It is the first day of the Indian Removal Act issued by president Andrew Jackson. It was a calm yet brisk day on the trail, but none the less the mood has not changed. Food was scarce, mostly for the Indians though. The only thing you could hear was the sound of Indian feet shuffling across the ground with sometimes a very faint weep of a child. I was at the front of the group so I didn’t hear most of the crying. “RODGERS!”, I turned around, it was the general Thompson. “YES!?” I yelled back. “COME AND TAKE THE BACK OF THE LINE!” “YES SIR!”, I told him. As I moved to the back of the line I saw Indian people tripping and stuttering on the trail. Then something caught my eye like a flash of color. I looked over and saw a young Indian boy …show more content…
I asked him, “Are you okay?” No response. I nudged him forward to keep going but, he didn’t move. He just stared at me like a scared and caged animal. At last I finally just got on my horse and trotted away back to the line. And sure enough, ten minutes later the boy was right next to me again, staring at me with that hollow stare. Then he said in his native tongue, “Dogwado Onacona”. He said his name was Onacona. I knew a little bit of Indian language so I knew he was from the Cherokee Tribe. Then he kept talking to me. Some words I understood and others I didn’t. There was one thing he said though that caught my attention. He said he couldn’t find his parents and gave a lifeless stare at the ground. He asked me if I could help him find his parents. Onacona pulled out a picture of his parents from his leather bag. Onacona wanted me to help him find his parents. As soon as he pulled out the picture, I heard General Thompson shout, “If that Indian giving you trouble, Smack him back in …show more content…
The rest of the day I scanned the crowd of Indians as I switched position with other soldiers. When the cool blanket of night covered the sky, I had first watch. There wasn’t really a need for other soldiers to keep watch because all of the Indians by now were to frail and broken to run away. But I guess there was always a chance of a wolf or other kind other predator taking away a baby or dog or something. I kept watch most of the night until finally, someone came and relieved me from my duty. That night I had a strange dream, I was at home with my wife and we were cooking dinner together, then as I walked over to grab a plate from out of the pantry when I looked out the window and saw Onacona staring at me. It gave me chill and sure enough when I jolted up from dream, Onacona was staring at me with his hollow stare. I screamed a little bit but no one cared. I guess everyone was use to screaming of people by now. This went on for two days now. I would have a weird dream then wake up to Onacona. But I still looked for his parents. And when I was looking for his parents I reflected on why I was so quick to choose this job. Why I thought it would have been a good idea to leave my wife and try to help the Indians was beyond me because clearly we weren’t helping them enough. People would die every day on the trail, and even more will die at the reservation. But that night when everyone was setting up camp I
Andrew Jackson believed that the only way to save the Natives from extinction was to remove them from their current homes and push them across the Mississippi River. “And when removal was accomplished he felt he had done the American people a great service. He felt he had followed the ‘dictates of humanity’ and saved the Indi...
Back in 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This act required the government to negotiate treaties that would require the Native Americans to move to the west from their homelands. Native Americans would be moved to an area called the Indian Territory which is Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Some tribes that were to be moved are Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. All of the other tribes had relocated in the fall of 1831 to the Indian Territory besides the Cherokee who did not relocate until the fall of 1838. They did not move from their homeland without a fight. Their homeland was parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They started this march in the fall of 1838 and finished in early
The tragedy of the Cherokee nation has haunted the legacy of Andrew Jackson"'"s Presidency. The events that transpired after the implementation of his Indian policy are indeed heinous and continually pose questions of morality for all generations. Ancient Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in an effort to increase the aggressive expansion of white settlers during the early years of the United States. The most notable removal came after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee, whose journey was known as the '"'Trail of Tears'"', and the four other civilized tribes, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, were forced to emigrate to lands west of the Mississippi River, to what is now day Oklahoma, against their will. During the journey westward, over 60,000 Indians were forced from their homelands. Approximately 4000 Cherokee Indians perished during the journey due to famine, disease, and negligence. The Cherokees to traveled a vast distance under force during the arduous winter of 1838-1839.# This is one of the saddest events in American history, yet we must not forget this tragedy.
Print. The. C. Wallace, Anthony F. Long, bitter trail Andrew Jackson and the Indians. Ed. Eric Foner. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
Cherokee Indians “Memorial of Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836” in The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005), 87
The early 1800’s was a very important time for America. The small country was quickly expanding. With the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, America almost tripled in size by 1853. However, even with the amount of land growing, not everyone was welcomed with open arms. With the expansion of the country, the white Americans decided that they needed the Natives out.
The stranger remarks as to how he has had numerous problems at sea, and had afterwards been held captive by some Indians. He thinks it is wrong that the father of the child has not been named or come forward.
Like many Native American Tribes, the Cherokee were systematically suppressed, robbed, dispossessed, and forced out of their ancestral homelands by Americans. This topic has become really difficult and uncomfortable to talk about for no reason other than embarrassment. We, as Americans, are mortified that our own country would partake in the act of forcibly removing a culture from it’s home. We are mortified that we let this become a socially acceptable way to treat Native Americans; but mostly, we are mortified that we conned the Cherokee Natives into signing an unlawful treaty that forced them to leave their Georgia homeland and move west via the Trail of Tears. The novel, The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears, written by Theda Perdue
Within a year of taking office, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. A longtime supporter of removing Indians from the lands they occupied, Jackson’s Indian Removal Act gave him the authority to negotiate directly with Native American Indian tribes to exchange their land with land west of the Mississippi River. Within ten years of the signing of the Act more than 70,000 Indians were relocated, many with force, and thousands died during the process. Those that benefited most from the Indian Removal Act were the State of Georgia, the Country as a whole and Indians.
Sioux as told through John G. Neihardt, an Indian boy then a warrior, and Holy Man
De Rosier, Arthur H. Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville; 1970
When we look back into history, we are now able to fully comprehend the atrocities the Indians faced at the hands of the historic general and President, Andrew Jackson. It can be seen as one of the most shameful and unjust series of political actions taken by an American government. However, as an American living almost 200 years later, it is crucial to look at the motives possessed by Andrew Jackson, and ask whether he fully comprehended the repercussions of his actions or if is was simply ignorant to what he was subjection the natives to. We must also consider weather he truly had the countries best interest in mind, or his own.
Ohiyesa’s father, Jacob “Many Lightnings” Eastman was instrumental in his assimilation into the white man’s culture, beginning with his education. Unlike many other Native American children in boarding schools, Charles learned to read and write in his native language. This progressive program of learning was often criticized because of the fear felt among American settlers after the Great Sioux Uprising. The settlers, as well as the government agencies, sought only acculturation of the Indians into the w...
I was in attendance at your speech last night, subsequently hearing your thoughts on Indian Removal. You explained a myriad of ideas that I, as a Cherokee reporter, strongly disagree with. One of your initial points was that the migration westward was a fair exchange, and if anything, was at the expense of the United States. You elaborated by stating that Indians were in an enviable position due to our land was being purchased and relocated to, in your grandiose words, “a new and extensive territory”. Furthermore, you mention that Indians in actuality have a choice whether or not we wish to leave the state. Spreading the epitome of a fallacy, can you feel no shame? If we were in such a pleasurable situation, there would not be so much strife between you and Indians. While it is true that you are purchasing land, that fact solely applies to the possessors of land. The majority of Indians still live a nomadic lifestyle, gaining no merit from your purchasing. Additionally, your declaration that we have a choice in our removal is utter nonsense. In reality, this act leaves all Indians at the mercy of the states and eventually, will all be completely forced out. Your speech doesn’t deliver the truth to outsiders, you have simply distorted the facts in such a