Trail Of Tears

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Trail of Tears
Retracing Cherokee Nation's past proves to be frustrating job
by Chelsea J. Carter
The Associated Press

NEW ECHOTA,Ga.-At the restored capital of the Cherokee Nation here, giggling and squirming schoolchildren innocently act out one of the darkest moments in American history.
Nine-year-old Adam Free, for example, is too young to understand the character he is playing helped establish what has come to be called The Trail of Tears, the banishment of the Cherokee Indians from their homeland.
Free is playing the role of Major John Ridge, one of the Cherokee leaders who signed a treaty leading to the forced removal of 15,000 people from their homes in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee in 1838. More than 4,000 Cherokees died from disease, hunger, and exhaustion on the 1,000 mile march to their new home in present-day Oklahoma.
Free and his classmates from an elementary school in Canton are learning history by acting out one of the last tribal meetings before the Trail of Tears began.
Some adults in their midst were fretting over the frustrating 10-year effort to mark the trail, which has become bogged down by too little money and sketchy historical records.
This rebuilt Cherokee capital, off Interstate 75 by near the Tennessee border, features reconstructed buildings, including a typical Cherokee house, a museum and a monument. Much more is needed to be done to preserve this piece of history, say proponents of preserving Cherokee heritage.
In 1835, a minority faction of the Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota, which ceded to the federal government all the tribe's lands east of the Mississippi River for $5 million and new homes in Oklahoma.
In 1838, President Andrew Jackson ordered 7,000 state and federal troops to arrest the Cherokees and hold them in stockades until they could be moved west.
It wasn't until 1987 that Congress designated the Trail of Tears as a National Historic Trail and established an advisory council to oversee the marking of its route.
It was a brief moment of celebration for the Cherokees.
"It recognizes what happened. It was an admission by the government that the removal should be remembered." says Charles Gourd, a Cherokee and member of the Trail of Tears Association in Tahlequah, Okla.
The National Park Service's master plan called for hiking trails and a marked auto route from Tennessee to Oklahoma that would include interpretive centers and historical markers. Georgia and North Carolina routes would be added later.
But after 10 years, there are few highway markers and even fewer places for people to stop and learn about the Cherokees and the trail.
"To understand the Trail of Tears, you have to understand the background," says Maxwell Ramsey, vice president of the Trail of Tears Association.
The interpretive centers are nonexistant and the hiking trails have yet to be plotted, although several states have museums and monuments dedicated to the event. The park service has requested $1.2 million in next years budget to build two interpretive centers.
Congress has given only about $40,000 a year to the Trail of Tears project since 1987-not enough to hire a full-time staff member, says David Gaines, the National Park Services superintendent of long-distance trails.

Cherokee Heritage
-New Echota, Ga.: This rebuilt capital of the Cherokee Nation, off Interstate 75, near the Tennessee border, features reconstructed buildings, including a typical Cherokee house, a museum, and a monument.
-Red Clay State Historical Park, Tenn: The Cherokee tribal government met at this site, off Interstate 75 near the Georgia border, between 1832 and 1838. The site features a rebuilt council house, lodges, a museum, the Cherokee eternal flame and the "Blue Hole", a natural spring.
-Fort Payne, Ala: This Army encampment, off Interstate 59 near the Georgia border, was used as a removal site and internment camp for about 900 Cherokees in July 1838. A chimney from the original fort still stands.
-Cherokee, N.C.: This Cherokee reservation, off U.S. (can't read) west of Asheville, N.C. is (can't read) capital for the Cherokees (can't read) escaped the Trail of Tears.(can't read) a heritage museum (can't read) arts and crafts.
-Hopkinsville, Ky.: The gravesof (can't read) a Cherokee chief, and Fly Smith, a historical Cherokee figure, are maintained here,off Interstate 29 near the Tennessee border. The men died in 1838 during the overland trek from Tennessee to Oklahoma.
-Trail of Tears State Park, Mo: A ferry that was used to take the Cherokees across the Mississippi River-and a portion of the actual trail-are included in this parks archaeological site off Interstate 55 near Gordonville.
-Fort Smith National Historic Site, Ark: This frontier post, located off Interstate 40 in Fort Smith, was established in 1817 to keep the peace between Osage and Cherokee Indians. The Trail of Tears passed by the site, which was used as a resting area.
-Tahlequah, Okla: The current capital of the Cherokee Nation, located at the junction of U.S. 62 and Oklahoma 51, 82, and 10, marks the end of the Trail of Tears.
Several historic structures and a museum chronicling the Cherokee heritage are open for tours.
Source: National Park Service