Legend of the Cherokee Rose

When the Trail of Tears started in 1838, the mothers of the
Cherokee were greiving, and crying so much; they were
unable to help their children to survive the journey. The
elders then prayed for a sign that would lift the mothers
spirit, and give them the strength. The following day a
beautifull rose began to grow where each of the mother's
tears had fallen. The rose is white, for their tearsl; a gold
center represents the gold taken from Cherokee lands, and
seven leaves on each stem; for the seven Cherokee clans.
The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail
of Tears into eastern Oklahoma today.

A Breif History of The Trail of Tears

Since first contact with European explorers in the 1500's
the Cherokee Nation has been recognized as one of the  most progressive among the American Indian tribes. Before contact Cherokee culture had developed and thrived for almost 1,000 years in the southeastern United States-the lower Appalachian states of Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina and parts of Kentucky
and Alabama. Life of the Traditional Cherokee remained
unchanged as late as 1710, which is marked as the beginning
of Cherokee trade with the whites. White influence came
slowley in the Cherokee country, but the changes were swift and dramatic. The period of frontier contact from 1540-1786, was
marked by white expansion, and the cesion of Cherokee lands to the colonies in exchange for trade goods. After contact, the Cherokees acquired many aspects of the white neighbors with whom many had intermarried. Soon they had shaped a government, and a society that matched the most civilized of the time.

Migration from the original Cherokee Nation began in the early 1800's as Cherokees of white encroachment moved west and settled in other areas of the country's vast frontier. White resentment of the Cherokees had been building as other needs were seen for the Cherokee homelands. One of the those needs, was the desire for gold that had been discovered in Georgia. Besieged with gold fever and with a thirst for expansion, the white communities turned on their indian neighbors, and the United States government decided it was time for the Cherokees to leave behind teir farmds, their land and their homes. A group known as the Old Settlers, had moved in 1817 to lands given to them in Arkansas, where again they established a government and a peaceful way of life. Later they too were forced into Indian Territory.

Once an ally of the Cherokee, President Andrew Jackson authorized the Indian Removal Act of 1830, following the recommendation of President James Monroe; in his final address to congress in 1825. Jackson sactioned an attitude that had persisted for many years amond many white immigrants. Even Thomas Jefferson, (who often cited the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Confederacy) as the model for the United States Constitution, supported the indian removal act as early as 1802.

The dispacement of native people was not wanting for eloquent oppistion. Senators Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay spoke out against the removal. Reveran Samuel Worchester, missionary to the Cherokees, challenged Georgia's attempt to extinguish indian title to land in the state, winning the case before the Surpreme Court.

All in all, the Cherokees had to give up their lands or else give up their lives due to the whites.  Nearly 17,000 Cherokees were forced from the southeastern homelands. Under orders from President Jackson, the United States Army began the Removal Act. Around 3,000 Cherokees were rounded up in the summer of 1838 and loaded onto boats that traveled the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas Rivers into Indian Territory.  Many were held in prison camps awaiting their fate in the winter of 1838-39. 14,000 were marched 1,200 miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas into rugged Indian Territory.

An estimated 4,000 died of hunger, exposure, and disease. The journey became an eternal memory as the "Trail Where They Cried"
for the Cherokees and other removed tribes. Today, it is remembered as "The Trail of Tears".