Quotations - Trail of Tears
Appeal of Cherokee nation to
"Cupidity has fastened its eye upon our lands and our homes and is seeking by force and by every variety of oppression and wrong to expel us from our lands and our homes and to tear from us all that has become endeared to us. In our distress we have appealed to the judiciary of the United States, where our rights have been solemnly established. [Worchester vs Georgia] We have appealed to the Executive of the United States [Andrew Jackson] to protect those rights according to the obligation of treaties and the injunctions of the laws. But this appeal to the Executive has been made in vain.”
Major William M. Davis, 1837
Sent to Cherokee country to expedite removal
“That paper called a treaty [Treaty of New Echota] is no treaty at all because it is not sanctioned by the great body of the Cherokees and was made without their participation or assent …. The Cherokees are a peaceable, harmless people, but you may drive them to desperation, and this treaty cannot be carried into effect except by the strong arm of force.”
John Mason, Jr., 1837
Sent to Cherokee Country by US government
“Opposition to the treaty is unanimous and irreconcilable. They say it cannot bind them because they did not make it; that it was made by a few unauthorized individuals; that the nation is not part to it.”
Brigadier General Winfield Scott, May 1838
“The President of the United States [Martin Van Buren] sent me with a powerful army to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join the part of your people who are already established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi …. The emigration must be commenced in haste …. The full moon of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed away every Cherokee man, woman and child … must be in motion to join their brethren in the West….My troops already occupy many positions … and thousands and thousands are approaching from every quarter to render resistance and escape alike hopeless…Will you then by resistance compel us to resort to arms? Or will you by flight seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that in pursuit it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man or the blood of the red man may be spilt, and if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent a general war and carnage.
James Mooney, Ethnologist
From interviews with survivors of the Trail of Tears
“Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets in the doorway and rose up to be driven with blows and oaths along the weary miles of trail that led to the stockades Men were seized in their fields or going along the road, women were taken from their spinning wheels and chilfen from their play. In many cases, on turning for one last look as they crossed a ridge, they saw their homes in flames, fired by the lawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot and pillage, So keen were these outlaws on the scent that in some instances they were driving off the cattle and other stock of the Indians almost before the soldiers had fairly started their owners in the other direction.”
Georgia militiaman who participated in the “roundup” of the Cherokee Indians
“I fought through the Civil War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.”
An observer of the departure of the first group to make
the long overland journey
October 1, 1838
“At noon all was in readiness for moving. The teams were stretched out in a line along the road through a heavy forest, groups of persons formed about each wagon. The day was bright and beautiful, but a gloomy thoughtfulness was depicted in the lineaments of every face. In all the bustle of preparation there was a silence and stillness of the voice that betrayed the sadness of the hearts. At length the word was given to move on. Going Snake, an aged and respected chief whose head eighty summers had whitened, mounted on his favorite pony and led the way in silence, followed by a number of younger men on horseback. At this very moment a low sound of distant thunder fell upon my ear … a voice of divine indignation for the wrong of my poor and unhappy countrymen, driven by brutal power from all they loved and cherished in the land of their fathers to gratify the cravings of avarice. The sun was unclouded --- no rain fell --- the thunder rolled away and seemed hushed in the distance.”