Analysis Of Voices From The Trail Of Tears

During the earlier years of the 1800’s many Native Americans were relocated to the west of the Mississippi. This event was known as The Removal of 1838. In the book, “Voices from The Trail of Tears,” by Vicki Rozema, there are many stories and journals by a range of people that were involved in the removal of the Native Americas. The pictures that emerge about the Trail of Tears vary depending on who the document is written by.

This first document is written by a white American who sympathizes greatly with the Cherokees. This document is comprised of excerpts from the journal of the Reverend Daniel Sabine Butrick. He is one of many missionaries who support Cherokee rights and feel very sorry for what the Cherokee people have to go through.

In this journal he expresses his need to support and assist the Cherokees. One way he supports the Cherokee people is by treating them as if they are his own family and by offering to help them in any ways he can (p.142). He refers to a Cherokee woman, Jane, as “our dear sister,” which shows that he values these people as if they were his family (p.139). The Cherokee people are going through a very rough time and Butrick mentions this often throughout his journal. Reverend Butrick mentions how the weather is extremely dry and warm and that many of the Cherokees are sick (p.139). Butrick talks about how awful the Cherokees are treated during this time of removal. The way that Butrick describes the situation that the Cherokees are in helps me to picture how immoral and horrible it actually was. Butrick mentions how overwhelmed he is after the first day of travel but then goes on to say, “it seemed a luxury to groan and weep” (p.140). He believes that his groaning and weeping is nothing compared to the struggles the Cherokees have been facing. He also talks about how the Cherokees are treated like “brute animals,” in the way they are all cramped in a small area with no privacy and also have to lie

This document contains excerpts from the Journal of Occurrences on the route of a party of Cherokee emigrants by Lieutenant Edwards Deas. Deas is the commander of the Cherokees during the first forced removal in June of 1838 (p.98-99). Deas describes the Indians being brought onto the boat and says they are “somewhat crowded” (p.101). This statement makes it sound like the Indians aren’t in too terrible of a situation. One of the main aspects that Deas mentions in his journal is about the transportation of the Cherokees down the Tennessee River (p.102). Deas lists the names given to certain large rapids down the river. The rapids in the river made this experience more dangerous (p.102). Deas focuses more on the boats and transportation of the trip, rather than the condition of the Cherokee people. He mentions the diet of the people on the trip which consisted of, “flour, corn-meal and bacon,” and he briefly discusses the health of the Cherokees (p.103). The Cherokees stayed fairly healthy throughout this trip but there were a couple sicknesses. When the group got to their destination, the Cherokees were greeted with friends and acquaintances from back home. Deas thought the Cherokees looked very happy and pleased