S3 E10: Shattered Homeland: Exploring the Trail of Tears

In the early 1830s, the landscape of the southeastern United States was home to a vibrant mosaic of Native American cultures, encompassing approximately 125,000 individuals who resided on expansive territories spanning Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. These lands held profound significance, having been inhabited and nurtured by their ancestors for countless generations.

However, as the decade drew to a close, the once-thriving communities faced a harrowing fate. Driven by the insatiable demand for cotton and the relentless expansion of white settlers, the federal government intervened to forcibly relocate these indigenous peoples. Under the guise of manifest destiny and economic progress, Native Americans were uprooted from their ancestral homelands.

The government's actions were driven by the interests of white settlers seeking to exploit the fertile lands for agricultural endeavors, particularly cotton cultivation. This precipitated a series of devastating events, culminating in the infamous Trail of Tears—an arduous and perilous journey that would forever alter the course of Native American history.

Forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods, the indigenous peoples were compelled to embark on a treacherous trek across hundreds of miles to a designated "Indian Territory" beyond the Mississippi River. This exodus was marked by profound suffering, as families endured harsh conditions, disease, and violence along the way.

 

Hi everyone and welcome back to the dark history podcast where we explore the darkest parts of human history. hope everyone is well I’m Rob your host as always. Welcome to season 3 episode 10, Shattered Homeland: Exploring the Trail of Tears. I can’t believe we are already at episode 10 of this season time is absolutely flying. Few quick housekeeping points before we start, I will be going on holiday when episode 11 is due out which I think is the 27/28th of May, I am hoping I can get it researched, written and recorded in time but if not it will be out the following week. Also I recently updated the shows logo and have added a text link into t

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Music
• 0:26 Episode Intro
• 2:23 Hello And Welcome
• 3:53 America In The 1830's
• 8:18 Cherokee Legal Battle and President Andrew Jackson
• 12:31 The Trail Of Tears
• 12:33 [Ad] Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
• 13:08 (Cont.) The Trail Of Tears
• 20:02 The Cherokee Trail Of Tears
• 25:25 Thank You For Listening
• 28:10 End Music

Transcript

Shattered Homeland: Exploring the Trail of Tears

In the early 1830s, the landscape of the southeastern United States was home to a vibrant mosaic of Native American cultures, encompassing approximately 125,000 individuals who resided on expansive territories spanning Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. These lands held profound significance, having been inhabited and nurtured by their ancestors for countless generations.

However, as the decade drew to a close, the once-thriving communities faced a harrowing fate. Driven by the insatiable demand for cotton and the relentless expansion of white settlers, the federal government intervened to forcibly relocate these indigenous peoples. Under the guise of manifest destiny and economic progress, Native Americans were uprooted from their ancestral homelands.

The government's actions were driven by the interests of white settlers seeking to exploit the fertile lands for agricultural endeavors, particularly cotton cultivation. This precipitated a series of devastating events, culminating in the infamous Trail of Tears—an arduous and perilous journey that would forever alter the course of Native American history.

Forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods, the indigenous peoples were compelled to embark on a treacherous trek across hundreds of miles to a designated "Indian Territory" beyond the Mississippi River. This exodus was marked by profound suffering, as families endured harsh conditions, disease, and violence along the way.

Hi everyone and welcome back to the dark history podcast where we explore the darkest parts of human history. hope everyone is well I’m Rob your host as always. Welcome to season 3 episode 10, Shattered Homeland: Exploring the Trail of Tears. I can’t believe we are already at episode 10 of this season time is absolutely flying. Few quick housekeeping points before we start, I will be going on holiday when episode 11 is due out which I think is the 27/28th of May, I am hoping I can get it researched, written and recorded in time but if not it will be out the following week. Also I recently updated the shows logo and have added a text link into the shows description. This is to make it easier for you guy to speak to with me, tell me what you like or dislike about the show, give me pointers on how to improve your entertainment, give suggestions on topics you would like to listen to or just to say hi, don’t worry I’ve tried it myself and neither your number nor my number is visible. 

        Anyway without further ado please turn off those lights sit back and relax next to the fire for more dark history.

America in the 1830s was a time of rapid transformation and expansion. The nation was still relatively young, having gained independence from Britain less than six decades prior. Manifest Destiny, the belief in the inevitability of American expansion across the continent, was a driving force shaping the country's ethos.

Economically, the United States was transitioning from an agrarian society to one increasingly driven by industrialization. The invention of the cotton gin had led to a boom in cotton production, particularly in the southern states, fueling the demand for enslaved labor and exacerbating tensions over slavery.

Socially, the nation grappled with issues of race, class, and gender inequality. While movements for abolition and women's rights began to gain traction, they faced staunch opposition from entrenched power structures. The Second Great Awakening also swept across the country, fueling religious fervor and inspiring social reform movements.

Politically, the era was marked by the presidency of Andrew Jackson, whose populist policies and expansionist agenda left a lasting impact. It was Jackson administration that pursued the policy of Indian removal.

       White Americans, particularly those residing on the western frontier, often harbored a deep-seated fear and resentment towards the Native American populations they encountered. The indigenous peoples seemed to embody an unfamiliar and alien presence, occupying lands coveted by white settlers who believed they were entitled to them.

In the early years of the American republic, certain officials, including President George Washington, proposed a solution to what was perceived as the "Indian problem." This approach, commonly referred to as the civilization campaign, aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society. The underlying goal was to transform indigenous peoples into mirror images of white Americans by promoting the adoption of Christianity, English language proficiency, and European-style economic practices such as individual land ownership. In some regions, particularly in the South, this also included the ownership of enslaved persons.

     In the southeastern United States, numerous members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee nations embraced the customs and practices advocated by the civilization campaign, earning them the designation of the "Five Civilized Tribes." However, the ancestral lands of these Native American communities, situated across parts of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee, held significant value, especially as the region experienced an influx of white settlers.

As the demand for cotton surged, driven by the desire for wealth and prosperity, many white settlers sought to acquire these fertile lands at any cost. Resorting to acts of aggression and violence, they perpetrated theft, arson, and pillaging against Indigenous communities. Mass atrocities, including the wanton destruction of property and loss of life, became tragically common occurrences as white settlers forcibly encroached upon land belonging to their Native American neighbors. Additionally, they unlawfully occupied territories, disregarding rightful ownership and perpetuating a cycle of dispossession and injustice.

The Cherokee nation had made a significant effort to assimilate into American culture and Society. Many of the had adopted western fashion and given up their ancestral practice of a hunter gather lifestyle and perused a more agricultural life. During this time Literacy rates among the nation rose and in the 1820’s the Cherokee adopted a formal government with a written constitution.

       Nonetheless, the prevailing sentiment in Georgia favoured expelling the Cherokee. Simply put the land the Cherokee called home had become too valuable. At first the cultivation of cotton rocketed it value, followed by the discovery of gold in 1829. The state government took jurisdiction from the Cherokee, annulled the nations laws, annexed the land and began distributing plots by lottery. Andrew Jackson had long championed a policy he termed "Indian removal." During his tenure as an Army general, he orchestrated ruthless campaigns against Native American tribes, including the Creeks in Georgia and Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida. These military offensives resulted in the transfer of vast swaths of land from indigenous nations to white farmers, fundamentally altering the territorial landscape.

Upon assuming the presidency, Jackson persisted in his advocacy for Indian removal. In 1830, he enacted the Indian Removal Act, granting the federal government authority to facilitate the exchange of Native-held lands in the cotton-rich regions east of the Mississippi River for territories located to the west, within the designated "Indian colonization zone" acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. Notably, this "Indian territory" would eventually become present-day Oklahoma.

While the law ostensibly mandated fair, voluntary, and peaceful negotiations for removal treaties, ensuring that Native nations were not coerced into surrendering their ancestral lands, Jackson's administration frequently flouted these provisions. Rather than adhering to the spirit of the law, President Jackson and his government often employed coercive tactics, compelling Native Americans to abandon lands they had inhabited for countless generations

            State governments actively participated in the concerted effort to expel Native Americans from the South. Enacting legislation that curtailed Native American sovereignty and rights while encroaching upon their territorial boundaries, several states joined forces in this campaign of displacement.

                          A pivotal moment in the legal battle over Native American rights came with the landmark case Worcester v. Georgia (1832), where the U.S. Supreme Court challenged these discriminatory practices. Affirming the sovereignty of native nations, the Court declared that the laws of Georgia and other states held no authority within their  territories.

           However, despite this legal victory, the mistreatment of Native Americans persisted. President Andrew Jackson, a staunch advocate for the expansionist agenda, openly defied the Supreme Court's rulings. Dismissing their authority, Jackson emphasized that without enforcement, the decisions would remain ineffectual. Southern states, unwavering in their determination to seize Indian lands, continued their relentless pursuit, resorting to coercive measures to achieve their objectives.

      .

The Trail of Tears for the Choctaw people began years before the first steps of physical removal.

In a scarily similar practice which repeats itself quite often. the U.S. government claimed Choctaw tribal lands east of the Mississippi River starting as early as 1801. From 1801 to 1820, Choctaws ceded 25,000 square miles of homelands to the U.S. government.

The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek negotiations in 1830 were full of deceit and coercion. Choctaw leaders were told their remaining homelands would be taken from them whether they signed the treaty or not.

Choctaw leaders were warned that if the treaty was not signed, the United States would seize Choctaw lands, the U.S. military would destroy any resistance and the Choctaw people would be moved west by force.

According to the United States government, Choctaws would be destroyed. In the harsh winter of 1831, facing the looming threat of military invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw nation became the inaugural victim of forced expulsion from their ancestral lands. Forced to embark on the arduous journey to the designated Indian Territory, many Choctaw individuals were subjected to dehumanizing treatment, with some even shackled and compelled to march in double file. Lacking essential provisions and deprived of government assistance, they commenced their trek on foot, enduring unimaginable hardships along the way.

Tragically, the toll of this forced relocation was staggering, Approximately 15,000 Choctaws made the trip between 1831 and 1833. One-quarter to one-third perished from disease, starvation, exposure and murder. Described as a "trail of tears and death" by one Choctaw leader in an Alabama newspaper, the migration represented a harrowing chapter in the nation's history. This continued for the Choctaw for 70 years, The last wave of the Choctaw Trail of Tears occurred in 1902 and 1903. Some of these individuals were brought to Ardmore, Oklahoma, by Euro-American speculators who intended to sell them into slavery. Many died from mistreatment.

             Throughout the first half of the 1800s, the United States attempted to force the Seminoles off their lands and move them to designated Indian Territory, modern day Oklahoma, as part of the Trail of Tears. Most Seminoles refused to leave voluntarily, and the U.S. military invaded Seminole homelands to enforce removal. Thousands of Seminoles surrendered or were captured or killed in the fighting.

    The United States officially splits the military engagement with the Seminoles into three different wars. The First Seminole War lasted from 1816-1818; the Second Seminole War lasted from 1835-1842; the Third Seminole War lasted from 1855-1858. As a result of the Seminole Wars, the surviving Seminole band of the Everglades claims to be the only federally recognized Indian nation which never relinquished sovereignty or signed a peace treaty with the United States.

The relentless process of Indian removal persisted, culminating in the expulsion of the Creek nation from their homeland in 1836. The U.S. steps up efforts to coerce Creek chiefs to sign a treaty for their removal to Indian Territory and to cede tribal lands in Alabama. According to the treaty, families could stay on the remaining allotted lands, sell their allotments, or move to Indian Territory, where they are promised that they can live in peace. Those who choose to stay in Alabama were subjected to violence by American settlers, who invade their farms and villages, rape their women, and violently attack families until they were driven from their homelands. Swindlers, with the support of the government, also fraudulently took land from families. At the end of the Creek War about 2,500 Creeks, including several hundred chained warriors, were marched on foot to Montgomery and onto barges which were pushed down the Alabama River, beginning their forced removal to a new homeland in Indian Territory…. About 4,000 Creeks were moved to concentration camps iyn Mobile, Alabama in March 1837 supposedly for their own protection. However, mobs from Alabama and Georgia broke in and ransacked the camps, raping, killing and enslaving. Some of the Indians fled into nearby swamps, only to be hunted down by the Alabama militia…. The overall effect of the Creek trail of tears was staggering: 8,000 people apparently had died also of the 15,000 creek who made the trek to the Indian Territory, more than 3,500 perish.

  The Chickasaw removal in 1837 was the least traumatic due to The foresight and skilled negotiating practices of Chickasaw leaders led to favorable sales of Chickasaw lands in Mississippi. This allowed the Chickasaw Nation, unlike other tribes, to pay for its own removal. Chickasaw families were met with hardship and death along the trail, traveling hundreds of miles in extreme cold and heat; however, Chickasaws suffered less than other tribes because they controlled their departures and chose favorable seasons to travel. This undoubtedly saved many lives that otherwise could have been lost. Chickasaw families continued to arrive in Indian Territory up to the 1890s.

For all this death and destruction the worst was yet to come. The Cherokee people faced division on how to handle the government's pursuit of their territory. Some advocated for resistance, while others favored agreeing to relocation in exchange for compensation. In 1835, a small group negotiated the Treaty of New Echota, ceding Cherokee land east of the Mississippi for $5 million and relocation assistance. However, the majority of Cherokee felt betrayed as the negotiators lacked proper representation. The Cherokee National Council voted to reject the treaty in 1836, considering it fraudulent. 

      The initial relocation of approximately 2,000 Cherokee, including men, women, and children divided into four groups, occurred voluntarily in 1837 and early 1838. They traveled westward by boat, navigating the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas Rivers, completing the journey in as little as 25 days with fewer than two dozen deaths. However, conditions deteriorated significantly for those forcibly evicted from their homes by 7,000 federal troops under President Martin Van Buren's orders. Beginning on May 26, 1838, soldiers led by General Winfield Scott rounded up the majority of the Cherokee, along with 1,500 slaves and free blacks, coercing them to abandon most of their possessions. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades and interment camps at bayonet point while his men looted their homes and belongings. Due to the poor sanitation of the internment camps, deadly diseases such as whooping cough, measles and dysentery spread among the Cherokee.

      In June 1838, three military-guided migrations commenced from present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee, heading westward via land and water routes. At gunpoint, the Cherokee were loaded onto boats with accommodations described  as scarcely better than those for swine bound for market. The stifling summer heat and severe drought led to scarce drinking water for both people and horses, resulting in over 200 deaths in the three military-led expeditions, compared to only 21 in the four voluntary migrations.

The extreme temperatures necessitated the suspension of the relocations. When they resumed in the fall, General Scott agreed to allow the Cherokee to oversee the remainder of the exodus. According to the agreement, the remaining Cherokee were organized into 13 groups of approximately 1,000 individuals each, led by Cherokee conductors. Federal soldiers were relegated to observers, while a Cherokee police force maintained order.

                 These Cherokee-managed migrations were primarily land crossings, averaging 10 miles a day across various routes. Some groups, however, took more than four months to make the 800-mile journey. The three-mile-long Cherokee caravans required days to make river crossings and included one wagon for approximately every 20 people.

         Scott’s summertime delay caused the Cherokee to march into the teeth of one of the worst winters on record. Ice flowing down the Mississippi River made it too treacherous to cross, forcing the Cherokee to camp and sleep in deep snow and ice for weeks at a time.

One group took nearly three months to cover the 65 miles in southern Illinois between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The dysentery and diarrhea that tore through the campsites and the harsh winter conditions claimed the lives of many, particularly children and the elderly, who were buried in makeshift graves along the way. Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey. The last of the Cherokee completed the Trail of Tears in March 1839. Decades later, a Confederate soldier who participated in the forced migration recalled, “I fought through the Civil War and saw men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.”

thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen to this dark episode.

So The trail of tears, being a brit this isn't a piece of history widely known here and it quite harrowing to read about. I know for millennia us brits more so the English have raped and pillaged lands all over the globe but all of this happened in a country that was less then 100 years old at the time comparatively speaking that is a drop in the ocean, and this was just in the southern states never mind the massacres of the Comanche, apache and other tribes all around the nation. 

     The National Park Service has since designated a Historic Trail that follows the most common route taken on the Trail of Tears through the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The end of the route is a memorial to honor the lives lost, and Oklahoma has also built a museum to honor the First Americans, which serves as the largest tribal cultural center in the country. The Trail of Tears was a tragedy that should not be forgotten. Indian Removal was a stain on America’s past for which the government has only just begun to reconcile.

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