, soon died of sorrow and grief.

In this removal my grandfather had thirty teams and was employed by the government to assist in removing them, so I guess my folks really fared well to what some of the rest of them did, because, they brought with them enough stuff to start building cabins, clearing the ground and making ready for crops.

My father and mother married in the Cherokee Nation and remained there until what they called the "Star War", between parties of Treaty and Anti-Treaty. My parents, along with Judge Adair, George Starr, Judge Wiley, Franklin D. Thompson, two or three of my uncles and my grandmother, Sally Mayfield, all went to Texas, before the Civil War, and lived as one big family and located near the present town of Tyler, and Kilgore, Texas, and it was at this place that I was born.

Harris, C. B.

Interview with C. B. Harris, age 63, lives on Route 3, Muskogee, Okla. Just north of the present Bacone College.

Mr. Harris was born and reared on the place which he now lives. He is a full blood Cherokee Indian.

Father's name was Red Bird Harris born near Atlanta, Ga. Date unknown. Died in 1903. Buried at family cemetery at his home. Mother's name was Ellen Rogers Harris, born in Georgia, date unknown. Was a distant relative of the late Will Rogers, the humorist. Died in 1910. Buried near the town of Coweta, Oklahoma.

Grandfather-Father's side. Bill Harris born and died in Georgia. Dates unknown. Full blood Cherokee.

Grandmother-Father's side. Savannah Collins Harris and died in Georgia. Dates unknown. Full blood Cherokee.

Grandfather-Mother's side. Dr. Robert Rogers born and died in Georgia. Dates unknown. Was full blood Cherokee.

Grandmother-Mother's side. First name unknown, last name Pateish. Born and died in Georgia. Dates unknown. Full blood Cherokee.

Number of the Cherokee tribe as early as 1828 left Georgia and came west as far as Arkansas. About 1836 my great-uncle, Henry Harris, was instrumental in perfecting as agreement with the officials in Washington for the moving of the Cherokees in Georgia to the Indian Territory. The move westward started about the same year and continued on through 1839 and probably as late as 1840. Some came on foot and their conveyances were ox-carts, wagon trains, caravans, etc. The government moved those who agreed with the treaty and those who did not want to leave their rich fertile soil was driven out by the soldiers and came along as history has already mentioned the "Trail of Tears". My mother Ellen Rogers was one of the ones on this trail. My father Red Bird came from Georgia to New Orleans, La., and thence from there by boat up the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers and unloaded at the present town of Webbers Falls, Okla. The Western Cherokees who settled first in Arkansas joined the Eastern Cherokees in Indian Territory about the time my father came which was in 1839. He and mother were married and settled on the place I now live long before the Civil War. They fought, lived and died on this place.

Hicks, Herbert Worchester

March 30, 1937

Chauncey C. Moore, Supervisor

Indian-Pioneer History, S-149

James R. Carselowey

Interview: Herbert W. Hicks

Vinita, Okla.

Father: Herbert Worcester Hicks, born at Pork Hill, Indian Territory, May 14, 1861 and was married to Rachel Cardwell at Fayetteville, Arkansas, December 23, 1886. Rachel Cardwell was the daughter of James and Sarah Cardwell and was born July 20, 1869, in Washington County, Arkansas. To this union the following children were born: Ethel Inez, Homer Wilton, Clifton A., Vern Clara, Ralph Conner, Herbert Morris

Vera Clara died November 20, 1900.

Father's Name: Abijah Hicks, born March 2, 1819, married January 30, 1852 to Hanna Worcester and she was born January 29, 1834, at New Echota, Georgia.

My father and mother came with the Cherokees from Georgia and Tennessee in 1838. My mother was a daughter of Reverend Samuel A. Worcester, one of the first missionaries to the Cherokees back in Georgia and my father was a descendent of Charles Hicks, a Cherokee chief in the old Cherokee Nation in Georgia.

In 1835, after serving a term in the Georgia penitentiary, because of his firm fidelity to the tribe, my grandfather, Rev. Worcester, was forced to leave Georgia. His notice to evacuate follows:

It becomes my duty to give you notice to evacuate the lot of land No. 125, in the 14th District, of the third section, and to give the house now occupied by you to Col. William Handen, or whoever he may put forward to take possession of the same and that you may have ample time to prepare for the same, I will allow you until the 28th day of this month to do the same.

April 19, 1937

Billie Byrd

Research Field Worker S-149

Interview with Mary Hill, Age 47,

Muskogee Tribe

Okfuskee Town (tulwa), Okemah, Oklahoma

Many years ago, my grandmother, Sallie Farney, who was among those, that made the trip to the West from Alabama, often told of the trip as follows:

"In every way we were abundantly blessed in our every day life in the old country. We had our hunting grounds and all the things that are dear to the heart or interest of an Indian.

A council meeting was mostly composed of men, but there were times when every member of a town (tulwa) was requested to attend the meetings.

Many of the leaders, when unrest was felt in the homes, visited the different homes and gave encouragement to believe that Alabama was to be the permanent home of the Muskogee tribe. But many different rumors of a removal to the far west was often heard.

The command for a removal came unexpectedly upon most of us. There was the time that we noticed that several overloaded wagons were passing our home, yet we did not grasp the meaning. However, it was not long until we found out the reason. Wagons stopped at our home and the men in charge commanded us to gather what few belongings could be crowded into the wagons. We were to be taken away and leave our homes never to return. This was just the beginning of much weeping and heartaches.

We were taken to a crudely built stockade and joined others of our tribe. We were kept penned up until everything was ready before we started on the march. Even here, there was the awful silence that showed the heartaches and sorrow at being taken from the homes and even separation from loved ones.

Most of us had not foreseen such a move in this fashion or at this time. We were not prepared, but times became more horrible after the real journey was begun.

Many fell by the wayside, too faint with hunger or too weak to keep up with the rest. The aged, feeble, and sick were left to perish by the wayside. A crude bed was quickly prepared for these sick and weary people. Only a bowl of water was left within reach, thus they were left to suffer and die alone.

The little children piteously cried day after day from weariness, hunger, and illness. Many of the men, women, and even the children were forced to walk. They were once happy children - left without mother and father - crying could not bring consolation to those children.

The sick and the births required attention, yet there was no time or no one was prepared. Death stalked at all hours, but there was no time for proper burying of ceremonies. My grandfather died on this trip. A hastily cut piece of cotton wood contained his body. The open ends were closed up and this was placed along a creek. This was not the only time this manner of burying was held nor the only way. Some of the dead were placed between two logs and quickly covered with shrubs, some were shoved under the thickets, and some were not even buried but left by the wayside.

There were several men carrying reeds with eagle feathers attached to the end. These men continually circled around the wagon trains or during the night around the camps. These men said the reeds with feathers had been treated by the medicine men. Their purpose was to encourage the Indians not to be heavy hearted nor to think of the homes that had been left.

Some of the older women sang songs that meant, "We are going to our homes and land; there is One who is above and ever watches over us; He will care for us." This song was to encourage the ever downhearted Muskogees.

Many a family was forced to abandon their few possessions and necessities when their horses died or were too weary to pull the heavy wagons any further.

May 15, 1937

Interview with Rhoda James

Field Worker Gomer Gomer

Mrs. Rhoda James was born near Shady Point, Sugar Loaf County, in the Choctaw Nation, some time in the year 1869, and now resides within eight miles of where she was born. Her mother, Emily Tobley, came to the Indian Territory at the time of the Removal of the Indians from Mississippi and settled near Shady Point. She does not know whether or not her father accompanied her, as he died when Mrs. James was a small child. She attended school at Shady Point-then called Double Springs - where for a time John Payne was a teacher. Later the school was taught by Jacob Jackson. The terms of school usually run from September to March each year.

She cannot recall the year in which she was married but assumes it was at an early age. At the time of her marriage, both she and her husband were very poor. They erected a small cabin on the ground where she now lives. Her husband worked around in the community wherever work could be found. He found considerable work making fence rails, for which he received seventy-five cents per hundred. This was usually paid in trade, such as bacon, lard, flour, sugar and dry goods...........

She recalls hearing her mother relate her experiences both before and after the removal. Her mother said that there was considerable opposition among the Indians to being removed from their Mississippi homes to the Indian Territory. This opposition was so strong that quite a number refused to leave their homes, with the result that only a part of the Choctaw people were removed. The oppositionists warned those who consented to the removal that the land then offered them would again be taken from them just as it had been done in Mississippi. According to the mother of Mrs. James, the Choctaws were not accorded the best of treatment while in Mississippi. They were not permitted to hunt on any land owned by Whites, and if any game was killed on such land by the Indians, they would be subject to severe punishment. The Indians were restricted in many other ways and were far from being happy under such restrictions. After removing to the Indian Territory the Indians had not fully recovered from the effects of the trip from Mississippi, before the Civil War with its devastating effects overtook them. The families of such Choctaws as entered the war were left helpless.

Jones, Joanna nee McGhee

July 15, 1937

Interview with Mrs. Joanna Jones nee McGhee

128 K, N. E.

Mrs. Thos. Walker

Mannie Lee Burns, Interviewer

Indian-Pioneer History S-149

Grant Foreman, Director

My mother was Susie Beck, a Cherokee and the daughter of Charlotte Downing and Ellis Beck and she was born in Georgia. My father was Albert McGhee. I do not remember the dates of their births.

My mother was about twelve years old when they were forced to leave Georgia and I have heard her say that before they left their homes there that the white people would come into their houses and look things over and when they found something that they liked, they would say, "This is mine, I am going to have it", etc. When they were gathering their things to start they were driven from their homes and collected together like so many cattle. Some would try to take along something which they loved, but were forced to leave it, if it was of any size. The trip was made in covered wagons and this made many of the women sick, but they were forced along just the same. When they reached streams and rivers, they did not want to cross and they were dragged on the boats.

Grandmother always remembered it and I have often heard her say, "Some day you will be taxed out of your homes here just as we were."

October 13, 1937

Interview with Josephine Usray Lattimer

Interviewer - Amelia Harris

My father was James Usray. Mother was Maylinda Roebuck. My maternal grandfather was William Roebuck, three-fourths Choctaw.

My maternal grandmother was Felayah Polayah Homer, one-half blood Choctaw, daughter of John Homer of the Shacchi Homer Nation, the name, Sig-Red Crawfish. John Homer's wife was Chief Natastachi's daughter.

My paternal grandfather was Phillip Usray, one-half Cherokee. My paternal grandmother (name forgotten) was sister to Chief Bowl of East Texas, who held a Spanish grant to lands before Texas independence. He aided General Houston in the battle of San Jacinto.

Josephine Usray Lattimer's grandparents came to the Indian Territory over the Trail of Tears.

The Choctaws in Mississippi were a law abiding and cultured farming people. They had good homes, churches....

All of the Indians in this District gathered at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1832 and were transported across the Mississippi in the steamboats, the Reindeer, the Cleopatra, the Talma and the Sir Walter Scott. In crossing over the Choctaws sang this song:

Fare thee well to Nunialchwayah (meaning to the land we love so dear). Nunialchwayah was in memory of the leaning Pole "Fabuasa", the legend of which may be found at the close of history of the Choctaws. When the Choctaws reached Arkansas, the Government had wagons and teams there ready for them. The Indians were loaded into the wagons and they started for the Government post, near Little Rock, Arkansas.

In loading my people got separated from each other for there were hundreds of wagons on this journey. When they reached the Ouachita (meaning 4th River) River, it was on a rampage and out of banks. The roads were almost impassable. It was raining and cold. Even for all the well and strong, the journey was almost beyond human endurance. Many were weak and broken-hearted, and as night came there were new graces dug beside the way. Many of the Indians contracted pneumonia fever and the cholera. They camped a mile from the Ouachita, waiting for the water to recede so they could cross. While they were camped here, Ezekiel Roebuck, father of my grandfather, William Roebuck, became ill but said nothing. When the river was low enough to cross, everyone got in the wagons and started on the journey but Ezekiel was so sick he became unconscious and fell over. Some one told the driver and he said, "I will have to stop and put him out as we can't afford to have any one with the Cholera along." So they stopped by the road side and put him out. My great grandmother said, "You can put the children and me out too," and the driver replied, "All right, but he will soon be dead and you and your three children will have to walk the balance of the way." Each child had a small blanket. My great-grandmother had a paisley shawl she had brought along a bucket of honey and some cold flour from their home. This flour is made by parching corn and grinding it in a coffee mill until pulverized. This food she carried along for her six months old baby. She begged the driver for food and a blanket for Great-grandfather, and he grudgingly gave the blanket and one days supply of food.

Great-grandfather was conscious at times. He had dubbed Great-grandmother "Little Blue Hen" and when he became conscious of their plight, he would say, "Dear Little Blue Hen, why didn't you take the children and go on, I can't last much longer, and my Soul will rest much easier if I knew you were safe. My body is just dust and will be all right any place." She replied, "As long as you live I'll be with you, Dear." Then the Little Blue Hen and two boys, aged ten and twelve, set about fixing a bed.

Thomas and Lewis Stories

An interview of D. B. Lewis, age 36, of Eufaula town, Henryetta, Oklahoma.

The story of a singing river was told by an old man by the name of Holly Thomas who use to live three or four miles southeast of Eufaula, but he has been dead for some years. His father and mother had come over to the new country from the eastern home during the removal and so the story had been told to Holly of the sorrows at the time of the removal and what the conditions were at that time. He was a small child during that time but he was told all stories about the times when he had become a young man. Those old folks never could cease from talking about and telling of the hardships they experienced along their trip often known as the Trail of Tears.

This story of the singing river was told to Holly by his father. It is not exactly known whether the incident connected with this story happened in the Mississippi River or the Tennessee River but it was the Creek Indians that it was told about. This was told as it actually happened but it was a very strange incident. As some of the Indians had been brought to the river to be put aboard the ships that were to carry them part of the way by a water route, some began to form ideas that they did not fully want to leave their old homes and further, some resolved never to set foot on the ships so that they couldn't be forced to suffer any more hardships.

They thought it would be best to end all relations with their superior officers so that they began to fight them. In the attempts to check the rebellion the officers had to use weapons and some of the Indians were killed as they tried to run off into the woods. Seeing the rebellious attitude of the Indians the white officers grabbed any Indian and pushed or forced them into the ships. The officers readily killed any Indian on board the ships that seemed to be in a rebellious attitude, but there were some Indians who did not take part in the uprising but they were the eye witnesses to those Indians who were killed on board the ships and thrown overboard into the waters of the river. Some of them that were left unharmed said, "Even we will die here but not by guns." With this, they took hold of one another's hands and stepped off into a large suck hole that was in the river and went to their deaths singing a song. It is told that many years later, the words of the song which had been sung by those Indians could be heard at certain times so that many people from foreign countries and people from different places in this country have made trips to this vicinity in attempts to record the tune and words of the song, but no one has ever been successful.

Lewis, S. R.

Chauncey O. Moore, Supervisor

Indian-Pioneer History S-14

Lawrence D. Hibbs

Interview: S. R. Lewis

Major Ridge, a full blood Cherokee Indian, who married a white woman and his son, John Ridge, who also married a white woman, came to what is now Delaware County, Indian Territory, from Georgia in the year of 1835. John Ridge, the son, had a college education and both men were considered rich men.

They opened a trading post near the Arkansas State line. (This store may have been called Ridge's Store.) They employed one, William Childers, as a clerk in this trading post. Later they gave William Childers $8,000.00 to go to New Orleans to buy supplies for this store. He made the trip by way of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers, buying the supplies and returning to the trading post.

The Ridges, father and son, were signers of the Treaty of 1835, and which, later, was the cause of their deaths.

After the general removal of the Cherokees to Indian Territory in 1838, the two Ridges (Major and John) were assassinated by their own tribe, the reason being that because these two men signed the treaty disposing of the Cherokee country east of the Mississippi River for land in Indian Territory, the tribe thought they had been betrayed and sold out by their supposed friends. They were killed in different sections, but on the same day. Major Ridge was killed somewhere near the Arkansas State line, on the same day a relative of theirs was killed near Parkhill, which is about six miles south of Tahlequah.

The wives of the two Ridges, being white women, feared for their lives after the death of their husbands and they moved to Arkansas, remaining there until their deaths.

John Ridge had a son, John Rollins Ridge, who later came back to that country to see after his father's and grandfather's land and business. On reaching their old homes, he found that there was a black stallion missing and he started out in search of this horse. After some time of searching he rode into the farm yard of a man by the name of Kell. He asked him if he had seen a black stallion and Kell told him he had and pointed to where the horse was standing. They had some words about the horse and the outcome was that Ridge killed Kell, after which he escaped into Missouri and later joined a party of Indians that was migrating to California. He later made a trip or two back to this country and to Washington D. C. but ended his days in California. While in California, he became a newspaper man and a writer, later being known as the "Poet of the Sierras of California".

RICHARD C. MANN

O. C. Davidson

I was born Jan. 20, 1872 in the Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation, at Oaks, one of the two oldest towns in the Cherokee Nation. I am a full blood Cherokee; my mother, Elizabeth Miller came from Georgia in the Trail of Tears in 1832, when the Indians were driven out of Georgia at the point of bayonet and brought here like live-stock.

They came here by boats, landed at the mouth of the Verdigris River. A rock with the date of their landing carved on it still marks the spot of their landing.

Upon their arrival here the Creek and Cherokee tribes separated. The Creeks going west of Grand River and the Cherokees settling east of the Grand River.

Upon coming here the Cherokees were permitted to take claims at the land they wanted, anywhere east of Grand River. The stipulations of the treaty were that this land was to be theirs as long as grass grew and the waters run. But later, the white mans greed for this beautiful and valuable country became so strong that, they went to work and legislated laws in Washington where by this country might be surveyed and divided up, allowing each Indian just so much land as a homestead and certain allotment of surplus other than their homesteads.

The full blood Indians never did agree to this allotment system but were forced to accept it.

Billie Byrd, Field Worker

Indian-Pioneer S-149

An interview with Dick McGirt, age 65, Tuckabatchee town (tulwa), 21 miles southwest of Okeach, Oklahoma.

The government orders for the removal of the Seminole Indians in the old country to the new Indian Territory was under way. The Seminoles did not want to come to the country, west of the Mississippi River.

They resisted the move. The Indians were victorious in battle, killing many of the whites, but more forces were sent by the government, and the Seminoles were overpowered and they surrendered.

There were four of us men who had always caused trouble and caused the tribe to move in a disobedient manner.

The rest of the members of our tribe was quickly mobilized while the four of us off on a hunting trip. Our wives and children taken by the white men along with the rest of the Seminoles. Because our families were in the hands of the government authorities so we thought it best to surrender. We were bound and made prisoners.

The four of us were constantly guarded. The guards would often ask us if we had the courage to be killed and if we were ready to die. The guards talked as if we were to be killed after we had crossed the river. Still, we never said anything.

As we were going along a trail to the river and just before we reached the river, one of the prisoner's saw a crow feather on the ground which he picked up. We hadn't gone much further when another one of the prisoner's saw a blue jay feather which he also picked up. After they had picked up the feathers they stuck them in their hats and then we gave our tribal war whoop. We then told our guards that we were ready and unafraid to die.

When we reached the river, we were put on the boat with the rest of the members of our people and tribe. The four of us that were held prisoners were placed in a separate small room from the rest of our people. One of the prisoners took sick while we were being held in this room.

The guards were in the same room with the prisoners, but they were asleep when the following incident took place. I said to the other, "Let's make an escape. I am going to make a dash for the door and break the door down and when I do that the rest of you follow me and do whatever I do on the boat."

The sick man said, "I will stay in here and carry out the will of God to die."

So two men stayed while another man and I dashed through the door.

Just as we went out the door, shots rang; out in the room that we had just left--the room where the sick man and the other had stayed. We knew that those shots had taken the lives of our comrades.

We concealed ourselves in the lower part of the boat. Everything was in confusion on board the big boat and several smaller boats were lowered into the water while a search was made on the boat as well as in the water. We were never found.

After things had quieted down, we dared to swim the mighty river. We hung on to a log that happened to be floating in the water. Once we saw a large snake that had a head shaped like the head of a cow, but we safely reached shore.

This is a story by an old Seminole man who was one of the prisoners that made the escape and as he told it to Dick McGirt.

Payne, Mary

May 10, 1937

Miss Ella Robinson

Research Field Worker

Mrs. Mary Payne

521 South Third

Muskogee, Oklahoma

My father was David Israel, a full-blood Cherokee and my mother was Martha Jane Miller Israel, a quarter Cherokee. They were born in Georgia. My mother in 1836 and my father in 1837. They were brought to Indian Territory by their parents over the "Trail of Tears" when the Indians were driven from their eastern homes by the United States Troops. They were too young to know of the tragedies and sorrows of that terrible event. My aunt, who was 15 years old at the time, told me of the awful suffering along the journey. Almost everyone had to walk as the conveyance they had were inadequate for transporting what few possessions they had and their meager supply of food. Only the old people and little children were allowed to ride. They died by the hundreds and were buried by the roadside. As they were not allowed to remove any of their household goods, they arrived at their destination with nothing with which to start housekeeping.

Pennington, Josephine

October 12, 1937

D. W. Wilson

Investigator

Interview with Mrs. Josephine Pennington

Hulbert, Oklahoma

The scene of this story as given by Mrs. Pennington starts far back in the dawn of Cherokee history. It deals with her forefathers before wrongs were done to these proud Cherokee back in Tennessee and Georgia; with their weary journey westward over the Trail of Tears. The Cherokees' first constitution according to the Cherokee laws; the Cherokees' first Principal Chief, John Ross; stirring events of the Civil War; the coming of the wild bands of painted Indians from other parts of the United States brought by the Government into the Indian Territory to occupy a part of the Cherokee lands that they were compelled by the Government to sell for this purpose.

Progress is to be noted in Mrs. Pennington's recital, for they builded schools and churches, towns and cities, from savagery among the wild Indians to our present great state we have today.

Every individual has back of him things of which they are justly proud and Mrs. Pennington is proud to know that she is a direct descendant of the principal characters of the Cherokees.

After the Ridges made this treaty and those who favored it moved west. Chief Ross and his band of 12,000 still refused to move and they met abuse and troubles indescribable and finally the United States Soldiers were sent to move Chief Ross and his people.

After the soldiers appeared, they began to build stockades to house the Cherokees until they could get them moving. All over the Cherokee country they went, bringing in all of them, old and young, male and female and their babes, the sick, the lame and the halt. They hunted them down like hunting wild beasts and when they found them, they drove them under threats and blows like cattle to these stockades. These stockades were over crowded, disease broke out among them and many of them died with dysentery. Poor food and poor water, no doctors and no medicine.

In due time parties were started west, under the charge of soldiers. These parties were driven through like cattle. The sick and weak walked until they fell exhausted and then were loaded in wagons or left behind to die. When streams were to be crossed if not too deep all were compelled to wade. The water often times was to the chins of the men and women, and the little children were carried high over their heads. If the water was over their heads they would build rafts and cross on them.

Chief Ross and the Council begged the Government to let them take over the moving after a few parties had been moved by the soldiers and this was agreed upon. They began to establish camps and their health got better. It was only a short time until Chief Ross had worked out the details for the removal and he moved his people in groups through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and then into the Indian Territory. This journey was called the "Trail of Tears".

Unlike the moving by the army, arrangements were made whereby the old, sick and afflicted and the babies rode on the wagons hauling provisions and household goods. The others walked or rode horseback. These wagons hauling provisions were Government property.

Even with these arrangements many died on account of cold and hunger enroute and were buried in unmarked graves.

One of those who died on the Trail of Tears was Jim Ross Jr., the son of Jim Ross who was the son of Chief John Ross as aforementioned.

Jim Ross Jr. was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere near the present town of Aurora, Missouri.

Those who survived the hardships of the long trek, finally came to meet the Cherokees west. After they arrived here all that they possessed were a saw, an axe, a very little bedding and a big-eyed hoe and a small amount of corn, enough possibly to plant an acre of ground.

Having located in the Ozarks of the eastern part of the Indian Territory, many of them dug caves or dugouts in the hillsides in which to live until with their axe and saw, they built a little log cabin. They lived on wild fruits and berries. They made themselves bows and arrows to kill their game.

Some were a little more fortunate for they had a horse and with a deer tongue of wood and the big-eyed hoe they planted their corn in little clearings.

Chief John Ross and his family settled and builded their first home near the west bank of the Illinois.

February 24, 1937

Mrs. Nannie Pierce, Informant

Jas. S. Buchanan

Interview with Nannie Buchanan Pierce

My grandfather on my father's side of the family was an Irish emigrant to this country in 1820 when he was only seventeen years of age and was living among the Cherokees in Tennessee where he was married to my grandmother, Eliza Heldebrand in 1829. To that union were born ten children, William, Nancy, Rachel, Marguret, Elias, John J. (my father), Washington, Polly, Lucy, and Mikel.

As grandmother was Cherokee, she and grandfather and the children that were born up to that time were driven out of that country with the removal of the Cherokees to this country in 1837 with the general exodus of the Indians over what has been referred to in history as the "trail of tears", the darkest blot on American history. According to the stories told to me by my grandmother when I was a small girl it would be impossible for anyone to graphically portray the horrors and suffering endured by the Cherokees on that journey. The hardships were many all along the trail, rough country, bad roads and all kinds of weather. A seeming endless march of weary, struggling mass of humanity, driven from a country they knew and loved as their home, deprived of most of their individual possessions, to the wilderness of a new country. A procession miles in length of wagons, two-wheel carts, vehicles of every description drawn by horses, mules and ox teams, long troops of pedestrians of all ages and conditions, mothers walking and carrying their babes on their back. Many walking and driving their small herds of cattle and other stock. After a few days out on the trail you could see them scattered along the roadside falling out of line of march from exhaustion and illness, and so the long journey from east of the Mississippi to the Indian Territory was made after several months of hardships and sorrow and the cost of many lives of the Cherokees. I have read of the "Trail of Tears " by different writers but none portray the horrors of it all in detail as grandmother related to us when we could persuade her to talk of it, as she would often tell us it was too horrible to talk about and it only brought back sad memories.

Soon after the arrival in the territory my grandfather taken up a claim in what was afterwards known as the Whiteoak Hills in the Illinois district of the Cherokee nation about seventeen miles east of where the town of Bragg now stands. He built a large two room log house with a railway between the rooms and a stone fireplace at each end of the house. At this place they reared their family of ten children and resided the remainder of their active lives. Their last few years were spent among the children who were all married and living at different places in the Territory. Grandfather died at the home of his son Washington Patrick near Braggs in 1887. Grandmother died at the home of another son at Vann, Oklahoma in 1903,

August 16, 1837

An Interview with Joe Purcell, age 38,

Cheyenne Tribe, Anadarko, Okla.

I have heard talk among and from the older Indians that when the Cheyennes were moved from their older homes in Wyoming that they had as great and much trouble, hardships, sickness and death in their travels to what is now Oklahoma.

Some of the Indians were loyal to the government and wanted to do what was ordered of them. They were willing to move and settle in the new country but some of the others didn't want to leave their homes. Some of them, while on the way to the new country, escaped and returned to their old homes. It was often the case that these fleeing Indians would be overtaken and shot down. This seemed to cause a lot of trouble for the white men who had to make a return trip to the old country and bring the Indians back to the new country.

While the escaped Cheyennes were causing all the trouble, battles and deaths, those that were obedient to orders had willingly taken the new country as their homes where they had selected their camping sites and located their favorite hunting grounds. They had already become used to the new lands. This was among the more peace loving Cheyennes.

It was while in their weakness and while seeking safety from the winter snow and cold that fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children were massacred in the Washita Valley in their country by General Custer and his troops who swooped down on them and wiped the camp out. This was caused by some of the disobedient Cheyennes and by their rebellious acts.

As a revenge, the Cheyennes were successful in Wyoming in surrounding Custer and his troops where he had gone to return the escaped Cheyennes.

Note: This manuscript has not been edited for phraseology since it appears a part of its value lies in the field worker's interpretation of the Indian manner of speech.

Rackleff, Kate

August 31, 1937

Nannie Lee Burns,

Interviewer

Interview with Mrs. Kate Rackleff

Fairland, Oklahoma

My mother, Rebecca Neugin nee Ketcher, was the daughter of John Ketcher. I do not know the name of his wife. Both were full bloods. My mother was born in Georgia about 1829.

My mother, said to be the last survivor of those who came over the Trail of Tears, was about ten years old when they left Georgia.

They came in rude wagons drawn by oxen, each family furnishing its own transportation or at least my grandfather did and he loaded his wagon with provisions for his family for the trip. This left little room as he had a wife and six children of whom my mother was next to the youngest. They were compelled to have a little bedding. They left Georgia in the summer and did not reach this state till the next summer.

These people were brought through Tennessee and Southern Missouri, under soldiers commanded by General Winfield Scott. General Scott left these people under command of his assistant about the middle of the trip that he might attend the National Whig Convention, which was at that the contesting the nominations of Henry Clay and William Henry Harrison for President of the United States.

Mother started with a little pig that she named "Toby". When they started he was no larger than a large rat and each day at noon and at night mother would let him run around and watched him and she kept him till he was a large hog and he disappeared one day at the noon hour and she was never able to find him.

In those days there were no roads and few trails and very few bridges. Progress of travelers was slow and often times they would have to wait many days for the streams to run down before they could cross. Each family did its own cooking on the road. People then had no matches and they started a fire by rubbing two flint rocks together and catching the spark on a piece of dry spunk held directly underneath the rocks. Sometimes, they would have to rake away the snow and clear a place to build the fire. Travelers carried dry wood in the wagons to build their fires. The wagons were so heavily loaded and had traveled so many days that when they came to a hill the persons in the wagons would have to get out and walk up the hill. They did not ride much of the time but walked a good deal, not only to rest themselves but to save their teams.

Often, teams would give out and could go no farther and then those who were with that wagon would be divided up among the other wagons and hurried along. One day mother saw a team of oxen fall dead, hitched to their wagon. The party she was with were in a severe snowstorm on the way which caused much suffering. Many died from exposure on the trip and mother said that she thought that a third of those who started died on the way, although all of her family lived to reach the new country. Those who came over the Trail of Tears would not stop for sickness and would stop only long enough to dig a rude grave when any one died and then the bereaved family was forced to move right along.

Mother said that their food lasted them till they reached the Indian Territory but towards the last of the trip that they had little to eat and had to plan to make it last. It was indeed a pitiful band that finally reached the new home promised them for they had been a year on the road, food had become scarce, their clothes which were homemade were wearing out, many had died on the trail, some had lost their teams and wagons and had been placed with other families and there were small children in the band who had lost their parents.

Stephens, J. W.

March 22, 1938

Interview with Mr. J. W. Stephens; Tallahassee, Oklahoma

J. W. Stephens is of Negro and Creek Indian blood and was born near the present town of Eufaula, Oklahoma, on the Canadian River, about the year 1858. His father and mother, John and Theba Stephens, were born in the Creek Nation of old Indian Territory, but their parents, his grandparents, came from Georgia at the time of the removal of the Creeks, out of the states of Georgia and Alabama, about the year 1833.

Of course I do not know personally but my grandparents have told me of their removal to the Indian Territory, and I can only tell you as it has been handed down to me.

This removal was nothing more than greed and injustice on the part of the Whites and suffering and hardship for the Creeks.

The Creek Indians held large tracts of land located partly in Georgia, partly in Alabama and partly in Mississippi. They at one time had owned considerable land but by treaties with the United States, at and before their removal, they had left only what they considered enough for their own needs.

The whites continued to encroach on the Creeks and insisted they move west, but they stood with a firm determination not to give up their lands. The entire tribe held council and at that meeting it was decided that they would not give up a single acre of their land or leave the home of their fathers they loved so well.

After this council meeting, a fellow named Colonel William McIntosh called another meeting for he favored removal. Only a few attended this meeting. McIntosh signed a treaty with the United States, saying at the council meeting they had decided to trade their land in the east, acre for acre, for land in the Indian Territory. Another council was held by the majority protesting, saying it was made by the minority and not the majority and they would die first.

The Creeks then began to shout Colonel McIntosh had sold out, accused him of treason and at last burned his home and shot him. The men of the McIntosh following were also killed.

The white people called the Creeks savages on account of this and all manner of ill things were said of them, but, in reality the ones killed were slain according to tribal laws.

A few years later the Government made a treaty with the majority to remove them west, giving them land in the Indian Territory along and between the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers. They were to move them and furnish them with food during the first year, allowing them to clear land and establish themselves.

Some of the Creeks left on this occasion: many, however, still refused to move and my grandparents were among those who were driven out like cattle and came to the Indian country by wagon trains and on foot. They suffered many hardships, were footsore and weary, tattered and torn. Sickness was among them and many died along the route.

My grandfather told me, he made the trip barefoot and often left bloody footprints in the snow. He carried a little bundle of clothing and an old flintlock rifle.

March 20, 1938

D. T. Wilson

An interview with Mr. E. F. Vann; Muskogee, Oklahoma

I am the son of Turnip and Martha Vann and I was born in the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation of the Indian Territory, June 20, 1870. The present location of my birthplace would be in Adair County near the present town of Stilwell. I am a full blood Cherokee Indian and am now the day jailer at the Muskogee County jail in Muskogee.

My father was born in North Carolina about 1825, and my mother's name was Martha Hood before her marriage and she was born in Georgia, September 14, 1835. My father is now dead and is buried some few miles south of Stilwell. My mother is also dead and is buried in McIntosh County, near Chocotah.

In 1890 I married a white woman of the name of Alice McTheney who was born in Crawford County, Arkansas, June 6, 1874.

My father and grandfather moved to Georgia before the removal of the Cherokees to the Indian Territory from North Carolina and my mother's parents lived in Georgia. There has been much told to me by my parents and grandparents as to the way in which the Cherokees were treated and were driven from their homes in Georgia, all of which history has recorded; however I feel that I should say my parents were of two different clans or factions. My mother's parents were favorable to the Treaty or the Ridge Party and on account of a treaty made with the United States Government, my mother's people were moved west by the Government, by steamboat and wagons and settled in Western Arkansas, north of the present town of Fort Smith, in 1835. Mother was but a baby two years old at this time. These Cherokees were called emigrants or the Western Cherokees.

My father's people would not abide by the treaty and were known as members of the Anti-treaty or Ross Party who refused to leave their homes back in Georgia, because the land was fertile and had many improvements and furthermore because their loved ones were buried there. In all, the members of the Ross or Anti-treaty party were satisfied and content in Georgia and did not care to take up new homes in a country of which they knew nothing. All the story of their sufferings in Georgia and across the Trail of Tears has already been written. My father while only thirteen years old came on the Trail of Tears with his parents and while on this trail, he lost one of his brothers. Father's people settled in the Flint District where I was born. It was in 1838 that this removal occurred and it was only a few years until my mother's people who had settled in Arkansas were again compelled to move into the confines of the Indian Territory. They settled in the Flint District where Father and Mother grew up and were married.

I have heard my grandparents and parents say, that after the troublesome times of enforced migration and settlement in their new lands in Indian Territory, there followed at last a period of peace and prosperity among the Cherokees. The younger Indians such as Father and Mother became reconciled to the change but my grandfather never did.

Walker, Henry J.

Interview with Henry J. Walker

Welch, Oklahoma, Star Route

James R. Carseloway, Field Worker

My name is Henry J. Walker, and I live at Welch, Oklahoma, Star Route. I live on the farm my father settled on, when the Kansas line was re-established, located on Big Cabin Creek.

My father's name was George Washington Walker. My mother's name was Mary Jane (Harlow) Walker.

My grandfather was Timothy Migs Walker, and my grandmother was Elizabeth Neely (Adair) Walker.

My father was born in Tennessee in 1823 and came to the Indian Territory when a boy 12 years old with his parents, brothers and sisters, along with the eastern emigrants, from Georgia about 1838.

My father told me that all the men and boys walked all the way from Georgia, and the women and children were allowed to ride in the ox wagons. It was a long hard journey and many took sick and died on the road. It took so long to make the trip, longer than the government had figured, that about all the money the Cherokees were given to live on after they arrived was used up on the way.

My father said each head of a family was given $100.00 in money to live on until they could get started up in their new homes, and that the soldiers in charge of the movement were given feed and food enough to carry them through. It ran out long before the journey's end was reached and the government officers had to borrow from the Indians to buy food and feed to continue the trip. By the time the Territory was reached about all the Indians money was used up, many of their families were reduced by death, and they were here without a thing to live on.

My father said the Government men in charge of the "Trail of Tears" promised to turn in their claims and pay back the money they borrowed from the Cherokees on the way over here, but they never did. I am told that the Cherokees now have in a claim against the government for this money with 5 per cent interest from 1838.

My grandfather, Timothy Walker, was a full blood Cherokee and settled with his family near Tahlequah in 1868, where he lived until his death several years later.

My father, George W. Walker, was almost a full blood Cherokee, and spoke languages fluently.

Waterkiller, Ellis

Mr. Waterkiller was born in the Cookson Hills of Eastern Oklahoma, near White Oak School, in Cherokee County, Oklahoma and now lives six miles east of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, near the present Perkins School in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, on highway #62.

He is a full blood Cherokee Indian and 73 years old.

All of his known relatives were buried in the Cookson Hills of eastern Oklahoma, near the White Oak School. No markers mark their graves.

Father - Waterkiller - Born North Carolina (year unknown) Died 1870.

Mother - Nancy Parsons Waterkiller, born Cookson Hills 1873 and died 1890.

Grandfather - (First name unknown) last name, Parsons. Born North Carolina, (date unknown) Died 1840.

Grandmother - Sallie Parsons, born North Carolina (date unknown) Died 1885.

Don't know much about Father's people. Grandma (Parsons) tell me lot, like I tell you.

Grandpa and Grandma leave North Carolina, in old country, come Georgia, that old country too, stay there year. . . . 1837, soldiers drive um West. . . . Grandpa and Grandma no want come. Soldiers say go or kill you. Stick bayonet in you. They get things one night, skillet, pot, dishes, clothes, bedclothes too. . . . got dish grandma bring. I eat beans out em, I boy. It was an old piece of pottery, highly polished. Bowl was fashioned with handles, handles broken off, but designs on it were beautiful. See bowl, is over hundred years old. Next day soldiers drive um out. Easy first day. Make soldiers feel good. Every day worse. Just drive um like cattle. Grandma say she walk, grandpa walk too or soldiers run bayonets through um. They walk, wade creeks to chin, lots mud some places. Cross rivers in canoes. Soldiers save canoes, sometimes hollow logs, made um boats, go cross river. Yuh, soldiers have wagons. Feed um two times some days, sometimes feed um one time. Soldiers eat all time, take care horses better than my grandma-grandpa. Yuh-they bring skillet some things grandma had. Yuh - lots die, lots sick, lots die, two week walk, they die, bury em where they die, any place. Yuh - clothes bad, tore em, dirty too, clothes all gone when get here. Throw lot way on road, no good.

They get here, lots timber, land no good in hills, all right in valley Yuh - Grandma hate white man. Give all land, good land, in old country meaning North Carolina and Georgia. . . . white man say "Trail Tears", she say: "Trail Death". . . . grandpa die next year, mother born. (meaning his grandmother died one year after the birth of his mother.)

Grandma say, her and grandpa come in hills. Soldiers say live, work, die.

Soldiers give em, ax, saw, big eye hoe, flint makin firs, corn, cotton, beans, mellon seed. Some soldiers give em nothin. (He had in his mind that some of the emigrants received nothing after their arrival, but was promised they would get theirs later). My folks lucky. Others never get nothin. .......

Watts, Elizabeth

April 27, 1937

Mrs. Elizabeth Watts

A Biographic Sketch

Route #2, Box 168, Muskogee, Oklahoma

By L. D. Wilson, Field Worker

Mrs. Watt's maiden name was Elizabeth Miller. She was born in 1859, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation and is a full-blood Cherokee Indian. Her first marriage was to a Mr. Whitewater, now deceased, and in 1894, she was married to Mr. Watts. Each marriage was consummated under the Cherokee Laws.

Her mother was Mrs. Nancy Tony - Miller and she was born on the East bank of the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, in 1837. Her grandparents were enroute from Georgia on the "Trail of Tears". They camped at the river several weeks waiting for the river to recede. Disease broke out among them and many died, but Nancy was born and she, at least replaced one of those who died.

Mrs. Miller died in 1876, and is buried in Goose-Neck Band neighborhood, east of Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Her father, Wilson Miller, was born in the Cherokee Nation. Was an orphan. He was reared by Uncle Joe Robertson, who was the father of Miss Alice Robertson, late Congress-woman from Oklahoma. His home was with the Robertson's at the old Tallahassee Mission, in the Creek Nation at the present town of Tallahassee, Oklahoma. He knew little of his parents, and likewise, Mrs. Watts knew nothing of her grand-parents on her father's side. He is buried three miles south of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Grandparents on Mrs. Watts' mother's side were named Richard and Nellie Tony and they came to the Indian Territory in 1837, due to the removal of all Cherokees west of the Mississippi River.

The Cherokees owned a large acreage in Georgia. After Jefferson was elected President by the United States, he had agents to come to the different Tribes to induce them to come west. Their inducement was much more land than they had there. They had lived there in Georgia for years and years. They had good land, that was left, for already the white people had encroached and taken much of their land. Naturally, most of them did not want to leave and go out into the wilderness and start life anew. To do so, was like spending a nickel these days for a grab bag, or like the saying, "Buying a cat in a sack". They did not willingly want to do this. Time passed. The War of 1812 came, and removal was delayed. A new President, Madison, was elected and he traded land in Arkansas, north of Fort Smith, for their land and agreed to move them and give them supplies, guns, clothing, ammunition, and utensils. A few of them agreed and came. The most of them still refused. This greatly separated the Cherokees. Those that came to Arkansas, had trouble there. The Government then moved them to what we call the Strip Country.

Those left in Georgia began building larger homes, put in larger crops, planted orchards, and advanced by leaps and bounds. It was during this period the Cherokees adopted the Sequoyah alphabet in Georgia. Sequoyah also came west to the ones in the Strip country and taught it there.

The white people used all means to get the Indians out of Georgia. Claimed they were barbarians, and they, the Cherokees, made new laws, just like the ones we had here in the Nation. John Ross was elected Chief of all the Tribes of Cherokees. Ross did all he could to get to stay there, but the Georgia white man passed laws and more laws, and law or no law, they destroyed the Indian's fences, and crops, and killed their cattle, burned their homes and made life a torment to them.

The Cherokees began to think of joining the West Cherokees. They simply could endure no longer. Like everything, it took a leader, and Major Ridge, his son, John Ridge, and two nephews, Elias Boudinot and Stan Natie became leaders. Of course, John Ross was the Chief and they all got to squabbling. Ross did not want to move his people, but by some hook or crook, Boudinot and Ridge signed a treaty to move, and claimed it was the will of the majority, but it was not, and the Government united a little while and sent Gen. Scott and two or three thousand soldiers. The soldiers gathered them up, all up, and put them in camps. They hunted them and run them down until they got all of them. Even before they were loaded in wagons, many of them got sick and died. They were all grief stricken. They lost all on earth they had. White men even robbed their dead's graves to get their jewelry and other little trinkets.

They saw to stay was impossible and the Cherokees told Gen. Scott they would go without further trouble and the long journey started. They did not all come at once. First one batch and then another. The sick, old, and babies rode on the grub and household wagons. The rest rode a horse, if they had one. Most of them walked. Many of them died along the way. They buried them where they died, in unmarked graves. It was a bitter dose and lingered in the mind of Mrs. Watts Grand-parents and parents until death took them. The road they traveled, History calls the "Trail of Tears". This trail was more than tears. It was death, sorrow, hunger, exposure, and humiliation to a civilized people as were the Cherokees. Today, our greatest politicians, lawyers, doctors, and many of worthy mention are Cherokees. Holding high places, in spite of all the humiliation brought on their forefathers.

Yes, they reached their Western friends and started all over again.

Lands promised, money promised, never materialized only with a paltry sum, too small to recall, for what they parted with and the treatment received.

Whitmire, Eliza

February 14, 1938

Interview with Eliza Whitmire (Ex-slave woman), Estella, Oklahoma

Giving her experience on the removal of the Cherokees from Georgia and other experience of Pre-War Days.

My name is Eliza Whitmire. I live on a farm, near Estella. Where I settled shortly after the Civil War and where I have lived ever since. I was born in slavery in the state of Georgia, my parents having belonged to a Cherokee Indian of the name of George Sanders, who owned a large plantation in the old Cherokee Nation in Georgia. He also owned a large number of slaves but I was to young to remember how many he owned.

I do not know the exact date of my birth, although my mother told me I was about five years old when President Andrew Jackson ordered General Scott to proceed to the Cherokee country, in Georgia with two thousand troops and remove the Cherokees by force to the Indian Territory. This bunch of Indians were called the Eastern Emigrants. The Old Settler Cherokees had moved themselves in 1835 when the order was first given to the Cherokees to move out.

The weeks that followed General Scott's order to remove the Cherokees were filled horror and suffering for the unfortunate Cherokees and their slaves. The women and children were driven from their homes, sometimes with blows and close on the heels of the retreating Indians came greedy whites to pillage the Indians' homes, drive off their cattle, horses and hogs, and they even rifled the graves for any jewelry, or other ornaments that might have been buried with the dead.

The Cherokees, after being driven from their homes, were divided into detachments of nearly equal size and late in October 1838, the first detachment started, the others following one by one. The aged, sick and the young children rode in the wagons, which carried the provisions and bedding, while others went on foot. The trip was made in the dead of winter and many died from exposure from sleet and snow, and all who lived to make this trip, or had parents who made it, will long remember it as a bitter memory.

Woodall, Bettie

September 20, 1937

An Interview with Bettie Perdue Woodall

Welch, Oklahoma

My name is Elizabeth Perdue Woodall, but I have always been called "Bettie". I was born near Westville, Indian Territory, December 6, 1851. My father's name was James Perdue, a half-breed Cherokee Indian. My other, Dollie Thornton Perdue, was a white woman. Both were born in Georgia. They were married in 1838, and came immediately with the eastern emigrants over the Trail of Tears to their new home west of the Mississippi, settling in Going Snake District, in the new Cherokee Nation.

Some histories say that on the Trail of Tears all the women and children were allowed to ride; but my mother told me that not a single woman rode unless she was sick and not able to walk. My mother walked every step of the way over here.

The Government furnished green coffee in the grain for the Indians along the route. Many of them had never seen coffee and did not know how to make it. Some of them put the coffee in a pot with meat and were trying to cook it like beans when my mother came along and some Indian woman said, "Ask her, She white woman." My mother said she just had to laugh the way they were trying to cook that coffee. She took some of the green coffee, roasted it in a pan over their fire, put the parched grains in a cloth and pounded it up, and made them a pot of coffee. They all liked it and said she was a smart white woman.

She also showed them how to cook their rice. It seems they all thought everything had to be cooked with meat, but in this way the young white woman became very popular and much loved by her newly made friends.

My mother told me about many of the hardships and privations she and the rest of the women suffered while on their way from Georgia. Some of them were almost unbelievable, yet I know they are true, for my mother would have had no motive in telling it if it had not been so.

On one occasion she told of an officer in charge of one of the wagons, who killed a little baby because it cried all the time. It was only four days old and the mother was forced to walk and carry it, and because it cried all of the time and the young mother could not quiet it, the officer took it away from her and dashed its little head against a tree and killed it.

Wynn, Lizzie

November 29, 1937

Grace Kelley, Investigator

An Interview with Lizzie Wynn; Dustin, Oklahoma

Uncle Willie Benson used to tell me about how they came to this country. When they started out they were afoot and were driven like cattle. At first they had something to eat but that gave out and they were starving. If they had had guns or string they could have gotten game or fish but were not allowed to have them. They came to a slippery elm tree and ate the bark of that until they could get something else. When they would give out they would camp for two or three days to rest up a very little bit, then come on again. Lots took sick and died, so there were not so many when they got here. Big boats were used to haul them across the streams and lakes. When they got to Arkansas they were unable to walk farther so wagons were provided for the rest of the trip. I don't know just where they located first but they were Muskogee Indians under Opuithli Yahola.

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72 Trail Of Tears Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best trail of tears topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 good essay topics on trail of tears, 🔎 simple & easy trail of tears essay titles, ❓ trail of tears research questions.

• Summary of “Trail of Tears” by John Ehle This analysis by John Ehle is about the rise and fall of the Cherokee nation resulting from the forced removal of the Cherokees who were Native Americans from their ancestral lands in Georgia to the […]
• “Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears” by Robert Conley The book under consideration in this paper, “Mountain Windsong: A novel of the trail of tears” by Robert Conley depicts the events of those times showing the tragedy of the Indian people of the Cherokee […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
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• Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation However, the primary advantage of the book is that it presents a different perspective and casts light on some facts of relationships between Native and White Americans that people, whether intentionally or not, tend to […]
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• In What Order Did the Five Civilized Tribes Make the Trail of Tears
• Affect the Trail of Tears on the Cherokee Nation
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• How Did the Indian Removal Act Affect Native American Culture?
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• What Was the Social Impact of the Trail of Tears?
• How Did the Trail of Tears Change American History?
• Was the Trail of Tears an Example of the Indian Removal Policy Implemented by the United States Government During Jackson’s Time?
• How Is the Trail of Tears Remembered Today?
• What Misguided Policies Led the Cherokee Indians Through Hell on the Trail of Tears?
• How Was the Cherokee Involved in the Trail of Tears?
• What Is the Native American History of the Trail of Tears?
• Why Did the United States Oppress Native Americans on the Trail of Tears?
• How Did the Soldiers Treat the Indians During the Trail of Tears?
• What Supreme Court Decision and Jackson’s Response Led to the Trail of Tears?
• How Did the Trail of Tears Affect History?
• Which Tribe Lost the Most People During the Trail of Tears?
• How Did the Trail of Tears and the Indian Removal Act Affect Westward Expansion?
• What Were the Main Causes of Death on the Trail of Tears?
• Has Anyone Tried to Stop the Trail of Tears?
• Why Is the Trail of Tears Called a National Tragedy?
• What Is the Significance of the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears?
• How Did the Trail of Tears End?
• What Happened to the Natives After the Trail of Tears?
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