Jacksonland: A Great American Land Grab (44 page)

Ross did not go along with a War Department suggestion
Fiorato, “Cherokee Mediation in Florida,” p. 116.

including their leader Micanopy
Ibid., pp. 113–14.

The Seminoles believed them
Moulton,
John Ross, Cherokee Chief,
p. 88.

Chapter Thirty-three: The Thunder Often Sounding in the Distance

They cast off from the Cherokee Nation on March 3, 1837
Wilkins,
Cherokee Tragedy
, p. 290.

A steam locomotive arrived, pulling a string of open freight cars
Ibid.
,
p. 291.

watching the countryside blurring past in the dark
Grant Foreman describes it as a night journey in
Indian Removal
, p. 275.

no reported deaths
According to Wilkins,
Cherokee Tragedy,
p. 293.

365 emigrants loaded their wagons
The number is from Foreman,
Indian Removal,
p. 280.

paid a call on white-haired General Jackson
Journal of B. B. Cannon, reprinted as “An Overland Journey to the West (October–December 1837)” in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 168.

“Nov. 1st 1837 . . . Marched at 8 O’C A.M. buried Ducks child”
Ibid.

“Nov 29th 1837
 . . . child last night”
Ibid.

“We will not attempt to describe the evils . . . deceived himself”
Address by federal commissioners John Kennedy and Thomas W. Wilson, and Nathaniel Smith, Superintendent of Indian Removal, December 28, 1837, reprinted in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, pp. 134–35.

The last census of the eastern Cherokees
All figures from McLoughlin and Conser, “Cherokees in Transition,” pp. 678–703.

“had a long talk . . . he will weep!”
John Ross to Lewis Ross, April 5, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
p. 622.

The War Department assured him
General Alexander Macomb to Scott, April 6, 1838, reprinted in Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, pp. 1–2.

cadets at . . . West Point were being ordered that spring
Army and Navy Chronicle
, reprinted in
Boston Courier
, June 21, 1838.

vowing “never to return without having killed at least one Indian”
Scott, “If Not Rejoicing, at Least in Comfort: General Scott’s Version of Removal,”
Journal of Cherokee Studies
.

Arriving at Athens, Tennessee, fifteen days before the deadline
He arrived May 8. Scott to Poinsett, May 18, 1838, reprinted in Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, p. 7.

“powerful army . . . whole people of America”
Scott’s address, reprinted in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 145.

“a company of volunteers marched through Morganton”
Fayetteville Observer
, May 16, 1838.

North Carolina also announced its plan
Raleigh Register
and
North Carolina Gazette
, May 7, 1838.

“Nothing but destruction
”
Lewis Ross to John Ross, April 6, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
p. 625.

He had seen Cherokees serenely planting their corn
John Ross to Lewis Ross, April 5, 1838, ibid.,
p. 622.

twenty-three military posts throughout the Cherokee Nation
Scott to Poinsett, May 18, 1838, reprinted in Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, p. 7.

enrolled so many volunteer soldiers
Scott to Poinsett, May 18, 1838: “I shall be trammelled by an understanding, mounting almost to a compact, which had been entered into with the Governor of Georgia, in respect to eleven such companies.” Ibid.

“Whilst writing the foregoing”
Ibid.

“were evidently deluded”
John Ross to Lewis Ross, April 5, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
pp. 622–23.

“I replied that I had never deluded the Cherokees”
Ibid.
,
p. 623.

the depression had forced the closure of thirty-three thousand businesses
Study cited in Roberts,
America’s First Great Depression,
p. 22.

Once again, religious groups led the way
Moulton,
John Ross, Cherokee Chief,
p. 93.

“My friend Mr. Payne and myself”
Ross to Elizabeth Milligan, April 10, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1, p. 626.

“
Catlin’s Indian Gallery,
”
as it was called in an advertisement
National Intelligencer
, April 17, 1838, p. 3.

“The interests of your people cannot be dearer to you, than those of mine”
Ross to Martin Van Buren, April 1838 (exact date uncertain), Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
pp. 633–34.

“You can expel us by force”
Ross to Samuel Cooper, April 17, 1838, ibid., p. 631.

“The presence in this city of the chiefs”
Poinsett to Scott, June 1, 1838, reprinted in Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, p. 4.

“No communication has reached me”
Scott to R. Jones, May 22, 1838, ibid., pp. 12–13.

“When the soldier came to our house”
Rebecca Neugin to Grant Foreman, reprinted in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 176.

“as we were going from school”
From
Journal of Commerce
, reprinted in
Liberator
, July 20, 1838, p. 116.

“Many of our friends are troubling themselves”
Ibid.

“Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets”
Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee,
p. 130.

“to rob them of the silver pendants”
Ibid.

“I experienced no difficulty in getting them along”
Reprinted in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 154.

“happily chosen,” a “well shaded”
area
Scott autobiographical fragment, reprinted in ibid., p. 139.

“scattered and dispersed” in “family camps”
Quoted in Rozema,
Voices from the Trail of Tears
, pp. 128–29.

“consequent upon the hurry of capture and removal”
Scott to N. Smith, cited in Evans, “Fort Marr Blockhouse,” p. 259.

“they are the most quiet people you ever saw”
Reprinted in
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 155.

In
two follow-up letters
Poinsett to Scott, June 25 and 27, 1838, reprinted in Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, pp. 5–6.

“and the
squatters . . . are as likely to annoy, to dispossess, and make war”
Scott to Poinsett, June 7, 1838, ibid., p. 18.

“Not only the comfort, but the safety of the Indians”
Scott to Poinsett, June 18, 1838, ibid., p. 26.

“a high grade of Diarrhea . . . heat that has prevailed in this country”
Quoted in Rozema,
Voices from the Trail of Tears,
p. 129.

“two thousand” people had died
Missionary Herald
, 1838, quoted in ibid.
,
p. 29.

“The loss was the fault of the Cherokees”
Quoted in Brown,
Old Frontiers,
p. 509.

“Paid to John Ross . . . 25,000.00”
Receipt, June 25, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
p. 647.

$7,000 for two seasons in Washington
Travel expense receipt, June 26, 1838, ibid.,
p. 648.

“thrilling news”
Ross to John Howard Payne, July 5 and 9, 1838, ibid., p. 648.

“suddenly terminated”
Ross to the Cherokees, July 21, 1838, ibid., p. 649.

“I shall not stop here to complain”
Scott to Poinsett, June 7, 1838, reprinted in “On the Removal of the Cherokees,” Exec. Doc. 453, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 4, 1838, p. 20.

“extremely unwilling to delay the emigration”
Scott to John Ross et al., August 25, 1838,
Journal of Cherokee Studies
, vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1978, p. 152.

“I am still in the land of the living”
Jackson to Blair, August 9, 1838, Andrew Jackson Papers,
1775–1874,
reel 51.

“Benton is safe beyond a doubt”
A. G. Harrison to Jackson, August 15, 1838, ibid.

“It is
indispensable
for us to have a new candidate for the Vice Presidency”
C. Johnson to Jackson, August 1838, ibid.

“to be placed at West Point”
Amanda P. Craig to Jackson, August 22, 1838, ibid.

“Col. Walker has just shewn me”
: Jackson to Felix Grundy, August 23, 1838, Moser et al.,
Papers of Andrew Jackson,
reel 34.

He had left out an allowance for soap . . . total cost should be $66.24
“Moneys Due the Cherokee Nation,” clarifies this, p. 10. House Report no. 288, in 1843, gives the
money figures and specifies that it was an allowance for soap. “Moneys Due the Cherokee Nation,” p. 10, also says that Scott asked for a reduction and that Ross countered with an increase.

John Ross took no actual salary
Moulton,
John Ross, Cherokee Chief,
p. 106.

$1.357 million
“Moneys Due the Cherokee Nation,” p. 11.

“accomplished with a much less expense to the United States”
Ibid.

“At dawn of day the Emigrants were in readiness”
Ross to Scott, November. 12, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
pp. 691–93.

“at least Two third are in a destitute condition”
John Benge et al. to John Ross, September 29, 1838, ibid., p. 673.

Another party . . . “the payment of unjust & just Demands”
George Hicks to Ross, November 4, 1838, ibid.,
p. 687.

“The Ice on the Mississippi”
Thomas N. Clark to Ross, December 28, 1838, ibid., p. 696.

around 600
“Moneys Due the Cherokee Nation,” p. 11.

one Cherokee list recorded 324
“Emigration Detachments,”
Journal of Cherokee Studies,
vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1977, p. 187.

Cherokee population may have been reduced by as many as eight thousand
Thornton, “Cherokee Population Losses during the Trail of Tears,” pp. 289–300.

“excepting sickness”
Ross to Winfield Scott, November 12, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1, p. 691.

“I wish I could have your influence for a few days”
Thomas N. Clark to Ross, November 15, 1838, ibid.,
p. 695.

Epilogue

A glance at a modern census map
For example, “American Indians and Alaska Natives,” produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, based on 2010 census data, www.census.gov.

reservations are in southeastern Alabama . . . Chickasaw and Choctaw
Census maps, ibid.

their numbers dwindled to as little as a hundred
Mahon,
History of the Second Seminole War,
p. 321.

it was apparently on a riverboat that Ross’s wife, Quatie, died
Worthen, “Quatie Ross Gravestone Given to Museum.”

She was buried after the boat tied up at Little Rock, Arkansas
An alternative version of Quatie’s death, conveyed in a supposed letter by one John Burnett, was discredited in ibid.

“The clouds vanished and the rain ceased to fall”
John Ross to Mary B. Ross, March 5, 1865, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1,
pp. 631–32.

cede some of the land that had previously been granted
Kappler, Article 31, “Treaty with the Cherokee, 1866,”
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties
, p. 947.

“he had been treated so bad by the whites life had lost all its endearments”
The wife’s account was found by the scholar William Martin Jurgelski, who transcribed it in Pluckhahn and Ethridge,
Light on the Path,
pp. 137–39.

“one of those unfortunate individual occurrences”
Ross to Winfield Scott, November 4, 1838, Moulton,
Papers of Chief John Ross
, vol. 1, p. 687.

Cherokees themselves put Tsali on trial
: Pluckhahn and Ethridge,
Light on the Path,
pp. 148–50.

several hundred thousand people, on and off reservations
U.S. Census Bureau, “American Indians and Alaska Natives,” based on 2010 census data, www.census.gov.

Sources and Acknowledgments

“endure . . . as long as the government itself”
Van Buren,
Autobiography,
p. 295.

“wise and humane”
Parton,
Life of Andrew Jackson
, vol. 3, p. 279.

white men
“very naturally” would not tolerate
Wilson,
Division and Reunion, 1829–1889,
p. 37.