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Remembering
Most of us today are at least passing familiar with the tragedy the Cherokee calls Nuna-da-ut-sun'y, "The Trail Where They Cried," the Trail of Tears. The historians among us may even know it refers to the brutal
episode between the year 1838 and 1839 when fifteen-thousand Cherokee were rounded up by seven-thousand U.S. soldiers, forcibly
removed from their lifelong homes in Georgia, imprisoned, and were eventually marched West to, so called, "Indian Territory."
Many were simply too young or too old to make the journey. Others, without the
luxury of shoes, and with no more than sky for a blanket and the earth for a pillow, developed pneumonia during the harsh
winter of their journey. Today, some four-thousand unmarked graves line the haunting
route the Cherokee call "Nuna-da-ut-sun'y."
If only it had ended there. Or begun there, for that matter. But I think the Trail of Tears is much more vague, both from
a historical point of view and a metaphorical one. Perhaps it begins when the
first White-Man set foot on what he referred to as "the New World," which was, in fact, a very old and sacred world to those
who had inhabited it for countless generations. Or maybe it goes farther back,
to the very first murder ever, symbolized in the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Just
as Abel's spilled blood cries out to Yahweh for justice, so do the four-thousand grave sites along The Trail Where They Cried continue crying out to us today. And how shall we comfort their tears? How
can we make it up to them? There is no way!
Can we at least say we're sorry, we've learned our lesson, it will never happen again?
This promise sounds empty and shallow compared to their unjust end, compared to the countless broken White-Man promises
of the past, compared to the many examples of like injustices that have continued to happen ever since. I call this talk,
Trail of Tears: A Memorial, to remember the unfortunate victims of injustice, greed,
bigotry and hatred who fell to their deaths along the Trail of Tears, or, at best,
lost everything they ever loved and possessed. It is also a memorial to remember
all who have suffered at the hand of injustice, throughout history, and those who continue to suffer so today. Finally, it is a memorial to remember those responsible, what the human species is capable of, what we
are all capable of doing to one another. This we must never forget lest we perpetuate
injustice under the guise of law, order and federal policy.
In 1830 the Congress of the United States
passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett,
it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally
by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court
seemed to rule against the Indians. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a case extending Georgia's laws
on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee
on the same issue in Worcester v. Georgia. In this case Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign,
making the removal laws invalid. The Cherokee would have to agree to removal in a treaty. The treaty then would have to be
ratified by the Senate.
By 1835 the Cherokee were divided and despondent. Most supported
Principal Chief John Ross, who fought the encroachment of whites starting with the 1832 land lottery.
However, a minority(less than 500 out of 17,000 Cherokee in North Georgia) followed Major Ridge, his son John, and Elias Boudinot, who advocated removal. The Treaty of New Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, gave Jackson the legal
document he needed to remove the First Americans. Ratification of the treaty by the United States Senate sealed the fate of
the Cherokee. Among the few who spoke out against the ratification were Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, but it passed by a
single vote. In 1838 the United States began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia
in 1802. Ordered to move on the Cherokee, General John Wool resigned his command in protest, delaying the action. His replacement,
General Winfield Scott, arrived at New Echota on May 17, 1838 with 7000 men. Early that summer General
Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation.
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Painting by Robert Lindneux
Woolaroc Museum
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the saddest episodes of our brief history, men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles(Some
made part of the trip by boat in equally horrible conditions). Under the generally indifferent army commanders, human losses
for the first groups of Cherokee removed were extremely high. John Ross made an urgent appeal to Scott, requesting that the
general let his people lead the tribe west. General Scott agreed. Ross organized the Cherokee into smaller groups and let
them move separately through the wilderness so they could forage for food. Although the parties under Ross left in early fall
and arrived in Oklahoma during the brutal winter of 1838-39, he significantly reduced the loss of life among his people. About
4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The
Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna
daul Tsuny").
Ironically, just as the Creeks killed Chief McIntosh for signing the Treaty of Indian Springs, the Cherokee
killed Major Ridge, his son and Elias Boudinot for signing the Treaty of New Echota. Chief John Ross, who valiantly resisted the forced removal of the Cherokee, lost his wife Quatie
in the march. And so a country formed fifty years earlier on the premise "...that all men are created equal, and that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.."
brutally closed the curtain on a culture that had done no wrong.
Material Copyright © 1996, 1997 Golden Ink |
 The Legend of the Cherokee Rose.
No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the Trail Where They Cried than the Cherokee Rose(pictured at top of page). The mothers of the Cherokee grieved
so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children.
From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white,
for the mother's tears. It has a gold center, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem that
represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey. To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears". The Cherokee Rose is now the official flower of the State of Georgia.
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