When I saw them, men, women Cherokee Homeland Forts and Roads Doorstep Deportation Resistance in the Mountains A Persistent People and children, moving along thro' Before the arrival of Europeans, the mountain The US Army and state militias built forts and In early 1838, army commanders viewed western Though the majority of North Carolina Cherokee living at Quallatown on the Oconaluftee region of what is today western North Carolina roads in the Cherokee Nation to gather and North Carolina as a hotbed of Cherokee resistance. Cherokee submitted to forced removal, several River successfully demanded exemption from the valley towards the far west, . had long been the center of the Cherokee forcibly remove a nation of people, over 15,000 Rather than revolt, the Cherokee simply ignored hundred disappeared into remote sections of the removal under provisions in earlier treaties homeland. Here Cherokee built their towns and Cherokee, 3,500 of whom lived in North Carolina. the mandate to be removed and went about planting mountains, becoming fugitives in their native between the Cherokee Nation and the United I could not help but think that some farmed the valleys formed by the Tuckasegee, crops and building homes. In early June Capt. L. B. land. The mountain terrain made locating these States. Known as the Luftee or Citizen Indians, this refugees very difficult. One officer reported, fearful retribution would yet come Little Tennessee, Hiwassee, and other rivers. In order to facilitate the brutal work of collection, Webster noted, There are about six thousand in our group eventually coalesced with their neighbors imprisonment, and deportation of thousands of neighborhood… They all remain quietly at work on After three weeks of the most arduous and fatiguing and kinspeople who managed to avoid capture upon us from this much impugned This region holds some of the most significant people, the US government tallied the number of their little farms… They sell us very cheap anything duty, traveling the country in every direction, during removal. They formed the Eastern Band of and sacred Cherokee places, such as Kituwah, Cherokee in each community and surveyed roads they have to spare, and look upon the regular troops as searching the mountains on foot in every point Cherokee Indians. race. The scene seemed to be more considered the mother town of the Cherokee and and trails. The Unicoi Turnpike, established their friends… These are innocent and simple people where Indians could be heard of we [have] not been a site of great religious, cultural, and historical in 1816, supplied an easy removal path as it into whose homes we are to obtrude ourselves… able to get sight of a single one. The Cherokee's North Carolina acknowledged these Cherokee's like a distempered dream, or importance. Today these mountains are still the ran through northern Georgia, western North precise knowledge of the mountains and their right to remain in the state in 1868, and the United Western Carolina University Western Association of Tears Trail National Historic Trail of Tears Trail National Park Service home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Carolina, and eastern Tennessee. When the troops began their deportation operations communication network flummoxed the soldiers, States eventually recognized the Eastern Band as something worthy of the dark ages descendants of those who sacrificed tremendously on June 12, Lt. John Phelps said, …seven companies rendering all attempts to capture them futile. a distinct tribe. By 1875 political unification of to remain in their ancestral southeastern lands. Fort Butler had been established in 1836 to of us marched thither… By night fall about a hundred Cherokee communities led to the emergence of than like a present reality; but it keep order after the ratification of the Treaty of [Indians] had assembled…by the morning of the 14th Some Cherokee families received waivers to six townships on lands purchased by the tribe and Removal Decree Sets the Stage New Echota. Two years later, the army quickly we were all in with nearly a thousand Indians. remain behind. When wealthy farmer John Welch protected under a US government trust. was too true. constructed four more forts in the surrounding area. received his waiver, he encouraged Cherokee to As early as 1803 President Thomas Jefferson The first deployment of Cherokee left Fort Butler leave home and take to the mountains. He and Today, the Cherokee of North Carolina remain -The Diary of Lieutenant John Phelps, supported voluntary Indian removal. But it wasn’t In 1837 the North Carolina legislature approved on June 18, 1838, forced to walk 80 miles to the Fort others covertly fed the fugitives. In the years after committed to protecting their homeland, while until Andrew Jackson was elected president in construction of the Great State Road between Cass emigration depot in Tennessee. Other groups removal, Welch’s farm was a haven for about 100 preserving and strengthening Cherokee language, June 22, 1838 1828 that events accelerated. In 1830 Congress Franklin and Fort Butler to expedite the sale and followed through early July. Due to multiple delays, Cherokee who escaped the army roundup. culture, and tribal identity. In recent years, the passed the Indian Removal Act, which mandated settlement of Cherokee lands. During the spring the Cherokee languished at Fort Cass for months before Eastern Band has even begun to acquire some of that the Indian tribes move to new lands west of of 1838 the Old Army Road, stretching between departing overland to Indian Territory in October. Dickageeska, one of the homeless Cherokee, the important places taken from them in earlier the Mississippi. Andrews and Robbinsville, was improved in 10 recalled the steep price of resistance. They were times, starting with the sacred site of Kituwah. days from a Cherokee foot path to a wagon road. The Cherokee were assigned to one of three compelled to subsist on the sap of trees and roots, What happened in 1835 outraged most of detachments, numbering about 1,000 people each. and nearly all the children…died, only two children In western North Carolina, the Trail of Tears the Cherokee Nation—a small number of From these collection points and conduit paths, Cherokee leaders included Baptist preacher Jesse remained out of a population of near 100 persons. is more than a story of loss and injustice. The unauthorized Cherokee tribal members signed all of the North Carolina Cherokee captured by Bushyhead; Situagi (Situwakee), the headman of Cherokee legacy remains one of survival, the Treaty of New Echota, accepting $5 million the army were funneled through Fort Butler. Hiwassee Town and Aquohee District judge; and Yet by 1840 these Cherokee were forming persistence, and resurgence, as they have to leave their ancestral lands and move to Indian Chuwaluka (Choowalooka) or Old Bark of Taquohee. settlements and reviving the customs of councils, successfully rebuilt their lives in both the West Territory. The stage was set for Cherokee removal. By the time they reached Indian Territory, these dances, ball playing, and other practices. (Oklahoma) and North Carolina. detachments had lost 15 percent of their members to disease, exposure, and desertion. The US Army used five forts and two camps to round up 3,000 North Carolina Cherokee. They were Fort Butler included a blockhouse, palisade, barracks, a hospital, and other buildings. Sketch of Fort Butler, ca. 1837 funneled through Fort Butler and marched along the Unicoi Turnpike to Fort Armistead and Fort Cass in Tennessee before the long journey to Indian Territory. Wayah Bald in the Nantahala Mountains in western North Carolina, looking eastward Courtesy Ralph Preston Trail of Tears of Tears Trail North Carolina Map and Guide KENTUCKY VIRGINIA The Hiwassee River near the The National Park Service administers site of Fort Butler the trail in close partnership with Trail of Tears Association, the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee, federal, state, county, and local agencies, interested groups, and private landowners. Trail sites are in private, municipal, tribal, federal, or state ownership. Find Photo Accessing Sites FORT BUTLER UNICOI TURNPIKE TRAIL CHEROKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL AQUOHEE DISTRICT COURTHOUSE VALLEY TOWN BAPTIST MISSION FORT DELANEY The Trail of Tears National Historic Near present-day town of Murphy northern Georgia, western North Carolina, MUSEUM East of present-day town of Murphy just East of present-day town of Murphy at the Near present-day town of Andrews Trail is under development. It’s not (Cherokee County) eastern Tennessee 87 Peachtree Street, Murphy north of the intersection of Highway 64 and intersection of Mission Road and Highway (Cherokee County) possible to follow the entire trail along Coordinates / address for exhibits: Coordinates: 35.19425, -84.13775; (Cherokee County) (828) 837-6792 Old Highway 64 (Cherokee County) 64 (Cherokee County) Coordinates: 35.20535, -83.82970 the historical course. In most cases 35.08603, -84.03691 / at the historic train 35.03731, -83.82380 Coordinates: 35.08675, -84.03312 Coordinates: 35.06394, -83.94662 Coordinates: 35.06120, -83.94661 travelers will have to follow public depot, on the corner of Hiwassee and Site Information: When troops arrived in the summer Site Information: The Cherokee exodus from western Site Information: The Valley Town Baptist Mission was of 1838, several hundred Cherokee hid in the Snowbird roads that are close to the authentic Railroad Streets in Murphy Site Information: The museum explores Cherokee Site Information: Exhibits at this site discuss the role North Carolina followed the Unicoi Turnpike (Unaka Indian life during the time of the Cherokee Nation of the Aquohee District Courthouse along the Trail a boarding school that became an important center and Hanging Dog mountains. In the Valley River trail. Please ask for permission before Road), a wagon road built between Georgia and east before and after their removal along the Trail of Tears of Tears.