Voices from the Trail of Tears

by Vicki Rozema

Overview

During the first half of the 19th century, as many as 100,000 Native Americans were relocated west of the Mississippi River from their homelands in the East. The best known of these forced emigrations was the Cherokee Removal of 1838. ChristenedNu-No-Du-Na-Tlo-Hi-Lu—literally “the Trail Where They Cried”—by the Cherokees, it is remembered today as the Trail of Tears. InVoices from the Trail of Tears, editor Vicki Rozema re-creates this tragic period in American history by letting eyewitnesses speak for themselves. Using newspaper articles and editorials, journal excerpts, correspondence, and official documents, she presents a comprehensive overview of the Trail of Tears—the events leading to the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokees’ conflicting attitudes toward removal, life in the emigrant camps, the routes westward by land and water, the rampant deaths in camp and along the trail, the experiences of the United States military and of the missionaries and physicians attending the Cherokees, and the difficulties faced by the tribe in the West. “O what a year it has been!” wrote one witness accompanying a detachment westward in December 1838. “O what a sweeping wind has gone over, and carried its thousands into the grave.” This book will lead readers to both rethink American history and celebrate the spirit of those who survived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780895872715
Publisher:	Blair
Publication date:	03/28/2003
Series:	Real Voices, Real History Series
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	426,888
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Vicki Rozema is the author of Cherokee Voices: Early Accounts of Cherokee Life in the East and Voices from the Trail of Tears. Also an acclaimed photographer, she is a history professor at the University of Tennessee. The first edition of Footsteps of the Cherokees received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1996.

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
	Epigraph	1
	Introduction	3
	I Hope My Bones Will Not Be Deserted by You--1821 and 1829	42
	Excerpts from the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate on laws preventing the sale of Cherokee lands	43
	First Blood Shed by the Georgians--February 1830	46
	Editorial by Elias Boudinot from the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate	48
	The Enemies of Georgia--1831	50
	Excerpt from the Reverend Samuel Worcester's account of his second arrest by the Georgia Guard	54
	That Paper Called a Treaty--March 1836	62
	Report of Major William M. Davis to Secretary of War Lewis Cass	63
	Your Fate Is Decided--March 1837	65
	Brigadier General John E. Wool's appeal to the Cherokees	67
	The Talk--August 1837	70
	Excerpts from the journal of George W. Featherstonhaugh on the Cherokee General Council at Red Clay	72
	Too Sick to Travel--October-December 1837	79
	Captain B. B. Cannon's journal of a land detachment	81
	A Distance Short of 800 Miles--January 1838	93
	Dr. G. S. Townsend's report of a land detachment	95
	Under Weigh at Daylight--June 1838	98
	Excerpts from the Journal of Occurrences on the route of a party of Cherokee emigrants by Lt. E. Deas	101
	Feelings of Discontent--June-September 1838	110
	General Nathaniel Smith's report to Major General Winfield Scott on the Whitely and Drane water detachments	112
	Report of Captain G. S. Drane to Major General Winfield Scott	113
	Until the Sickly Season Should Pass Away--July 1838	116
	Letter from Chief John Ross and members of the Cherokee Council to Major General Winfield Scott	118
	General Winfield Scott's reply	120
	Resolution adopted by the Cherokee Nation conferring power on John Ross and others to undertake the emigration to the West	122
	For the Comfort and Well-being of This People--Summer 1838	124
	Letter from Captain John Page to Commissioner of Indian Affairs C. A. Harris	126
	Dr. J. W. Lide's list of physicians employed in the emigration and letter to Captain John Page	127
	The Sadness of the Heart--August 1838	131
	Letter from Cherokee leader William Shorey Coodey to John Howard Payne on the departure of a land detachment	133
	A Year of Spiritual Darkness--June and December 1838	136
	Excerpts from the journal of the Reverend Daniel Sabine Butrick	138
	Hail, Rain, Wind and Thunder--March 1839	149
	Excerpts from the journal of Dr. W. J. J. Morrow	150
	One Old Man Named Tsali--November-December 1838	154
	The story of Tsali, as related to James Mooney by the Cherokees	157
	The involvement of Euchella, or U'tsala, in the story of Tsali, as related to James Mooney by the Cherokees	158
	Excerpt from the report of First Lieutenant C. H. Larned to General Winfield Scott	160
	Letter from John Page, captain and principal disbursing agent, to T. Hartley Crawford, commissioner of Indian Affairs	162
	Murdered from an Ambush--June 1839	163
	Excerpt of letter from John Adair Bell and Stand Watie to the Arkansas Gazette on the murders of the Ridges and Boudinot	166
	Letter from John Ross to General Matthew Arbuckle	169
	A Citizen of the State of North Carolina--1847 and 1858	170
	"An Act in favor of the Cherokee Chief, Junoluskee," as introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly	173
	Excerpt from William Holland Thomas's speech before the North Carolina Senate, as printed in the Weekly Standard	174
	If Not Rejoicing, at Least in Comfort--1864	178
	Excerpt from the Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, LL.D.: Written by Himself	179
Appendix 1	Guide to Cherokee Detachments, 1837-39	189
Appendix 2	General Winfield Scott's Removal Order No. 25	194
Appendix 3	General Winfield Scott's Removal Order No. 62	200
Appendix 4	General Winfield Scott's Circular to Cherokee Conductors	202
Appendix 5	General John E. Wool's General Order No. 74	204
	Endnotes	207
	Bibliography	227
	Index	233