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CHAPTER XXII
THE DEPORTATION OF THE CHEEOKEES—PROP. JAMES MOONEY, OF THE
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY, IN WASHINGTON, HAS WRITTEN AN EX
HAUSTIVE ACCOUNT. OF THIS EPISODE BASED UPON RECORDS PRE
SERVED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND INTERVIEWS HELD WITH AGED
CHEROKEES IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY—How THE TRIBES WERE
REMOVED—THE STORY TOLD IN DETAIL—SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS
EN ROUTE—SOME DIE ALONG THE JOURNEY—ONE OF THE MOST
PATHETIC CHAPTERS IN GEORGIA'S HISTORY—MAJOR RIDGE, JOHN
RIDGE, ELIAS BOUDINOT AND OTHERS ARE MURDERED IN THE INDIAN
TERRITORY—Ross Is ACQUITTED OF ANY COMPLICITY IN THE AFFAIR
—AT LAST THE BREACH BETWEEN THE Two FACTIONS Is HEALED.
To an eminent investigator, Professor Mooney, of the Bureau of
Ethnology, in Washington, D. C., who has devoted his life to Indian
researches, we are indebted for the following graphic account of the
removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia. He makes no effort to
soften the colors.. The story is most pathetic; and even at this late day
some of the incidents cannot fail to melt the reader to tears. Says Pro
fessor Mooney:
"The history of this Cherokee removal of 1838, as gleaned by the
author from the lips of actors in the tragedy, may well exceed in weight
of grief and pathos, any other passage in American annals. Even the
much-sung exile of the Acadians falls far behind it in the sum of death
and suffering. Under the orders of General Winfield Seott, troops
were stationed at various points throughout the Cherokee country,
where stockade forts were erected for the purpose of corralling the In
dians preparatory to removal. From these forts, squads of troops were
sent out to search with rifle and bayonet every, small cabin hidden away
in the coves of the mountains and to make prisoners of all the occu
pants, however or wherever they might be found.
"Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets
in the doorway and rose up to be driven with blows and oaths along
the weary miles of travel leading to the stockade. Men were seized in
the fields or along "the roads. Women were taken from their wheels
and children from their play. In many cases, on turning for one last
look as they crossed the ridge, they saw their homes in flames, fired
by the lawless rabble who followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot
and to pillage. So keen were these outlaws on the scent that in some
instances they were driving. off the cattle and other stock of the In
dians almost before the soldiers had started their owners in the other
direction. Systematic hunts were made by the same men for Indian
graves to rob them of the silver pendants and other valuables deposited
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