The Trail of Tears by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Nightmare
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2013-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Wool

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Richard G. Dunlap and his Tennessee troops began building the stockades that would house the Cherokee en route to their new homes in the Oklahoma territory, as well as barracks to house the troops that would guard the Cherokee along the way. By the time authorities were done, over 30 “forts” had been built to house the Cherokee in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee before forcing them west. However, in the course of building these structures, Dunlap and his men met and spoke with Cherokee people, and they also became convinced that the sophistication of the Cherokee, many of whom had converted to Christianity and were well educated, did not deserve the treatment they would meet in the crude wooden pens built for their virtual imprisonment. Believing that continuing with his orders would compromise the honor of his men, Dunlap, like General Wool before him, threatened to resign his commission. In response, President Jackson ordered a cessation of all communication with Cherokee leader John Ross.

By August 1837, the state of Georgia had outlawed meetings by the Cherokee Council, so thousands of Cherokee people began to gather at Red Clay, Tennessee, which they adopted as the new seat of Cherokee government. A U.S. government representative sent expressly to convince the Cherokee to comply with the Treaty of New Echota offered only a message indicating that resistance was futile. A British witness to the meetings named George Featherstonhaugh would later reflect upon the accommodation the Cherokee had made toward assimilation and comment:

“a whole Indian nation abandons the pagan practices of their ancestors, adopts the Christian religion, uses books printed in their own language, submits to the government of their elders, builds houses and temples of worship, relies upon agriculture for their support, and produces men of great ability to rule over them…Are not these the great principles of civilization? They were driven from their religious and social state then, not because they cannot be civilized, but because a pseudo set of civilized beings who are too strong for them want their possessions!”

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