Trail of Tears Bell's Route Memorial Re-enactment Walk

This tragic chapter in American and Cherokee history became known as the Trail of Tears, and culminated the implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward. Today the trail encompasses about 2,200 miles of land and water routes, and traverses portions of nine states.

Bell’s Route of the Trail of Tears was one of the 17 detachments to remove the Cherokee west. John Bell was appointed to lead this detachment of 650 to 700 Cherokee by Chief John Ross. They had a military escort Lt. Edward Deas.

We have excerpts of the letters written to General Scott by Deas along the way.

One of Lt. Edward Deas first letters: October 1838

I left the vicinity of the Cherokee Agency on the 11th instant in charge of this party but up to this time our progress has been necessarily slow, in consequence of the obstructions in the roads over which we have passed.

In a letter written west of Pulaski, Deas reported: we have pursued the direct road through Fayetteville and Pulaski leading to Memphis part of which we found very rough, but our rate of traveling has averaged between 10 & 12 miles a day. Nothing of much importance has taken place since I last wrote. Some of the Indians have lost a number of oxen from eating poisonous weeds, but the progress of the party was interrupted on that account. The people have generally healthy, and everything relative to our movements is at present going well. Near Memphis, Deas wrote on November 24,The party of Cherokees Emigrating under my superintendence has just finished the crossing of the Mississippi, and we shall set out again tomorrow morning in the direction of Little Rock. From vouchers of Edward Deas it is possible to determine that the Bell’s detachment traveled a route which approximates the alignment of present day highway 64 through middle and west Tennessee.

From: http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4474254,00.html

Trail of Tears may grow by 2,000 miles if study OK'd

By RICHARD POWELSON, powelsonr@shns.com
February 17, 2006

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service on Thursday endorsed a study that may add about 2,000 miles of land and water routes to the current Trail of Tears National Historic Trail through eastern Tennessee and portions of eight other states.

About 16,000 Cherokee Indians, mostly from homes in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, were forced from their homes in the winter of 1838-39 and required to walk about 800 miles to designated Indian Territory in what now is Oklahoma.

About 2,200 miles of their known land and water routes already are designated as a national historic trail. But historians and other experts have identified roughly 2,000 miles of other routes taken by Cherokees and suggest that those areas be included in the historic Trail of Tears.

More than 4,000 American Indians, primarily the elderly, frail and young, died during the trip in harsh conditions.

"The Department (of the Interior) recognizes the importance of telling the complete story of the Trail of Tears," John Parsons, associate regional director of the Park Service, told the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks.

Chief Chadwick Smith of The Cherokee Nation said he welcomed the progress on the legislation.

Smith told the subcommittee that the march was "one of the darkest chapters of American history."

Adding federal markers to all the trails and routes and showing them on maps will help educate new generations of the lessons of early American history involving Native Americans, Smith said.

"The United States government must not repeat the mistakes it made in the past," he said. "It must honor its word and forever remember the inspiring story of the Cherokee spirit. At stake is the integrity of the United States and its word."

The study, if approved by Congress, would cost about $175,000, the Park Service estimated. If the Park Service recommends adding the extra land and water routes, it would cost about $300,000 extra per year to manage the new area, Parsons said.

At the hearing, Smith unfurled a 10-foot-long, 3-foot-wide banner that was a copy of the original one signed by 17,000 Cherokees to protest their planned relocation from ancestral lands in the East to the Midwest.

Smith said part of the federal reason for the relocation likely was the discovery of gold on Indian land in Georgia.

The study is required in bills supported by Tennessee Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander, both Republicans, and U.S. Republican Reps. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga, John J. Duncan Jr. of Knoxville, and Democrats Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall, Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis and John Tanner of Union City.

Smith said one history lesson from the Trail of Tears march is: "The greed of individuals and the power of our U.S. government should never be used as instruments to defraud and rob a people of their homeland and government."

Richard Powelson may be reached at 202-408-2727.

Bush Signs Trail Of Tears Study Into Law posted December 1, 2006 At the White House on Friday morning, H.R. 3085, the Trail of Tears Study Act, was signed into law by President George Bush. The bill, authored by Congressman Zach Wamp, directs the National Park Service to complete the criteria necessary to move forward in expanding the current Trail of Tears to include additional routes used when the Cherokee were forced out of their ancestral homelands. "Today the President has shown his commitment to the completeness, objectiveness and accuracy of our nation's rich history," Congressman Wamp said. "The Trail of Tears Study Act is necessary because the human side of the Cherokee removal still must be told. "This development coupled with others, such as Moccasin Bend being added to the National Park Service and even a movie about the Trail of Tears coming out of Hollywood, will show the character and the courage of the Cherokee." He said, "When the original Trail was designated, two main arteries - the Benge and Bell routes - were missing, as well as many water routes and emigration depots. The additional components, sought by H.R. 3085 would allow all Americans to see where the original Cherokee villages lay and will enhance public understanding of that important piece of American history." The proposed additions have been documented by National Park Service historians, military journals, and newspaper accounts, he stated. "It is extremely meaningful to have the President of the United States sign this bill into Public Law," Rep. Wamp said. "We have been working for a long time to achieve this goal." Chattanoogan.com - Your Source for Local Breaking News <http://www.chattanoogan.com>