The Emigration From Georgia (Trail of Tears)

In the early 19th century, a tragic event unfolded in the United States, forever changing the lives of thousands of Native Americans. This event, known as the Trail of Tears, was a forced relocation of Native American nations from their ancestral lands. It’s a story not just of a journey, but of how the United States, once a fledgling nation, grappled with its growth and the people who stood in its path.

The Background

Before the Trail of Tears, the Native American nations — primarily the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw — lived in what is now the southeastern United States. These nations were collectively known as the “Five Civilized Tribes.” They had their own cultures, traditions, art, sports, medicinal herbs, crops domesticated over centuries, roads, water resources, and importantly, their lands.

As U.S. territories became states, Indigenous nations within their borders remained independent of state jurisdiction. The state governments wanted to dissolve the boundaries and take the lands therein. Population growth and the rapid development of cotton cultivation after the invention of the cotton gin exacerbated the problems.

However, with the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828, these lands became highly coveted by European settlers. The U.S. government, under President Andrew Jackson, decided to relocate these Native American nations to make way for the settlers.

Cultural Impact and “The Last of the Mohicans”

The attitudes of Americans toward Native Americans were influenced by the culture of the time. A notable example is James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, “The Last of the Mohicans,” written in 1826. This book, popular in its day, portrayed Native Americans in a way that supported the myth of the “Vanishing Indian.” It suggested that Native Americans were naturally disappearing as settlers moved west, a myth that made the harsh policies against them seem justified in the eyes of many Americans.

Jackson’s Role and the Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, played a key role in this relocation. The Cherokee had fought for General Andrew Jackson to defeat the Creek Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama. Yet even before his presidency, Jackson supported the idea of moving Native Americans out of their lands. He saw them as an obstacle to American progress and expansion. In 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed, which allowed the government to exchange lands with Native American nations and move them to areas west of the Mississippi River.

However, this act didn’t give the President the power to force Native Americans to move. They were supposed to agree to move voluntarily. Sadly, this wasn’t the case in reality.

The Reality of the Trail of Tears

The removal of these tribes was brutal and inhumane. Evan Jones, a Baptist minister, described the scene in 1838: “The Cherokee were dragged from their homes and encamped at the forts all over the nation. Multitudes were allowed no time to take anything with them except the clothes they had on. Females…are driven on foot before the bayonets of brutal men…it is the work of war in time of peace.”

The journey was harsh and deadly. The Cherokee, along with other tribes and even some African descendants who lived among them, traveled hundreds of miles, mostly on foot, in the cold and rain. Many died from exposure, disease, and starvation.

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The detachments were placed under the following conductors:

 

The number of wagons and teams with each of the detachments were:

No.	Wagons and Teams	Riding Horses	Collected for return of wagons and teams
1	36	288	$10,080.00
2	43	344	12,040.00
3	48	334	13,440.00
5	62	436	17,360.00
4	60	480	16,800.00
6	49	392	13,720.00
7	52	415	14,560.00
8	58	462	16,240.00
9	42	338	11,760.00
10	56	448	15,680.00
11	51	358	14,280.00
12	88	705	24,640.00

Before leaving the Eastern Cherokee Nation, the following resolution was passed by their council. In the light of later happenings, this act is of prime importance, as it shows the spirit of the emigrants.

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“Whereas, the title of the Cherokee people to their lands is the most ancient, pure, and absolute, known to man; its date is beyond the reach of human record; its validity confirmed and illustrated by possession and enjoyment, antecedent to all pretense of claim by any other portion of the human race:

And whereas, the free consent of the Cherokee people is indispensable to a valid transfer of the Cherokee title; and whereas, the said Cherokee people have, neither by themselves nor their representatives, given such con-sent; It follows, that the original title and ownership of said lands still rest in the Cherokee Nation, unimpaired and absolute:

Resolved, therefore, by the Committee and Council and People of the Cherokee Nation in General Council assembled, that the whole Cherokee territory, as described in the first article of the treaty of 1819 between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, and, also, in the constitution of the Cherokee Nation, still remains the rightful and undoubted property of the said Cherokee Nation; and that all damages and losses, direct or indirect, resulting from the enforcement of the alleged stipulations of the pretended treaty of New Echota, are in justice and equity, charitable to the account of the United States.

And whereas, the Cherokee people have existed as a distinct national community, in the possession and exercise of the appropriate and essential attributes of sovereignty, for a period extending into antiquity beyond the dates and records and memory of man:

And whereas, these attributes, with the rights and franchises which they involve, have never been relinquished by the Cherokee people; but are now in full force and virtue:

And whereas, the natural, political, and moral relations subsisting among the citizens of the Cherokee Nation, toward each other and towards the body politic, cannot, in reason and justice, be dissolved by the expulsion of the nation from its own territory by the power of the United States Government:

Resolved, therefore, by the National Committee and Council and People of the Cherokee Nation in General Council assembled, that the inherent sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation, together with the constitution, laws, and usages, of the same, are, and, by the authority aforesaid, are hereby declared to be, in full force and virtue, and shall continue so to be in perpetuity, subject to such modifications as the general welfare may render expedient.

Resolved, further. That the Cherokee people, in consenting to an investigation of their individual claims, and receiving payment upon them, and for their improvements, do not intend that it shall be so construed as yielding or giving their sanction or approval to the pretended treaty of 1835; nor as compromising, in any manner, their just claim against the United States here-after, for a full and satisfactory indemnification for their country and for all individual losses and injuries.

Be it further resolved, That the principal chief be, and he is hereby, authorized to select and appoint such persons as he may deem necessary and suitable, for the purpose of collecting and registering all individual claims against the United States, with the proofs, and report to him their proceedings as they progress.

RICHARD TAYLOR, President of the National Committee.
GOING SNAKE,
Speaker of the Council.

Captain Broom.
Katetah,
Toonowee,
Richard Foreman
Samuel Foreman,
William,
Howester,
Beaver Carrier,
Samuel Christy,
Kotaquasker.

Signed by a committee in behalf of the whole people.
Aquohee Camp. August 1, 1838.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A version of this would become the “ACT OF UNION BETWEEN THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHEROKEES” on July 12, 1839

The original contract for removal was at the rate of $65.88 per capita, to which was added by agreement, a proportion of three pounds of soap to every hundred rations, at fifteen cents per pound making the cost of the removal of each individual $66.24. On this basis, Captain Page, as “Superintending Agent of the Cherokee Nation for Cherokee Removal” the disbursing agent of the government paid on November 13, 1838 to John Ross $776,393.98.

General Scott agreed to the proposal of Chief Ross that if the estimated eighty days were found in any instance a longer period than was necessary for emigration of any detachment that the difference should be refunded by Chief Ross to General Scott and if a longer time should be required by any of the detachments that Chief Ross should be paid proportionately for the contract of August I, 1838 was merely an estimate subject to the later agreement and accordingly tiled a claim for an additional $486,939.50.

This claim was refused by Secretary of War, Poinsett and President Van Buren, but was allowed and paid by John Bell, Secretary of War under John Tyler on September 6, 1841,  just one week before he relinquished the office. This second award brought the amount that Chief Ross received for the removal to $1,263,338.38 or at the rate of $103.25 per head’. This amount was deducted from the sum that the Cherokees received for their land east of the Mississippi River under the provisions of the treaty of 1835.