How were the Cherokee treated on the Trail of Tears?

The Cherokee were ill-equipped for the grueling hike. “We had no shoes,” noted Trail of Tears survivor Rebecca Neugin, “and those that wore anything wore moccasins made of deer hide.” They were also malnourished, sustaining themselves on a daily menu of salt pork and flour.

How did the Cherokee react to the Trail of Tears?

The Cherokee Nation, led by Principal Chief John Ross, resisted the Indian Removal Act, even in the face of assaults on its sovereign rights by the state of Georgia and violence against Cherokee people.

What did the Cherokee do during the Trail of Tears?

During the harsh winter of 1838-1839 over 15,000 Cherokee Indians passed through southern Illinois on their Trail of Tears. Many hundreds perished from cold and hunger on this long and tortuous trek from their homeland near the Smokey Mountains to new government-designated lands in eastern Oklahoma.

Why were the Cherokees forced during the Trail of Tears?

The removal of the Cherokees was a product of the demand for arable land during the rampant growth of cotton agriculture in the Southeast, the discovery of gold on Cherokee land, and the racial prejudice that many white southerners harbored toward American Indians.

Did the Cherokee Go on the Trail of Tears?

Those who were still alive five months later found themselves in Indian Territory. Of the 17 total detachments of Cherokee that traveled along the Trail of Tears, the majority went by foot. Those who walked to present-day Oklahoma left mostly between August and November 1838, following a variety of overland routes.

Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears

How many Cherokees were removed in the Trail of Tears?

It is estimated that of the approximately 16,000 Cherokee who were removed between 1836 and 1839, about 4,000 perished. At the time of first contacts with Europeans, Cherokee Territory extended from the Ohio River south into east Tennessee.

Who forced the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears?

President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while his men looted their homes and belongings. Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory.

How did the Cherokee try to prevent their removal?

From 1817 to 1827, the Cherokees effectively resisted ceding their full territory by creating a new form of tribal government based on the United States government. Rather than being governed by a traditional tribal council, the Cherokees wrote a constitution and created a two-house legislature.

What helped the Cherokee fight removal?

Answer and Explanation: The Supreme Court of the United States helped the Cherokee to fight removal in 1838. The Cherokee decided that the best way to remain on their ancestral land in modern-day Georgia was to set up a legal rather than physical fight.

Where did the Cherokee settle after the Trail of Tears?

Originally located in the southeastern United States in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, the Cherokee Nation was forced to relocate to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1838 after gold was discovered in our homelands.

Did the Cherokee hide from removal?

Some Cherokees Remained Behind

During this removal, more than 300 Cherokee hid in the mountains and escaped arrest. Over a period of years, these Cherokee managed to remain in the area, and eventually were recognized by the U.S. government as the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in 1868.

How did the Cherokees feel about slavery?

The Cherokee "elites created an economy and culture that highly valued and regulated slavery and the rights of slave owners" and, in "1860, about thirty years after their removal to Indian Territory from their respective homes in the Southeast, Cherokee Nation members owned 2,511 slaves."

Were the Cherokee peaceful?

Prior to European settlement of the Americas, Cherokees were the largest Native American tribe in North America. They became known as one of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes," thanks to their relatively peaceful interactions with early European settlers and their willingness to adapt to Anglo-American customs.

What was the removal of the Cherokee called?

During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears." A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875.

How long did the Cherokee removal last?

Cherokee removal, part of the Trail of Tears, refers to the forced relocation between 1836 and 1839 of an estimated 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation and 1,000–2,000 of their slaves; from their lands in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in ...

What President ordered the Cherokee Removal?

The first major step to relocate American Indians came when Congress passed, and President Andrew Jackson signed, the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830.

How did Native Americans resist Indian removal?

Some Indian nations simply refused to leave their land -- the Creeks and the Seminoles even waged war to protect their territory. The First Seminole War lasted from 1817 to 1818. The Seminoles were aided by fugitive slaves who had found protection among them and had been living with them for years.

How did the Cherokee live before Trail of Tears?

Before European contact, Cherokees practiced subsistence-based living; they grew, gathered, and hunted for what they needed for their communities to thrive, not for personal profit or surplus trade. As these practices depended on a flourishing environment, the tribe controlled more land than they lived upon.

What kind of Indians are Cherokee?

The Cherokee are North American Indians of Iroquoian lineage who constituted one of the largest politically integrated tribes at the time of European colonization of the Americas. Their name is derived from a Creek word meaning “people of different speech”; many prefer to be known as Keetoowah or Tsalagi.

How did the Cherokee Indians survive?

The Cherokee were farming people. Cherokee women did most of the farming, harvesting crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. Cherokee men did most of the hunting, shooting deer, bear, wild turkeys, and small game. They also fished in the rivers and along the coast.

How long did the Cherokee walk on the Trail of Tears?

It eventually took almost three months to cross the 60 miles (97 kilometres) on land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The trek through southern Illinois is where the Cherokee suffered most of their deaths.

How many Cherokee are left?

Today, the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 380,000 tribal citizens worldwide. More than 141,000 Cherokee Nation citizens reside within the tribe's reservation boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma.

What are 3 facts about Cherokee?

What did the British do to the Cherokee?

British forces under general James Grant destroyed a number of Cherokee towns, which were never reoccupied. Kituwa was abandoned, and its former residents migrated west; they took up residence at Mialoquo, called Great Island Town, on the Little Tennessee River among the Overhill Cherokee.

What are the Cherokee best known for?

Cherokee culture encompasses our longstanding traditions of language, spirituality, food, storytelling and many forms of art, both practical and beautiful. However, just like our people, Cherokee culture is not static or frozen in time, but is ever-evolving.