-This is based on primary source document written by Private John G. Burnett to this children on his 80th bday on Dec. 11 , 1890. Read and learn.
The Trail Of Tears should be remembered for the bravery and courage of these Native Americans through thousands of miles of sheer terror and hardship. This event was most certainly a shameful part of American history as we share our liberty as one nation in our pledge. People have different opinions, but I believe Andrew Jackson was not justified in ordering the removal of the Cherokee people. I know that the settlers were greedy and wanted gold, but all humans have feelings and we should remember that since it is hurting yourself mentally as a role model. There are many pieces of evidence showing the true picture of what happened on those dark days of death.
It was a pain to leave their homes as many Cherokee people left without even processing what was going on. One piece of evidence says, “ witnessed the execution of the most brutal order in the History Of American Warfare. I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning, I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the West. One can never forget the sadness and solemnity of that morning. Chief John Ross led in prayer and when the bugle sounded and the wagons started rolling many of the children rose to their feet and waved their little hands good-by to their mountain homes, knowing they were leaving them forever.” This description of the removal is horrifying since they were treated like indecisive animals. There is another chilling reminder of life on the Trail Of Tears. Having to watch a human painfully and slowly die is extremely hard. Only cold-blooded killers would let out a smirk. “Future generations will read and condemn the act and I do hope posterity will remember that private soldiers like myself, and like the four Cherokee’s who were forced by General Scott to shoot an Indian Chief and his children, had to execute the orders of our superiors. We had no choice in the matter.” This message is especially disturbing if you try to imagine it.
Children dying “purposely” shouldn’t exist on this Earth at all. Especially the melancholic moments of hardships for moms having to see their baby die in their arms. Unfortunately, this was a sad and common reality for many parents and kids. “ When told that she must go, the mother gathered the children at her feet, prayed a humble prayer in her native tongue, patted the old family dog on the head, told the faithful creature good-by, with a baby strapped her back and leading a child with each hand started on her exile. But the task was too great for that frail mother. A stroke of heart failure relieved her sufferings. She sank and died with her baby on her back, and her two other children clinging to her hands.” All of this hardship happened just so that settlers could celebrate while people were dying at large numbers. It’s hard to love someone who is not dying by mistake. The last example describes the beginnings and discovery of gold on Cherokee land. I can’t even imagine being this selfish for anything valuable. I am guessing that people just didn’t have empathy back then since life depended on your wealth and cultural backgrounds. “In the year 1828, a little Indian boy living on Ward creek had sold a gold nugget to a white trader, and that nugget sealed the doom of the Cherokees. In a short time the country was overrun with armed brigands claiming to be government agents who paid no attention to the rights of the Indians who were legal possessors of the country. Crimes were committed that were a disgrace to civilization. Men were shot in cold blood, lands were confiscated. Homes were burned and the inhabitants driven out but the gold-hungry brigands.”
