Trail Of Tears and The Cherokee Rose
Otherwise known to my people as 'The symbol of the Trail Where They Cried', no better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the Trail Where They Cried than the Cherokee Rose.
The Cherokees in 1828 were not nomadic savages, as were many other tribes. They loved their native hills and valleys, streams and forests, fields and herds. They enjoyed established houses and communities, and had learned to "talk on paper" like the white man. Many had accepted the white man's God, and they had translated the Bible into Cherokee language. The Cherokees had adopted a constitution asserting that they were a sovereign and free nation, and consequently were recognized by world powers.
In fact, they had assimilated many European-style customs, including the wearing of gowns by Cherokee women. They built roads, schools and churches, had a system of representational government, and were farmers and cattle ranchers. A Cherokee alphabet, the "Talking Leaves" was perfected by Sequoyah. The Cherokees even attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court seemed to rule against the Indians. In Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a case extending Georgia's laws on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worchester vs. Georgia, but the ruling was never enforced by President
Andrew Jackson (known as Old Chicken Snake) the few who spoke out against the removal of the Cherokee and other tribes was Tennessee Senator Davy Crockett.
By 1835 the Cherokee were divided and despondent. Most supported Principle Chief John Ross, who fought the encroachment of whites starting with the 1832 land lottery. However, a minority (less than 500 out of 17,000 Cherokee in North Georgia) followed Major Ridge, his son John, and Elias Boudinout, who advocated removal. The Treaty of New Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, sealed the fate of the Cherokee. In 1838 the United States government began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. Early that summer General Winfield Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation.
In one of the saddest episodes of our brief history, men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles (Some made part of the trip by boat in equally horrible conditions). Under the generally indifferent army commanders, human losses for the first groups of Cherokee removed were extremely high.
John Ross made an urgent appeal to Washington to let him lead his tribe west and the Federal Government agreed. Ross organized the Cherokee into smaller groups and let them move separately through the wilderness so they could forage for food. Although the parties under Ross left in early fall and arrived in Oklahoma during the brutal winter of 1838-39, he significantly reduced the loss of life among his people. About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears"
The mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white, for the mother's tears. It has a gold center, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem that represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey.
To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears"and are plentiful in Oklahoma, the end of the Trail. The State of Georgia has been fortunate enough to have this beautiful symbol as their official state flower, may it always serve as a reminder of their history.
"We, the great mass of the people think only of the love we have to our land for...we do love the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go...to let it go it will be like throwing away...[our] mother that gave...[us] birth."
(Letter from Aitooweyah, to John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees.)
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