The Trail Where They Cried
A brief history of the Cherokee people
Prior to the invasion of Turtle Island by the Europeans, the Cherokee, originally the Tsalagi, or as they called themselves "The People" - Ani Yunawi - numbered an estimated 500,000. Their nation encompassed over 100,000 square miles, covering the land that is now known as Tennessee, Kentucky, and parts of the Virginias, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Pre-Invasion The Cherokee were a very enlightened and spiritual people. Many lived in large towns, but they always cared for their land, as respect of the earth was part of their spiritual beliefs. They were law abiding and looked after their poor. Descent was matrilineal - through the mother. Woman had high status and took part in the councils. Political decisions were reached by consensus, sometimes issues were debated for days. God saw fit to send the Indians
smallpox. Although they had little early contact with the invader, the diseases (smallpox, influenza, consumption etc.) which came across the ocean with the Europeans decimated the Cherokee nation. By 1730, they numbered only 30,000. Fifty years later the numbers were still decreasing because of more epidemics and plagues. By this time, after constant encroachment of their land by the European invaders, many broken treaties, lies and assaults they were living on a fraction of their original homeland.
In the early 1800's, the Cherokee attempted to blend in with the white invaders. They began farming and living in the European way, some even becoming Christianized and owning slaves. This earned them the title as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes". Their farms and plantations were very successful and aroused the envy of the settlers, who in general hated Indians and wanted their land. It was beginning to be suggested that the Cherokee be removed from their land to make way for the Europeans. The suggestions became demands, but they refused to leave their homes. To make matters worse, gold was discovered. The only good Indian is a dead
Indian In 1814, a Cherokee soldier named Junaluska saved Andrew Jackson's life. Junaluska was to regret this all the rest of his days for Jackson, a noted Indian hater went on to become president with a goal of removing the people from their homes and sending them to "Indian Territory", which is now Oklahoma. Some of the people saw the way the wind was blowing, that they could not win a war with their diminished numbers and left early, settling into Oklahoma before the forced removal. Others led by their Principal Chief, John Ross, tried to fight this legally in the white man's courts and they lost. Jackson finally managed to push through a fraudulent treaty signing over the remaining 20,000 square miles of Cherokee land for 5 million dollars and land in "Indian Territory". The people were given two years to leave their homes, during which time they were harassed and assaulted by the settlers who were anxiously awaiting the rich plantations and farms. Every appeal that could be was made, Junaluska even went and appealed personally to Jackson. Everything failed.
In the summer of 1838 in one of the most shameful acts that the United States ever perpetrated, the army cruelly rounded up 16,000 Cherokee women, children and men and confined them for months in disease ridden camps. In the autumn the "Trail of Tears" began. The people were forcibly marched on foot across 1,000 miles throughout the winter, without adequate food and clothing, frostbitten and starving. 4,000 of the people died on the trek. Those that survived and reached Oklahoma began to rebuild their lives in a strange land. My grandmother was born in Oklahoma in 1911. She was the second youngest of 7 children. Her maiden name was Howerton. The family immigrated to Saskatchewan when she was a teen. She told us some things about her family history, but I wish that she was still here so that I could ask her more. Gramma told us that one of her uncles had ridden with the Jesse James gang. The time frame fits, and there was known to be a Cherokee man in the gang. Also, she told us that the family had been slave owners. At the time we did not believe her, but in the reading that I have since done, the Cherokee did indeed have black slaves, especially in North Carolina where their homeland was. Some of them went with the Cherokee when they were forced off their land. Sometimes history was not kind.
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