Trail Of Tears

Essay submitted by Tom V.

On September 15, 1830, at Little Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Chiefs of the Choctaw

Nation and representatives of the U.S. met to discuss the impact of a bill recently

passed by the Congress of the U.S. This bill, with all the same good intentions of those

today who believe they know better than we how to conduct our lives, allowed for the

removal of all Indian peoples to the West of the Mississippi River.

It had been made clear to the Choctaw, that the Whites in Washington cared little for

our situation, that either we willingly moved, or by military force we would be moved.

We were not ignorant savages, but industrious farmers, merchants, and businessmen of

all types. We were educated people, many were Christians. We had an organized

system of government and a codified body of law. Some of these people were not even

Indians, many strangers and orphans had been taken in over the years.

The Chiefs and Warriors signed the treaty, realizing they had no option. For doing this

the government officials guaranteed, in the body of the treaty, safe conveyance to our

new homes. (Do not forget for a moment that in this treaty, the Choctaw traded 10.3

million acres of land east of the Mississippi for 10.3 acres in Oklahoma and Arkansas

that we already owned under previous treaties) Further, it included provisions and

monetary annuities, to assist the people to make a new start. One half of the people

were to depart almost immediately, the rest the next year.

After the signing of the treaty, many saw their land and property sold before their own

eyes. The "conveyances" promised turn out to be a forced march. At the point of a

gun, the pace killed many of the old, exposure and bad food killed most. Rotten beef

and vegetables are poor provisions, even for the idle. Many walked the entire distance

without shoes, barely clothed. What supplies were given had been rejected by the

whites. This cannot directly blamed on the government, nearly all of this was done by

unscrupulous men, interested only in maximizing their profits. They government's fault

lies in not being watchful of those taken into their charge. Many of the old and the

children died on the road. At each allowed stop, the dead were buried. Hearing of this

many escaped. They knew that as they signed the rolls, to be "removed", that this

might as well be their death warrants. They took refuge in the hills, the swamps, and

other places too inhospitable for the whites. Even as this occurred, those in charge

reported their "peaceful progress" to Congress, who looked no further.

Those of us who evaded the rolls were accepted by neither the whites nor the

"papered" Indians. Still others claimed to be "Black Dutch," Spanish, Creole, or Black.

(My own grandfather later lied to the census taker, saying he was one sixty-fourth. At

that degree, he could still live and own land on the reservation. He was "enrolled" at

that number. Granny claimed to be Black Dutch). Many others fled to Illinois, Missouri,

Arkansas, and Louisiana, even into the swamps of the Okeefenokee.

The "fertile lands, alive with game, lush with forests" turned out to be bone-dry and

covered in alkalai pits, and a strange black ooze that stank and caught fire easily.

Blistering hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, this land was still their own. And

then the whites decided they needed more land. Again, pressure was brought to bear

on the Choctaw. By this time the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Cree, Kickapoo, Seminole,

Wyandotte, Lenapi, Mohawk, and others whose names you would not recognize, had

their reservations shrunk around them. The Choctaw had only been the first to be

removed, the government drunk with power and in fit of lust for land, had removed

nearly all. The Mississippi Band of the Choctaw had temporarily avoided displacement,

but had their land stripped down to 500 acres, but within five years none of that land

was in Indian hands. Already Arkansas had begun to be settled by whites, who ignored

the treaties. Even those who fled to California were being displaced by miners, farmers

and ranchers. The discovery of gold galvanized the vise forming around the Indian

people, so that expansion from the East was equaled by expansion from the West.

The altruistic government, in love and charity removed many of the young to "boarding

schools" where they were "civilized," which meant being given white names, speaking

only English, and being forbidden to worship their "pagan" gods. To this day most

Indians, even full-bloods, are not fluent in their own mother-tongues.

The final blow came when the white decided he needed the black ooze and again the

process accelerated. By that time, Custer, making illegal sorties into the Black Hills, had

discovered gold there too. The Lakota watched their lands, cut to almost a third and

then again until nearly all was gone.

In the 1880's, came Wovoka, who offered a message of hope and peace. With him he

brought the Ghost Dance and all tribes listened to that Siren song. At the peak of this

frenzy came Wounded Knee. There, unarmed and innocent men, women, and children

were murdered by scared Cavalry, who never took the time to find out what this was

all about. Adding insult to injury, Medals of Honor were given to these men. Every white

child knew, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

Even now, when the tribes speak of sovereignty, men like Senator Gorton wonder why.

All we ever asked for was the dignity of free men, to live at peace, and worship God in

our own ways.