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abe
11-12-2003, 13:23
THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL

We whites honor the "Hermitage"
And the man who once lived there -
But, that leader of our Nation
Was cruel, unjust, unfair -
He ordered the removal
Of the Cherokee from their land
And forced them on a trek
That the Devil must have planned -
One thousand miles of misery -
Of pain and suffering -
Because greed of the white man
Could not even wait till spring -
We should bow our heads in shame
Even unto this day
About "The Trail Of Tears"
And those who died along the way.
It was October, eighteen thirty-eight
When seven thousand troops in blue
Began the story of the "Trail"
Which, so sadly, is so true -
Jackson ordered General Scott
To rout the Indian from their home -
The "Center Of The World" they loved -
The only one they'd known -
The Braves working in the fields
Arrested, placed in a stockade -
Women and children dragged from home
In the bluecoats shameful raid -
Some were prodded with bayonets
When, they were deemed to move too slow
To where the Sky was their blanket
And the cold Earth, their pillow -
In one home a Babe had died
Sometime in the night before -
And women mourning, planning burial
Were cruelly herded out the door -
In another, a frail Mother -
Papoose on back and two in tow
Was told she must leave her home
Was told that she must go -
She uttered a quiet prayer -
Told the old family dog good-bye -
Then, her broken heart gave out
And she sank slowly down to die -
Chief Junaluska witnessed this -
Tears streaming down his face -
Said if he could have known this
It would have never taken place -
For, at the battle of Horse Shoe
With five hundred Warriors, his best -
Helped Andrew Jackson win that battle
And lay thirty-three Braves to rest -
And the Chief drove his tomahawk
Through a Creek Warrior's head
Who was about to kill Jackson -
But whose life was saved, instead -
Chief John Ross knew this story
And once sent Junaluska to plead -
Thinking Jackson would listen to
This Chief who did that deed -
But, Jackson was cold, indifferent
To the one he owed his life to
Said, "The Cherokee's fate is sealed -
There's nothing, I can do."


Washington, D.C. had decreed
They must be moved Westward -
And all their pleas and protests
To this day still go unheard.
On November, the seventeenth
Old Man Winter reared his head -
And freezing cold, sleet and snow
Littered that trail with the dead
On one night, at least twenty-two
Were released from their torment
To join that Great Spirit in the Sky
Where all good souls are sent -
Many humane, heroic stories
Were written 'long the way -
A monument, for one of them -
Still stands until this day -
It seems one noble woman
It was Chief Ross' wife -
Gave her blanket to a sick child
And in so doing, gave her life -
She is buried in an unmarked grave -
Dug shallow near the "Trail" -
Just one more tragic ending
In this tragic, shameful tale -
Mother Nature showed no mercy
Till they reached the end of the line
When that fateful journey ended
On March twenty-sixth, eighteen thirty-nine.
Each mile of this infamous "Trail"
Marks the graves of four who died -
Four thousand poor souls in all
Marks the shame we try to hide.

You still can hear them crying
Along "The Trail Of Tears"
If you listen with your heart
And not with just your ears.



The preceding was partly inspired by a story told to children by John
Burnett on the occasion of his eightieth birthday in 1890. It was printed in
a book titled "Cherokee Legends And The Trail Of Tears", adapted by Thomas
Bryan Underwood.
My main inspiration, though is the shame and disgust I feel as I learn more
about the atrocities perpetrated by our forefathers and the injustices which
still occur to the true Native Americans.
John Burnett was a Private in an infantry company which took part in the
Cherokee Removal of 1838-1839.
Near the end of his story he says, in part, "Future generations will read
and condemn the act .....".




Do we?


In closing he says, "However, murder is murder whether committed by the
villain skulking in the dark or by uniformed men stepping to the strains of
martial music.
Murder is murder and somebody must answer, somebody must explain the streams
of blood that flowed in the Indian country in the summer of 1838.
Somebody must explain the four thousand silent graves that mark the trail of
the Cherokees to their exile. I wish I could forget it all, but the picture
of six hundred and forty-five wagons lumbering over the frozen ground with
their Cargo of suffering humanity still lingers in my memory.
Let the historian of a future day tell the sad story with its' sighs, its'
tears and dying groans. Let the great Judge of all the earth weigh our
actions and reward us according to our work."


If only it worked that way!


Del "Abe" Jones

icemanat95
11-12-2003, 17:33
It happened, it was an atrocity, it was an evil chapter in our history as a country. However, there is no person living who bears the responsibility for that act. You should bear no shame for it, neither should I or anyone else. We didn't give the order, nor did we carry it out. Even the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on of the folks who did order it and carry it out, bear no blame for it and should carry no shame.

There is a horrible tendancy in our culture to take on blame for things we did not do and to loathe our culture for the things that happened before the culture we live in now evolved.

And here's another bit of news for you. Native Americans were no angels during that period and even long before the white man came. They engaged in wars of genocide of their own. They slaughtered other native peoples for territory, took slaves, and engaged in tribal warfare. Their misfortune is that white men had evolved to a higher level of technology and refinement in conducting warfare, placing them at an awful disadvantage. In early colonial America, despite having firearms, colonial white men from Spain, France, The Netherlands and England were routinely slaughtered by natives who outnumbered them and knew the lay of the land better. The King Phillip War in New England saw entire vilages and towns destroyed and the frontier rolled back eastward. It took decades for Colonials to build up enough military force to regain that ground. Before that, Vikings made trips to North America, but never tried to set up colonies because while they had iron and steel weapons as compared to the stone weapons of the natives, their weapons were mere refinements of tools the natives had. It became a numbers game, whoever had the largest numbers won.

In our time, we waste effort applying modern standards of ethics and morality to the acts that occured in a different time, when different ethics and standards existed. We've learned a lot since then.

So don't get angry about it, it's long past time that any anger could do anything about it. Just remember it and learn from it.

smokymtnsteve
11-12-2003, 17:50
and anglo america has profitted by it....along with many other wrongs...

do we keep the money or give it back?

rickb
11-12-2003, 18:15
With all due respect, Iceman, the Cherokee who were brutally pulled from thier homes and sent on the Trail of Tears were not taking slaves and slaughtering neighboring tribes. Rather, they were living much the same as the White Americans of that day. In many cases they lived better; they lived in the same kinds of colonial homes and on the same kinds of farms as the Americans of European ancestory. They wore the same cloths and aspired to the same dreams. These so-called "Civilized Tribes" bore no resemblance to the image that you are alluding to.

Their only crime was living in an area that would later become covetted, largely for the gold, by men with selfish intent.

Do I bear any personal guilt for the attrocities. No. My hands are clean on that. On the otherhand, I suppose I do bear some small measure of shame for not insisting my local schools buy text books that speak of that part of our history, and the shameful (no, evil) actions of one of our Presidents. His involvement was not casual, his intent was clear and the evil plain as day.

The thing is, we are a strong and good country. We don't need to turn a blind eye on our past. I am proud to be an American.

I also think that very few people starting out on a wonderfull adventure in Northwest GA have ever hear of the Trail of Tears. That's too bad, because the mountains are full of history, and even a cursory knowledge of that history can add to one's AT experience. And perhaps even to a better understanding of human nature and ourselves.

Rick B

icemanat95
11-12-2003, 18:59
You are right about that, the Cherokee had long since adapted to a conventional white man's way of life and they were abused (I remember saying it was an atrocity in the beginning of my post).

I will bear no shame for it though. Nor will I beat myself up over things that happened before my ancestors even set foot on this continent. Nor should the people we are today be judged by the actions of the Jackson administration over a century and a half ago.

It should be remembered as a dark day in our national history, and we should be grateful we evolved past such things, but actively punishing ourselves today for it is just plain stupid.