Our
Native American heritage includes mound sites and thousands of years of habitation. The Ohio River was part of a Native
trade route stretching from western New York down to the Caribbean.The
northern route of the
Trail of Tears comes through the
county. While the historical route passes just south and west
of Marion, the
Auto Route designated by the National
Parks System comes through the center of town, marked by distinctive
road signs.
Background Essay: The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Passing through the present-day states of Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and
Tennessee, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail follows the routes
that the Cherokee people traveled when they were forcibly removed from
their homelands. Four detachments of Cherokee people traveled to Indian
Territory (present-day Oklahoma) along water routes, while 13
detachments made their way overland along existing roads. The Trail of
Tears National Historic Trail is an auto route that follows major
highways that are close to the original trail routes and includes
related sites and national and state parks as well as privately owned
certified sites.
What led to the forced removal? Increased European settlement,
conflicts, politics, and disagreements among the Cherokee people
themselves were all factors.
The Cherokee had lived in their southeastern homeland for thousands
of years before European settlers arrived. As settlement increased, the
Cherokee were forced to give up some of their land. During the
Revolutionary War, the Cherokee sided with the British, who promised to
keep settlers from moving into their territory. At the end of the war,
the Cherokee lost much of their land in South Carolina, Georgia, North
Carolina, and Virginia.
In 1785, the Cherokee signed their first treaty with the United
States Government, ceding to the government even more of their land. In
signing this treaty, the government treated the Cherokee as a sovereign
nation. The treaty stated that, “The hatchet shall be forever buried,
and the peace given by the United States, and friendship reestablished
between the said states on the one part, and all the Cherokees on the
other, shall be universal.”
Continued conflict and concessions
Unfortunately, peace and friendship were not universal. One group
of Cherokee did not agree with the treaty, and, according to their
culture, were not bound by the decisions of others. This group, known as
the Chickamauga, continued to fight against the settlers. Meanwhile,
settlers continued to move into Cherokee territory.
In 1791 in the treaty of Holston, the Cherokee gave up even more
land in exchange for payment of money and supplies. The supplies
included farming equipment, spinning wheels, and looms. The policy of
the U.S. government was to try to “civilize” native peoples by
encouraging them to change their lifestyle. Traditionally, Cherokee men
were hunters and warriors while the women took charge of raising crops.
The government policy sought to turn the men into farmers while the
women took on the more domestic chores of spinning and weaving cloth.
The Chickamauga stopped fighting in 1794, and another treaty was
signed in 1798. In this treaty, the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse, the
Cherokee gave up a large amount of their territory in Tennessee and
North Carolina, but they were guaranteed that they could keep the rest
of their land forever. In 1800, missionaries began to arrive in Cherokee
territory, and many Cherokee people converted to Christianity. Many
Cherokee believed that if they emulated the lifestyle of the
Euro-Americans, they would be allowed to remain in their homeland.
By the 1820s the Cherokee had ceded all their land except a small
holding in western North Carolina, southern Tennessee, and northern
Georgia. Some of the treaties stated that Cherokee people were to
receive individual reservations on recently ceded land in Tennessee,
Georgia, and North Carolina. Ultimately, only North Carolina would honor
this provision.
The Cherokee continued to adopt the lifestyle of the settlers. Some
Cherokee farms grew into plantations, and some wealthy Cherokee owned
slaves. They built sawmills, grist mills, and blacksmith shops. They
encouraged missionaries to set up schools to teach their children to
read and write English, and, in 1821, Sequoyah introduced a Cherokee
syllabary (an alphabet with symbols representing syllables) for the
Cherokee language. Within a year, most Cherokee were literate. A
newspaper in the Cherokee language was published.
Ridge, Ross, and the threat of removal
Two of the leaders in the movement to develop a strong, separate
Cherokee culture modeled after the European culture were Major Ridge and
John Ross. Both men were descended from white traders who had moved
into Cherokee territory, married Cherokee women, and raised their
families as Cherokees. Both were wealthy plantation owners and both were
fiercely committed to the welfare of the Cherokee people. In 1813 and
1814, they had both fought alongside Andrew Jackson against a faction of
the Creek Nation.
Ridge and Ross worked together to create a new capital for the
Cherokee Nation at New Echota and proposed a constitution modeled on the
Constitution of the United States that was approved by the Cherokee
National Council. Ross was elected principal chief. Both Ross and Ridge
believed that the Cherokee could co-exist with the European settlers.
There were many factors working against the Cherokee. There was
increasing pressure, especially in Georgia, to remove the Cherokee and
open their land to white settlement. A popular song of the time included
this refrain:
All I ask in this creation
Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
Way up yonder in the Cherokee Nation.
Georgia citizens had a good reason to hope that the federal
government would force the Cherokee to move west. In 1802 Thomas
Jefferson’s administration signed the Georgia Compact, which promised to
buy all Indian land claims in Georgia as soon as possible. But the
Cherokee continued to resist relocation. In 1824, John Ross wrote to
the American Congress:
“We appeal to the magnanimity of the American Congress for justice,
and the protection of the rights, liberties, and lives, of the Cherokee
people. We claim it from the United States, by the strongest
obligations, which imposes it upon them by treaties; and we expect it
from them under that memorable declaration, ‘that all men are created
equal.’”
A new President, a new act, and a new treaty
When Andrew Jackson became President in 1828, he was determined to
remove all the Native people living east of the Mississippi River to the
west. In 1830, Jackson and the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal
Act, which gave Jackson the funds and the authority to negotiate
voluntary removal treaties. That same year, gold was discovered on
Cherokee land in Georgia.
Another source of agitation was the issue of slavery. Although some
wealthy Cherokee owned slaves, there was also a group of Cherokee that
wanted to outlaw slavery in the Cherokee Territory. This would have
created a haven for runaway slaves in the heart of the slave states.
Alabama and Georgia passed legislation restricting the rights and
liberties of the Cherokee. The Cherokee brought suit against the State
of Georgia in two cases. In 1832, the Supreme Court ruled that the
Cherokee Nation was sovereign and that Georgia had no right to extend
their laws into the Cherokee Nation. Georgia, however, ignored the
court’s ruling.
A people divided
A split developed between John Ross and Major Ridge. Ridge believed
that removal was inevitable. He thought the best thing the Cherokee
could do was to sign a treaty ceding their lands in exchange for $5
million. Ross and the Cherokee National Council bitterly opposed Ridge
and his Treaty Party. In December 1835, while Ross was in Washington
D.C., Major Ridge and a small group of Cherokee signed a treaty at New
Echota agreeing to cede all Cherokee lands in exchange for $5 million
and to remove themselves to Indian Territory.
Ross immediately sent a letter to Congress, signed by 15,000
Cherokee, denouncing the treaty as illegal. Not one of the signers was
an elected representative of the Cherokee National Council. Congress,
however, ratified the treaty. Ridge and his party moved to Indian
Territory and became known as the Old Settlers, but Ross and his
followers continued to resist relocation.
A harsh removal
After two years, the limit set for voluntary removal, the
government sent troops under General Winfield Scott to round up the
Cherokee. Cherokee families were forced from their homes at bayonet
point, leaving behind all their possessions that they could not carry.
They were gathered in detention camps to await removal. The camps were
crowded and unsanitary, which led to disease and deaths. Three
detachments were sent west during the summer under military supervision.
They were supposed to follow water routes, but due to a drought, they
ended traveling largely by land. There was so much death and suffering
among these first detachments that Scott agreed to Ross’ request that
the Cherokee be allowed to supervise the rest of the detachments
themselves.
Between October and December, the remaining Cherokee, including
many infants and those who were elderly and sick, set out on their
thousand-mile journey. They had some horses and wagons, but the majority
walked. They lacked adequate clothing and food, and the winter was
unusually harsh. Of 15,000 Cherokee who left, 4,000 died along the trail
they followed. It is no wonder that the trail became known as the Trail
of Tears.
When the new arrivals reached Indian Territory, there were bitter
feelings toward Ridge and his treaty signers, who were considered
traitors. Major Ridge, his son John, and his nephew Elias Boudinot were
murdered. This caused an uproar, but the murderers were never
identified. Despite these hard feelings, the Cherokee reunited under an
act of union and adopted a new constitution, establishing their capitol
at Tahlequah.
The Cherokee today
Today there are three Cherokee tribes recognized by the federal
government. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has over 260,000 members and
a tribal government that oversees social programs, development and
special services, and tribal operations. Their business enterprises
include arts and crafts outlets, a utility company, ranching, poultry,
and the gaming businesses. The United Keetoowah Band, with over 16,000
members, has organized its own government and seeks to maintain more
traditional tribal values. The Eastern Band of Cherokee also has its own
tribal government and a boundary of land in North Carolina. Many
members are descendants of the Cherokee who had been granted citizenship
by the state of North Carolina and were allowed to remain during the
Removal. Others are descended from Cherokees who escaped the Trail of
Tears or left Indian Territory and returned to North Carolina. The
Eastern Band has a membership of over 12,500. The majority lives on the
Qualla Boundary.
The U.S. government never paid the Cherokee the $5 million that was promised.
In 1987, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was designated
to preserve the story and the routes and to support the associated sites
that commemorate the Cherokees’ forced migration. Information about the
trail has come from many sources, including journals written by two
missionaries who were part of the Cherokee community and accompanied
them west, Reverend Butrick and the Reverend Evan Jones. Using these
accounts and other research, community groups such as the Trail of Tears
Association have worked with the National Park Service and public and
private landowners to establish certified sites along the trail and to
provide those who travel it with information about this tragic chapter
in American history.
Source: http://www.ket.org/nationalparks/trailoftears/closeup.htm
