THE REMOVAL OF THE
CHEROKEE INDIANS
The Legend of the Cherokee Rose
No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the
"Trail Where They Cried" than the Cherokee Rose. 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". The Cherokee Rose is now the official
flower of the State of Georgia.
http://www.rosecity.net/tears/trail/rose.html.
TAKE A MOMENT TO STUDY THIS PAINTING AND DESCRIBE
THE EVENT TAKING PLACE. WHAT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT
THE PEOPLE? THE SETTING?

On your own, read the excerpt from the novel Mountain
Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears by Robert J.
Conley.
. After reading, finish the following statements:
I see……
I hear……
I wonder……
I know……
 Once you finish, share your statements with your
partner and compare them. What similarities do
you notice? What differences?
“He had been sleeping again when he was jarred back
to the waking world by the sound of a woman’s
scream close by, so close that it seemed the woman
had screamed right into his ear. He came awake,
but everything was black. He could see nothing in
the darkness around him, but he could feel the
forward, mad-rush of the fire-carrier. Again he had
the powerful sensation that he was being hurled
into the Darkening Land. Perhaps they were already
there. Slowly his adjusted to the darkness and ha
saw Pheasant and Sally beside him, wrapped in
each other’s arms, wailing in despair and grief, and
he saw they were holding between them the lifeless
body of their young son.
 Quote from Private John G. Burnett, a soldier who was a part of the
Cherokee Indian Removal in 1838-1839. After you read, complete the
same four prompts. ( I see…. I hear….. I wonder…… I know….)
“One can never forget the sadness of that morning. Chief
John Ross led in prayer and when the bugle sounded and the
wagons started rolling many of the children rose to their feet
and waved their little hands good-bye to their mountain
home, knowing they were leaving them forever. Many of these
helpless people did not have blankets and many of them had
been driven from home barefooted.
On the morning of November 17th we encountered a terrific
sleet and snowstorm with freezing temperatures and from
that day until we reached the end of the journey on March
26th 1939, the sufferings of the Cherokee were awful. The trail
of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the
wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as
many as 22 of them to die in one night.”
WHILE YOU WATCH…
Use the Streaming Video to help you fill in the first two
columns of the chart that has been provided for you. One
column is titled “What’s important” and the other is “What’s
Interesting”. Do not worry about complete sentences or
grammar, just get your thoughts down on paper. If we finish
in time, you may start on the third column titled “Personal
Response”. You may have to finish this for homework. This
chart will serve as the grade for this lesson.