The Roundup

I have not been able to update the blog lately because I've been away on business.
I'm actually in Boston. I fly home tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow I will pack up the bike, board my dog, and prepare to get on the road.

It's time to write some on how the Cherokee prepared for their Journey.

The removal came with substational warning and no warning at the same time. In 1807, Georgia exacted a promise from the Federal Government, then lead by President Thomas Jefferson, to remove all of the Indians from within its territory in exchange for Georgia giving up its claim on land that would become the states of Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. It took the Federal Government 31 years to make good on it's promise.

For a time, the Cherokee believed they could convince Georgia and the United States that they were a civilized people who's sovereignty and property rights had to be respected. They knew they were vastly outnumbered and posed no military threat, but they believed if they adopted a constitutional government and became more European in their lifestyles they would be allowed to remain a nation. They even won a case in the Supreme Court upholding their sovereignty, but it was not to be.

In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal act. The law granted Andrew Jackson the authority to negotiate treaties with the civilized tribes of the east for the the removal of all Indians living within the borders of the United States to land west of the Mississippi.

In 1835 a small group of Cherokee , without the consent of the official Cherokee government, signed the Treaty of New Echota. The treaty surrendered all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi to the United States in exchanged for $5 million dollars and new territory in what is now Oklahoma.

The official Cherokee government, under the leadership of Chief John Ross, asked the United States Senate to reject the treaty on the grounds that it was illegal and did not represent the wishes of the Cherokee people. John Ross travelled to Washington in person and presented petitions signed by 15,000 Cherokee to Congress pleading for the rejection of the treaty. Despite the illegitimacy of the treaty, and the appeals by the Cherokee people, the Senate ratified the treaty of New Echota in 1836 by a single vote.

The terms of the treaty gave the Cherokee two years to relocate themselves to the lands west of the Mississippi or face forced removal by the United States Army. Very few Cherokee complied with the treaty and moved themselves. There are multiple theories in the histories of the removal as to why so many Cherokee ignored the treaty. One theory is the Cherokee were just not informed by their leadership. Another theory suggests the Cherokee did not believe they would be forced from their land. What ever the reasons, two years passed and the Cherokee did not prepare and did not move.

In the Spring of 1838, then president, Martin Van Buren commanded general Winfield Scott to use the United States Army to remove the Cherokee people from Georgia and transport them to Oklahoma.

On May 10th, 1838, General Scott issued a proclamation to the Cherokee People stating his plan for removal.

Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835 to join that part of your people who have already established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose, you have suffered to pass away without following, and without making any preparation to follow; and now, or by the time that this solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the emigration must be commenced in haste, but I hope without disorder. I have no power, by granting a farther delay, to correct the error that you have committed. The full moon of May is already on the wane; and before another shall have passed away, every Cherokee man, woman and child in those states must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West.

Unlike the Cherokee, Scott did prepare for the removal. Prior to issuing his proclamation, Scott had his soldiers construct concentration camps, known as removal forts, near the Cherokee villages and population pockets. After he issued his proclamation, Scott made good on it's words by immediately rounding up all the Cherokee and holding them in the removal forts for deportation west.

For years, the Cherokee had apparently ignored all the signs and outright warnings of their impending removal. Just like an earthquake is the sudden release of long accumulating tectonic pressures, the removal events, that had taken years to build, exploded overnight. Once Scott issued his proclamation, United States soldiers and Georgia Millitia fanned out over the Cherokee villages and dragged men women and children off to the concentration camps. All the histories indicate the roundup was sudden, harsh, and cruel. The Cherokee's time ran out, and no more was granted for packing and preparing. The Cherokee took to the concentration camps only what they could quickly gather when the soldiers appeared at their door.

Fort Scudder or Frogtown was a fort that stood on land belonging to Jacob Scudder during the time of the removal. Although no one knows for sure exactly where Fort Scudder was, it is highly likely that it was within walking distance of my home. Though not documented anywhere, it is also likely that Camp Gilmer was used as the removal fort for the Frogtown/Hightower Cherokee community.

It is the Hightower community that I am interested in learning most about.