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HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy Red Clay has somber plac

ed Clay is a state historic park in After the Georgia Legislature stripped RBradley County, about an hour’s the Cherokee of most of their rights and drive from Chattanooga. This, in a nut- land, the tribe moved its capital to Red Clay and built a council building for shell, is its story: meetings. The Cherokee tribe once ruled over a large part of the Southeast United States. settlers in this part of the country were to But as white settlers moved west and be literate in the English language. They forced their way onto Cherokee land, even had a written newspaper, The Cherokee leaders signed away or sold Phoenix. large chunks of the land, sometimes In 1828, however, two things occurred under political or military pressure. By that sealed the fate of the Cherokee the 1820s, the tribe only controlled part nation east of the Mississippi River. First, of what is now southeast Tennessee, gold was discovered on Cherokee land in southwest North Carolina, northeast Ala- Georgia, resulting in a massive encroach- bama and northwest Georgia. ment by white settlers onto Cherokee In spite of the loss of so much of their property. Then, Andrew Jackson was land, most Cherokees assumed they elected president. Though he could be would be allowed to stay in this part of kind to individual Native Americans, the country forever. After all, they had Jackson did not believe Native American coexisted peacefully with the American culture could coexist with the United government for more than a generation — ever since the brutal States. He pursued a policy of removal — of forcing the Chero- Nickajack Expedition of 1794, when white settlers defeated the kees off their land and relocating them to points west of the Mis- warlike Chickamaugan band of the Cherokee tribe. sissippi River. Many Cherokees had fought for the American government, By 1832, the Georgia Legislature had taken away all Chero- such as at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Creeks. kee legal rights, blatantly stolen the Cherokees’ land and made More importantly, the Cherokee nation had largely adopted it a crime for Cherokees to hold political meetings. At that white ways: becoming farmers, taking on a democratic form of point the tribe moved its capital to a site just north of the Ten- government under a constitution, adopting Christianity and nessee/Georgia state line, Red Clay. There was a spring on the even creating a written language. By the 1820s, Cherokees were site called Blue Hole Spring that is still there today. There were more likely to be literate in the Cherokee language than white no structures at Red Clay, so the Cherokees built a few cabins and a council house. A council was a time when the Cherokee people came togeth- er to meet and for their leaders to discuss things important to the tribe. Councils generally lasted between two weeks and a month. The Cherokee had 11 separate councils at Red Clay between 1832 and 1838.

Tennessee History for Kids Bill Carey is a Nashville author and executive director of “Tennessee History for Kids,” an online Tennessee history textbook. For more great stories of The Cherokee Days of Recognition at Red Clay State Park cele- brates Cherokee heritage with traditional dancers, storytelling, Tennessee history, go to crafts and more. This year’s event will be Aug. 2 and 3. www.tnhistoryforkids.org.

8 The Tennessee Magazine TN HISTORY AUG 08.qxp:TECA History 7/14/08 1:15 PM Page 9

HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy place in Cherokee history

Above, The Cherokee established their new capital near the Blue Hole Spring at Red Clay. Below, an eternal flame is dedicated to the Cherokee nation and all who suffered and died on the Trail of Tears, the forced march of natives from their homes east of the Mis- sissippi River to lands in the West. According to first-person accounts, there were still some fes- the treaty and disavowing those who had signed it. But the tivities at the Red Clay councils. Children played, and adults American government used this treaty as final justification to apparently spent most of their time holding Baptist church serv- force the Indians off their land. ices. But these were desperate times for the Cherokees. In spite of In the fall of 1838, the U.S. Army began forcing Indians into President Jackson’s insistence that they would have to leave, the staging camps near the Tennessee River. From there some went Cherokee people still held out hope that John Ross, their princi- downriver on boats, while others marched northwest, toward pal chief, would be able to work out a deal under which they their eventual destination (present-day Oklahoma). Today we could stay. The Cherokee people had a good legal case, since the estimate that 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokees died either along U.S. Supreme Court under John Marshall had ruled that the 1830 the way or in the holding camps, which is why we refer to it as Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional. the Trail of Tears. The trip was especially hard on However, it was at Red Clay that the Chero- the elderly and young children. Those who died kees realized that the U.S. Supreme Court rul- were usually buried in unmarked graves, which are ing would not help them. Here they also now all over Tennessee and Arkansas. learned that a small group of Cherokee leaders After they left, all the structures that had been (led by Major Ridge) signed the so-called built at Red Clay were torn down, and the land Treaty of New Echota, which purportedly sold became part of a privately owned farm. They all the Cherokee land east of the Mississippi remained so until 1979, when its owner sold it to River to the American government. the state of Tennessee to be used as a historic park. When John Ross learned about this treaty, Among the structures you will find there today are he tried hard to get the U.S. Senate to reject it a visitor’s center and replicas of the council house, (an effort that failed by one vote). To that a small Cherokee farm and some of the small cab- effort, more than 15,000 Cherokees (practical- ins that were built there during Red Clay’s short ly the entire tribe) signed a petition protesting stint as Cherokee capital.

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