The Trail Of Tears

The primary reason for the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was that the white settlers of this country discovered gold in the northern part of Georgia and became hungry for more land. This brought about a gold rush to most of the state and gave president Jackson a reason to push the Indians out of the area in order for more white Americans could come to Georgia (A Brief Histroy). President Jackson also felt a need to protect the United states from threats on the inside of our country in reference he was speaking about the Indians that lived in our country (Prucha, 528). After the American Revolution, the Americans wanted to act civilly toward the Indians and turn over a new leaf by trying to get along with and help the Indians. The Cherokee
Around twenty thousand Indians traveled the Trail of Tears either on horseback, wagons, steamboats, keelboats, or by foot (The Trail of Tears). All along this Trail of Tears were a series of stops along the way called forts. These forts were put into place for the Indians to have a place to stop and rest for a while along their tough journey and also a way for the Indians to be documented along the trail to keep a tab on them but these forts turned out to be awful living conditions for the Indians. These forts were usually overrun with human wastes and barely holding enough food for one person let alone how ever many thousands were passing through (The Trail of Tears). Many people think that the trail itself and the arduous journey killed a good amount of the Indians and that would be true but the fact that most everyone misses is that these so called “forts” that were built for the Indians were killing them just as fast (The Trail of Tears). One of these specific campsites was known as Mantle Rock. Mantle Rock was in Livingston county Kentucky and was just another stop off that the Cherokee had to make before getting back on the trail (National Park Service). The waiting at these camps were “cramped, often unhealthy, conditions meant that some of the Cherokee died at Mantle rock” (National Park Service). Many of the Indians that stayed in these “stockades” died from the lack of
Around 4,000 Cherokee perished either along the trail or some perished when they eventually made it to the Indian Territory (Pearson). A soldier’s account of what happened along the trail during the drive west was an atrocity. Most of people that were being driven out of their homes were also driven out so quickly that they never got the chance to bring any blankets or shoes to carry with them (Soilder). When the weather came through most of the Indians died from pneumonia, ill treatment, or just the cold. This soldier grew up with these Indians in the backwoods of Tennessee and described that he could not bear to watch sad sights that were happening to his friends that he grew up with (Carolina). Most of the Indians that were driven out of their homes did not have the time to gather the essential needed for the long trip on the Trail of Tears. “There was much sickness among the emigrants, she recalled, and a great number of children died of whooping cough” (Pearson). This was a young Indian girl that gave her account about how all of the children in the wagons and some of women that were with the children were getting sick and dying. The emigrants would end up giving these diseases to the children and to some of the adults as well; from this the Indians could not fight this off and ended up perishing (Pearson).