The coastland times., 1951-05-04

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Their downfall was inevitable
with the coming of the first white
man, fernando De Soto, in 1540,
but it was not until 1915 with the
discovery of gold on their land
that their doom was sealed.
With that discovery their enc
mics moved quickly to rout them
from the coveted land. A treaty
was signed in 1877, approved by
President Jefferson, providing for
removal of the Cherokee to the
west.
Rage swept the majority of
Cherokee chieftains when they
learned of the pact which would
have paid each man the handsome
sum of forty-two dollars.
"The agreement is not the voice
Of our people," they cried. at is a
fraudulent breach of trust"
They declared that the majority
of the Cherokee desired to remain
in the land of their birth.
But the die had been cast and
was not to be broken.
Finally, after years of pickering
and fighting, it was agreed the
Cherokees should be paid $5,000,-
900 for their lands. General Win
field Scott was named to force the
removal.
The general, commanding 1000
troops, moved into the Cherokee
country in May, 1888, and began
disarming the Cherokee.
Stockades were built under
Scott's orders at various points in
the Cherokee country. They were
built in North Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee and Alabama. Into
them were herded the Cherokee.
From the stockade garrisons,
squads of troops were sent to
search out with rifle and bayonet
every small cabin hidden away in
the coves or by the sides of noun
tain streams. They had orders to
seize and bring in as prisoners all
occupants, however or wherever
they might be found.
Cherokee men-the young and
the old, the strong and the weak
were seized in their fields, along
the trails, on their doorsteps, be-
side their hearths. Indian women
were jerked from their wheels,
their looms, even from their beds.
Children were seized at play.
Families at dinner were startled
by the sudden CLEAN of bayonets
in their doorway and rose up to be
driven with blows and oaths along
the weary miles of trail that led
to the stockades.
A lawless rabble followed quick
upon the heels of the soldiers.
They came so quickly that in
many cases the Indians were bar
ely on the march before their
homes weer blazing under the
torch. They drove off cattle, ran
sacked homes, burned and looted
By the end of May nearly 1900
Cherokee had been herded into
stockades across the Cherokee
Nation.
Meanwhile, some 1000 of the
| imprisoned Cherokee began the
long westward trek by boat and
raft from Chattanooga down the
Tennessee to. the Ohio and thence
to the Mississippi. Many lives
were lost, and the Cherokee chief
tains pleaded for permission to
lead the remainder overland to the
new home.
And SO the great migration be-
gan, the tragic exodus of a once
proud nation. The route they took
was later to be called "The Trail
of Tears" a trail that swarmed
with misery and heartache, sick,
ness and death.
There were men and women SC
old and gnarled they seemed more
like mummies. There were new
born babies and unborn babies who
chose just this moment to come
into the world. There were the
blind and the dying consumptives
who had to be carried on litters
And there were idiots.
AS they picked up their few
belongings they looked about
gazed toward the high peaks Of
the Great Smokes, toward tbs
mountains that had sheltered
them, then moved on.
They were organized into de-
tachments of a thousand each
There were more than 600 wag-
ons, 5000 horses, and a hundred OF
so oxen.
The procession crossed to the
north side of the Hiwassee at a
ferry above Gunstocker Creek
| then moved down along the river
and northwest across Tennessee
through Athens, Pikesville, Nc
Minville, Murfreesboro.
I The sick, the old and the small
m Il a y