|"The Promise" is a moving reminder of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and all the promises made to American Indians before and since." John Guthrie Cherokee Tribe Oklahoma|
Cherokee Trail of Tears:
© 1996 Ralph Jenkins
My thanks to the several people who responded to my earlier piece on post-Removal migration to the Cherokee Nation. I would like comments, corrections, or additions to these further thoughts on Cherokee survival strategies and the complex issue of identity. There is evidence in the historical record of a sizeable group of Cherokee who neither escaped removal nor completed the Trail of Tears, but instead began the journey, dropped out, and possibly returned to the old Nation.
Grant Foreman's account of the emigrations by water in June, 1838, gives some evidence of this possibility. These were the groups that left under military supervision, before the Cherokee asked for and were granted permission to supervise their own migration. Foreman writes:
Twenty-eight hundred of them [Cherokee] were divided into three detachments, each accompanied by a military office, a corps of assistants, and two physicians. The first with about 800 in the party departed June 6; the next with 875 started on the fifteenth.
The first party forcibly placed on the boats was in charge of Lieut. Edward Deas and was made up of Cherokee Indians from Georgia who had been concentrated at Ross's Landing. They were escorted by soldier guards aboard a little flotilla consisting of one steamboat of 100 tons, and six flatboats, one of which was constructed with a double-decked cabin. In the excitement and bitterness accompanying the enforced embarking of the Indians and their crowded condition aboard the boats, the conductors thought it best not to attempt to muster and count them until later. .
Starting early on the morning of the ninth they reached Decatur at six o'clock to take the train to Tuscumbia but were compelled to remain until the next day. Then "the Indians and their baggage were transferred from the boats to the Rail Road cars. About 32 cars were necessary to transport the Party, and no more could be employed for want of power in the [two] Locomotive Engines."
As the Indians were much crowded on the train the twenty-three soldiers were discharged. The first detachment reached Tuscumbia at three o'clock and boarded the steamboat SMELTER which "immediately set off for Waterloo at the foot of the rapids without awaiting for the 2nd train of Cars with the remainder of the Party." When the second party reached Tuscumbia they went into the camp awhile waiting transportation by water. As the guard had been discharged, whisky was introduced among them, much drunkenness resulting, and OVER ONE HUNDRED OF THE EMIGRANTS ESCAPED [emphasis mine]. The remainder were carried by water aboard a keel boat and a small steamer about thirty miles to Waterloo.
Here the party was united and set out on the eleventh aboard the steamboat SMELTER and two large double decked keel boats; the next afternoon they reached Paducah, Kentucky, where Lieutenant Deas left one of the keel boats which he found superfluous. He succeeded in mustering the Indians after a fashion and found that he had 489. (Grant Foreman, Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians, Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1956 (copyright 1932), p.291)
His account suggests the ease with which individuals or even groups could leave the emigration party; on June 8, six miles above Decatur, "such of the people as choose have gone ashore to sleep and cook" (Foreman, p.292). By June 10, the party were about 150 miles by land from their point of departure in Tennessee. Over 100 had left the group on the previous night. By the 11th, in Paducah, Deas counted 489; the original party of about 800 had shrunk by about 300 between June 6 and June 12. Where did they go? If they had wanted to re-settle in the West, they could have stayed on the boat with the rest of the party. But they were still within walking distance of their old homes. The guards had been discharged. It would have been easy to infer that the white government had no further interest in them; their land had been surveyed and seized, and they were now free to go where they would. It is not difficult to imagine numbers of them returning home, to live as they could.
Can we quantify this group? Called "deserters" by early historians, they have naturally received little attention from studies of the main lines of Cherokee history. Nevertheless the documents of the removal permit at least an estimate of their numbers. I have relied here on Thornton, Resurgence And Removal, p.71, Table 8; Starr's History Of The Cherokee Indians; and The New American State Papers: Indian Affairs VOL 11: Southeast, Scholarly Resources, Inc.,pp. 258-59 for the numbers of Cherokee migrating under the supervision of the Cherokee leaders.
Here are the parties leaving under their own supervision: DETACHMENT DEPARTED ARRIVED Hair Conrad Aug 23, 1838 Jan 17, 1839 Elijah Hicks Sep 1, 1838 Jan 4, 1839 Jesse Bushyhead Sep 3, 1838 Feb 27, 1839 John Benge Sep 28, 1838 Jan 17, 1839 Situwakee Sep 7, 1838 Feb 2, 1839 Old Field Sep 24, 1838 Feb 23, 1839 Moses Daniel Sep 30, 1838 Mar 2, 1839 Choowalooka Sep 14, 1838 Mar , 1839 James Brown Sep 10, 1838 Mar 5, 1839 George Hicks Sep 7, 1838 Mar 14, 1839 Richard Taylor Sep 20, 1838 Mar 24, 1839 Peter Hildebrand Oct 23, 1838 Mar 24, 1839 John Drew Dec 5, 1838 Mar 18, 1839
Here are the recorded numbers. I have taken the numbers of deaths from the State Papers, because in one case (Hair Conrad's party) they are higher than Starr's numbers; Starr gives 54, not 57.
THORNTON STARR STATE PAPERS -------------- --------- --------------------- DETACHMENT DEPART ARRIVE BIRTHS DEATHS DESERTIONS ACCESSIONS Hair Conrad 729 654 9 57 24 14 Elijah Hicks 858 744 5 54 Jesse Bushyhead 950 898 6 38 148 171 John Benge 1200 1132 3 33 Situwakee 1250 1033 5 71 Old Field 983 921 19 57 10 6 Moses Daniel 1035 924 6 48 Choowalooka 1150 970 NA James Brown 850 717 3 34 George Hicks 1118 1039 NA Richard Taylor 1029 942 15 55 Peter Hildebrand 1766 1311 NA John Drew 231 219 NA TOTAL 13149 11504 71 447 182 191 For 4 parties, no information on deaths was recorded. I have therefore estimated the death rate overall, and posited the number of deaths that might have escaped the records assuming a uniform death rate for those parties. POSSIBLE DEATH UNRECORDED DETACHMENT RATE DEATHS Hair Conrad 7.82% Elijah Hicks 6.29% Jesse Bushyhead 4.00% John Benge 2.75% Situwakee 5.68% Old Field 5.80% Moses Daniel 4.64% Choowalooka 58 James Brown 4.00% George Hicks 56 Richard Taylor 5.34% Peter Hildebrand 89 John Drew 12 TOTAL 5.03% 215 TOTAL 5.03% 215
The number of Cherokees who might be expected to arrive is thus the
number departed plus births and accessions, minus deaths and desertions.
I have compared the expected number to the actual recorded number. This
gives 1301 Cherokees unaccounted for. These are shown in the column headed
POSSIBLE "LOST" CHEROKEES. If these are combined with the number
known to have deserted, we have over 1500 known to have begun the journey
who may have dropped out and returned, or settled along the way, or pursued
another path to another life.
ACTUAL POSSIBLE TOTAL "LOST" EXPECTED RECORDED "LOST" RECORDED PLUS DETACHMENT ARRIVALS ARRIVALS CHEROKEES DESERTIONS DESERTIONS Hair Conrad 674 654 20 24 44 Elijah Hicks 829 744 85 85 Jesse Bushyhead 941 898 43 148 191 John Benge 1170 1132 38 38 Situwakee 1184 1033 151 151 Old Field 941 921 20 10 30 Moses Daniel 993 924 69 69 Choowalooka 1150 970 180 180 James Brown 819 717 102 102 George Hicks 1118 1039 79 79 Richard Taylor 989 942 47 47 Peter Hildebrand 1766 1311 455 455 John Drew 231 219 12 12 TOTAL 12805 11504 1301 182 1483
If these 1483 are combined with the more than 300 known to have left the Deas party, we have 1700 or more who might have taken alternative paths. Of course these are "soft" numbers; record-keeping was surely not uppermost in the minds of anyone, and some of the numbers may overlap. But it is also possible that the true number is larger, not smaller. Either way, this evidence suggests a fairly large group of Cherokees unaccounted for by the record-keepers. And some of these may have been the ancestors of those whose family histories keep alive the memory of Cherokee origins despite their absence from the Dawes and Miller rolls.
Please know that I offer these numbers in full awareness of their uncertainty and of the speculative nature of my inferences, and with the hope that they may be useful to others, and that I welcome comments and corrections.
DEAN'S OFFICE, COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19122 USA
Originally posted to INDIAN-ROOTS Wed 20 Nov 1996, reprinted here by permission of Ralph Jenkins.
For a first-hand account of the Trail of Tears you will want to read the Birthday Story of Private John G. Burnett, Captain Abraham McClellan s Company, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry, Cherokee Indian Removal, 1838-39. Private Burnett was on the detail of removing the Cherokees during the Trail of Tears - a very moving account. Thanks to Les Tate for recommending this wonderful web site. Private Burnett - Remembering the Trail of Tears
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