Birthday Story of Private John G. Burnett, Captain Abraham McClellan’s Company,
2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry, Cherokee Indian Removal, 1838–39.
This letter tells the story of the Trail of Tears, as recalled by John G. Burnett, a soldier in the
U.S. Army. Burnett had been friends with a number of the Cherokee but, as a soldier, had to help
forcibly relocate them to Oklahoma in 1837–1838.
The letter is written to his children on his eightieth birthday.
"In the year 1828, a little Indian boy living on Ward creek had sold a gold nugget to a white
trader, and that nugget sealed the doom of the Cherokees. In a short time the country was
overrun with armed brigands [gangs] claiming to be government agents, who paid no attention to
the rights of the Indians who were the legal possessors of the country. Crimes were committed
that were a disgrace to civilization. Men were shot in cold blood, lands were confiscated. Homes
were burned and the inhabitants driven out by the gold-hungry brigands.
...
"The removal of Cherokee Indians from their life long homes in the year of 1838 found me
a young man in the prime of life and a Private soldier in the American Army. Being acquainted
with many of the Indians and able to fluently speak their language, I was sent as interpreter into
the Smoky Mountain Country in May, 1838, and witnessed the execution of the most brutal
order in the History of American Warfare. I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged
from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades [jail.] And in the chill of a
drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and
forty-five wagons and started toward the west.
"One can never forget the sadness and solemnity 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-by to their mountain homes, 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."
Source: North Carolina Digital History: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchistnewnation/4532
From A Letter by Wilson Lumpkin To Eli S. Shorter, J.P.H. Campbell, and Alferd
Iverson, Esqrs, May 4th, 1835
By 1835, having won his case for Indian removal in 1830 and with an ally in the White
House in the person of Andrew Jackson, Governor Lumpkin of Georgia could call for a change
in federal policy that offered protection for the remnants [remains] of the southeastern tribes.
"I consider it a perfect farce [mockery] and degrading to the Government of the Union, under
existing circumstances, to pretend any longer to consider or treat these unfortunate remnants of a
once mighty race as independent nations of people, capable of entering into treaty
stipulations[treaties] as such. These conquered and subdued remnants deserve the magnanimous
[gracious] and liberal support and protection of the Government, and should be treated with
tender regard, as orphans and minors who are incapable of managing and protecting their own
patrimony [rights]. This course of policy, if pursued by the Federal Government, would soon
relieve the States from the inquietudes [troubles] of an Indian population, and settle the Indians
in a land of hope where they would be shielded and protected from the enormous and degrading
frauds which have been so often perpetrated [committed] on these sons of the forest by an
avaricious [greedy] and selfish portion of our white population....”
Source: from Wilson Lumpkin, The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, New York:
Arno Press, 1969, pp 339-340
Sally M. Reece, Letter to Reverend Daniel Campbell, July 25, 1828
Missionaries preaching Christianity had been living among the Native American groups for
decades. Originally employed by the US government on a mission to "civilize," the Natives, the
results varied. Some missions focused solely on the conversion to Christianity, while others did
include the teaching of Western culture, with or without the approval of the government.
"First I will tell you about the Cherokees. I think they improve. They have a printing press and
print a paper which is called the Cherokee Phoenix. They come to meeting on Sabbath days.
They wear clothes which they made themselves.
"Some though rude, have shoes and stockings. They keep horses, cows, sheep and swine. Some
have oxen. They cultivate fields. They have yet a great many bad customs but I hope these
things will soon be done away with. They have thought more about the Savior lately. I hope this
nation will soon become civilized and enlightened."
Source: The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History and
Culture)
by Theda Perdue
"We have unexpectedly become civilized" Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate vol. 1,
no. 51 (Wednesday, March 4, 1829), p. 2
The Cherokee Phoenix was the national newspaper and an important tool in Native American
resistance read not only by Native Americans, but also by American citizens and Europeans.
"The Indians were represented as incapable of learning the arts of civilized life, and at the
same time treated in most uncivil manner. They were savagely revengeful, because they had the
spirit to resent the murder of their friends & relations. They were rogues and thieves, because,
not knowing the method of legal processes to obtain justice, and if they did, their oath decreed to
non-availing, they retaliated in the same way. They were drunkards, because intoxicating liquors
were introduced among them. They were disinclined to the study of books, because of some few
superficially educated under bad instruction had betrayed their countrymen and had set bad
examples. They were stubborn, because they loved the land that had been endeared to them as an
inheritance of their fathers. This flood of inconsistency [accusations] raged with violence over
the heads of our Chiefs & swept with its waves, from under their feet, the earth, for which they
had struggled for ages past. In this way our territory diminished, and our inheritance was
circumscribed [limited] to its present bounds [boundaries].
"Our Chief displaced wonderful forbearance [patience] in this trials, and maintained the
faith of treaties, with the United States, whose chief magistrate [judge] also exercised the spirit
of paternal affection, and adhered to his engagements as pledged to us by treaties. With caution
have we passed the strong shoals [winds] of opposition, and its mingled cruelties to the light of
civilization. The sun has arise[n] in our moral horizon is fast advancing to its meridian
[midpoint]. We hail it with joy! Although a part of our nation have detached themselves from us,
to follow the chase, in the western wilds, and we are invited to retrograde [reverse] to savageism,
with strong talks and inducements as bribes our appetite for our present enjoyments if is too
strong to relinquish them because we have tasted their sweets and are contented."
Source: North Carolina Digital History; http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchistnewnation/5234#comment-1780
from A Brief View of the Present Relations between the Government and People of the
United States and the Indians within Our National Limits by Jeremiah Evarts, 1829
The American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missions was responsible for establishing
most of the church missions and schools among the Cherokee and other southern tribes.
Jeremiah Evarts was its leader and here provides arguments against the Indian Removal Act
pending in Congress in 1829.
"In the various discussions, which have attracted public attention within a few months past,
several important positions, on the subject of the rights and claims of the Indians, have been
clearly and firmly established. At least, this is considered to be the case, by a large portion of the
intelligent and reflecting men in the community. Among the positions thus established are the
following:
1. The American Indians, now living upon lands derived from their ancestors, and never
alienated nor surrendered, have a perfect right to the continued and undisturbed possession of
these lands.
2. Those Indian tribes and nations, which have remained under their own form of government,
upon their own soil, and have never submitted themselves to the government of the whites, have
a perfect right to retain their original form of government, or to alter it, according to their own
views of convenience and propriety.
3. These rights of soil and of sovereignty are inherent in the Indians, till voluntarily surrendered
by them; and cannot be taken away by compacts between communities of whites, to which
compacts the Indians were not a party.
4. From the settlement of the English colonies in North America to the present day, the right of
Indians to lands in their actual and peaceable possession, and to such form of government as they
choose, has been admitted by the whites; though such admission is in no sense necessary to the
perfect validity of the Indian title....
9. By the constitution of the United States, the exclusive power of making treaties with the
Indians was conferred on the general government; and, in the execution of this power, the faith
of the nation has been many times pledged to the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and
other Indian nations. In nearly all these treaties, the national and territorial rights of the Indians
are guaranteed to them, either expressly, or by implication.
Treaty of New Echota, 1835
In December of 1835 a small group of Cherokee leaders including Major Ridge and Elias
Boudinot negotiated a removal treaty with the United States. An overwhelming majority of the
Cherokee disapproved of the treaty as evidenced in a petition presented by Chief John Ross to
the United States Senate prior to its vote to approve. The Treaty of New Echota was ratified by a
margin of one vote. Disapproval among the Cherokee resulted in the murder of John Ridge who
had joined his father in signing the treaty.
WHEREAS the Cherokees are anxious to make some arrangements with the Government of the
United States whereby the difficulties they have experienced by a residence within the settled
parts of the United States under the jurisdiction and laws of the State Governments may be
terminated and adjusted; and with a view to reuniting their people in one body and securing a
permanent home for themselves and their posterity in the country selected by their forefathers
without the territorial limits of the State sovereignties, and where they can establish and enjoy a
government of their choice and perpetuate such a state of society as may be most consonant with
their views, habits and condition; and as may tend to their individual comfort and their
advancement in civilization.
And whereas the Cherokee people at their last October council at Red Clay, fully authorized and
empowered a delegation or committee of twenty persons of their nation to enter into and
conclude a treaty with the United States commissioner then present, at that place or elsewhere
and as the people had good reason to believe that a treaty would then and there be made or at a
subsequent council at New Echota which the commissioners it was well known and understood,
were authorized and instructed to convene for said purpose....
ARTICLE 1.
The Cherokee nation hereby cede relinquish and convey to the United States all the lands owned
claimed or possessed by them east of the Mississippi river, and hereby release all their claims
upon the United States for spoliations of every kind for and in consideration of the sum of five
millions of dollars to be expended paid and invested in the manner stipulated and agreed upon in
the following articles But as a question has arisen between the commissioners and the Cherokees
whether the Senate in their resolution by which they advised “that a sum not exceeding five
millions of dollars be paid to the Cherokee Indians for all their lands and possessions east of the
Mississippi river” have included and made any allowance or consideration for claims for
spoliations it is therefore agreed on the part of the United States that this question shall be again
submitted to the Senate for their consideration and decision and if no allowance was made for
spoliations that then an additional sum of three hundred thousand dollars be allowed for the
same.
from TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE, 1835, as found at INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS
AND TREATIES, Oklahoma State University Library Electronic Publishing Center.
Major Ridge, 1835
In December 1835, the U.S. resubmitted the treaty to a meeting of 300 to 500 Cherokees at New
Echota. Older now, Major Ridge spoke of his reasons for supporting the treaty:
"I am one of the native sons of these wild woods. I have hunted the deer and turkey here, more
than fifty years. I have fought your battles, have defended your truth and honesty, and fair
trading. The Georgians have shown a grasping spirit lately; they have extended their laws, to
which we are unaccustomed, which harass our braves and make the children suffer and cry. I
know the Indians have an older title than theirs. We obtained the land from the living God above.
They got their title from the British. Yet they are strong and we are weak. We are few, they are
many. We cannot remain here in safety and comfort. I know we love the graves of our fathers.
We can never forget these homes, but an unbending, iron necessity tells us we must leave them. I
would willingly die to preserve them, but any forcible effort to keep them will cost us our lands,
our lives and the lives of our children. There is but one path of safety, one road to future
existence as a Nation. That path is open before you. Make a treaty of cession. Give up these
lands and go over beyond the great Father of Waters."
Source: Thurman Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy: The Story of the Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People (New York: Macmillan, 1970),
276-77; quoted in Ehle, Trail of Tears, 294.
Catherine Beecher, Circular Addressed to the Benevolent Ladies of the U. States,
December 29, 1829
Many women at the time regarded the treatment of the Cherokees and other Indians as immoral.
The call to action came from Catherine Beecher, a prominent educator and writer, calling on
women to petition Congress to defeat the Indian Removal Act.
"The present crisis in the affairs of the Indian nations in the United States demands the
immediate and interested attention of all who make claims to benevolence or humanity. The
calamities now hanging over them threaten not only these relics of an interesting race, but, if
there is a Being who avenges the wrongs of the oppressed, are causes of alarm to our whole
country.
"The following are the facts of the case:- This continent was once possessed only by the Indians
and the earliest accounts represent them as a race numerous, warlike and powerful. When our
forefathers sought refuge from oppression on these shores, this people supplied their necessities
and ministered their comfort. ..
"Ever since the existence of this nation, our general government, pursuing the course alike of
policy and benevolence, have acknowledge these people as free and independent nations, and has
protected them in the quiet possessions of their land... Our government also, with parental care,
has persuaded the Indians to forsake their savage life, and to adopt the habits and pursuits of
civilized nations, while the charities of Christian and the labours of missionaries have sent to
them the blessings of the gospel to purify and enlighten....
"And where can be the harm of letting a few of our red neighbors, on a small remnant of their
own territory, exercise the rights which God has given them? They have not the power to injure
us; and, if we treat them kindly and justly, they will not have the disposition. They have not
intruded upon our territory, nor encroached upon our rights. They ask only the privilege of
living unmolested in the places where they were born, and in possession of those rights, which
we have acknowledged and guaranteed.
"May a gracious Providence avert from this country the awful calamity of exposing ourselves to
the wrath of heaven, as a consequence of disregarding the cries of the poor and defenseless and
perverting to purposes of cruelty and oppression, that power which was given us to promote the
happiness of our fellow-men."
Source: The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History and
Culture)
by Theda Perdue
Petition by ladies in Steubenville, OH, against Indian removal
There were small pockets of opposition to the removal of Cherokees in Georgia and occasionally
groups of people, such as the Quakers and an occasional abolitionist championed their rights.
These women from Steubenville, Ohio used their only political right, the right of petition, to
protest the Cherokee removal and to argue in favor of Native American natural rights. Their
petition was ignored.
MEMORIAL OF THE LADIES OF STEUBENVILLE, OHIO,
Against the Forcible removal of the Indians without the limits of the
United States
FEBRUARY 15, 1830
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
The memorial of the undersigned, residents of the state of Ohio, and town of Steubenville,
RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:
That your memorialists [petitioners] are deeply impressed with the belief, that the present crisis
in the affairs of the Indian nations, calls loudly on all who can feel for the woes of humanity, to
solicit, with earnestness, your honorable body to bestow on this subject, involving, as it does, the
prosperity and happiness of more than fifty thousand of our fellow Christians, the immediate
consideration demanded by its interesting nature and pressing importance.
It is readily acknowledged, that the wise and venerated [respected] founders of our country's free
institutions have committed the powers of Government to those whom nature and reason declare
the best fitted to exercise them; and your memorialists would sincerely deprecate [frown upon]
any interference on the part of their own sex with the ordinary political affairs of the country, as
wholly unbecoming the character of the American females. Even in private life, we may not
presume to direct the general conduct, or control the acts of those who stand in the near and
guardian relations of husbands and brothers; yet all admit that there are times when duty and
affection call on us to advise and persuade, as well as to cheer or console. And if we approach
the public Representatives of our husbands and brothers, only in the humble character of
suppliants [beggars] in the cause of mercy and humanity, may we not hope that even the small
voice of female sympathy will be heard?
When, therefore, injury and oppression threaten to crush a hapless [helpless] people within our
borders, we, the feeblest of the feeble, appeal with confidence to those who should be
representatives of national virtues as they are the depositaries of national powers[lawmakers] ,
and implore them to succor [help] the weak and unfortunate. In despite of the undoubted national
right which the Indians have to the land of their forefathers, and in the face of solemn treaties,
pledging the faith of the nation for their secure possession of those lands, it is intended, we are
told, to force them from their native soil, to compel them to seek new homes in a distant and
dreary wilderness. To you, then, as the constitutional protectors of the Indians within our
territory, and as the peculiar guardians of our national character, and our counter's welfare, we
solemnly and honestly appeal, to save this remnant of a much injured people from annihilation,
to shield our country from the curses denounced on the cruel and ungrateful, and to shelter the
American character from lasting dishonor.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
Lewis Cass, Removal of the Indians, January, 1830
Lewis Cass was the governor of the Michigan territory prior to statehood and dealt with Indians
on the frontier. He was also a proponent of “Popular Sovereignty,” where each state should be
allowed to decide its stance on slavery.
THE destiny of the Indians, who inhabit the cultivated portions of the territory of the United
States, or who occupy positions immediately upon their borders, has long been a subject of deep
Solicitude [consideration] to the American government and people. Time, while it adds to the
embarrassments and distress of this part of our population, adds also to the interest which their
condition excites, and to the difficulties attending a satisfactory solution of the question of their
eventual disposal [removal].
To the operation of the physical causes, which we have described, must be added the moral
causes connected with their mode of life, and their peculiar opinions. Distress could not teach
them providence, nor want industry. As animal food decreased, their vegetable productions were
not increased. Their habits were stationary and unbending; never changing with the change of
circumstances. How far the prospect around them, which to us appears so dreary, may have
depressed and discouraged them, it is difficult to ascertain [determine,] as it is also to estimate
the effect upon them of that superiority, which we have assumed and they have acknowledged.
The cause of this total failure cannot be attributed to the nature of the experiment, nor to the
character, qualifications, or conduct, of those who have directed it. But there seems to be some
insurmountable [overwhelming] obstacle in the habits or temperament of the Indians, which has
heretofore prevented, and yet prevents, the success of these labors. Whatever this may be, it
appears to be confined to the tribes occupying this part of the continent. In Mexico and South
America, a large portion of the aboriginal [native] race has accommodated itself to new
circumstances, and forms a part of the same society with their conquerors.
Impressed with the conviction, that a removal from their present position and from the vicinity
[area near] of our settlements, to the regions beyond the Mississippi, can alone preserve from
final extinction the remnant [last of] of our aboriginal [native] population, a number of
benevolent men have associated themselves, and established a society under the appellation
[name] of ‘The Indian Board, for the Emigration, Preservation, and Improvement of the
Aborigines of America,’
The Indians would go, and go speedily and with satisfaction. A few perhaps might linger around
the site of their council-fires; but almost as soon as the patents could he issued to redeem the
pledge made to them, they, would dispose of their possessions and rejoin their countrymen. And
even should these prefer ancient associations to future prospects, and finally melt away before
our people and institutions, the result must be attributed to causes, which we can neither stay nor
control. If a paternal authority is exercised over the aboriginal colonies and just principles of
communication with them, and of intercommunication among them, are established and
enforced, we may hope to see that improvement in their condition, for which we have so long
and so vainly looked.
Thomas Jefferson
Excerpt from Letter to William Henry Harrison, 1803
Our system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment
from them, by everything just and liberal which we can do for them within the bounds of reason,
and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. The decrease of
game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient, we wish to draw them to agriculture, to
spinning and weaving. When they withdraw themselves to the culture of a small piece of land,
they will perceive how useless to them are their extensive forests, and will be willing to pare
them off from time to time in exchange for necessaries for their farms and families.
As to their fear, we presume that our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must
see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, and that all our liberalities to them proceed
from motives of pure humanity only. Should any tribe be fool-hardy enough to take up the
hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe, and driving them across the
Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of
our final consolidation.
Source: Contending Voices. John Hollitz and A. James Fuller. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
Tecumseh,
Excerpt from Speech in 1811– “Sleep Not Longer, O Choctaws and Chicasaws”
Have we not courage enough remaining to defend our country and maintain our
ancient independence? Will we calmly suffer the white intruders and tyrants to
enslave us?
The annihilation of our race is at hand unless we unite in one common cause
against the common foe. Think not, brave Choctaws and Chicasaws, that you can
remain passive and indifferent to the common danger, and thus escape the common
fate.
Your people, too, will soon be as falling leaves and scattering clouds before their
blighting breath. You, too, will be driven away from your native land and ancient
domains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms.
Before the palefaces came among us, we enjoyed the happiness of unbounded
freedom, and were acquainted with neither riches, wants nor oppression. How is it
now?
Wants and oppression are our lot; for are we not controlled in everything? Are we
not being stripped day by day of the little that remains of our ancient liberty? Do
they not even kick and strike us as they do their black-faces? How long will it be
before they will tie us to a post and whip us, and make us work for them in their
cornfields as they do them? Shall we wait for that moment or shall we die fighting
before submitting to such ignominy?
The white usurpation in our common country must be stopped, or we, its rightful
owners, be forever destroyed and wiped out as a race of people. I am now at the
head of many warriors backed by the strong arm of English soldiers. Choctaws and
Chickasaws, you have too long borne with grievous usurpation inflicted by the
arrogant Americans.
Source: Contending Voices. John Hollitz and A. James Fuller. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
Excerpt from Indian Removal Act 1830
An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the
states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United
States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river
Mississippi, ... as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for
the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they
now reside...
And be it further enacted, That in the making of any such exchange or exchanges, it shall and
may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is
made, that the United States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or
successors, the country so exchanged with them;...
And be it further enacted, That upon the making of any such exchange as is contemplated by this
act, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such aid and assistance to be furnished
to the emigrants as may be necessary and proper to enable them to remove to, and settle in, the
country for which they may have exchanged; and also, to give them such aid and assistance as
may be necessary for their support and subsistence for the first year after their removal.
And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tribe or
nation to be protected, at their new residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any
other tribe or nation of Indians, or from any other person or persons whatever...
And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of giving effect to the Provisions of this act, the
sum of five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the
treasury, not otherwise appropriated.
Chief Justice John Marshall
Excerpt from Worcester v. Georgia
The Cherokee nation...is a distinct community, occupying its own territories, with boundaries
accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of
Georgia have no right to enter.
Source; Printed with the permission of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Excerpt from Memorial and Protest of the Cherokee Nation, 1836
The Cherokees were happy and prosperous under a scrupulous observance of treaty stipulations by
the government of the United States, and from the fostering hand extended over them, they made
rapid advances in civilization, morals, and in the arts and sciences.
Little did they anticipate, that when taught to think and feel as the American citizen, and to have with
him a common interest, they were to be despoiled by their guardian, to become strangers and
wanderers in the land of their fathers, forced to return to the savage life, and to seek a new home in
the wilds of the far west, and that without their consent.
We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without
interruption or molestation. The treaties with us, and laws of the
United States made in pursuance of treaties, guaranty our residence and our privileges, and secure us
against intruders.
Source; Printed with the permission of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History