Stories along the Trail

[Okwes]

Stories along the Trail
The Cherokee
"Trail of Tears"

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Theodore Pease Russell and
"The Trail of Tears"

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Theodore Pease Russell came to the easternmost Ozarks in 1838 when
he was 18, settling with his parents and seven other children in the
Arcadia Valley of the St. Francois range after a lengthy voyage from
Connecticut. Theodore fed the family as appointed hunter, became a
farmer, fought in the Civil War, was a justice of the peace, and in
1885 began to set his memories down in a weekly column for the Iron
County Register.

Before he died in 1899, he had written of hunting, fishing, social
affairs, regional history, geography and many other things
Arcadian. He was 19 years old when the Cherokee Trail of Tears
touched his life as Indians were driven from their towns in the
Southeast United States to Indian Territory; a half century later he
remembered it wistfully for his readers in one of the Register
columns.

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

The government removed the Cherokee Indians from Georgia to the
Indian Reservation (Territory in Oklahoma) in 1839. I remember
February of that year, a division of the Ross party came through
this valley and camped on Knob Creek, a camp extending from the Half-
Way House along the west bank of the creek at the foot of Shepherd
Mountain for nearly a mile. It was a muddy time.

There were about 2,000 Indians in this division. All of the others
had gone by way of Farmington, but the roads were so bad that this
last division had come this way along the Fredericktown road and
such a road at that time! A few days before the Indians came a man
arrived to find suitable camping spots and supplies such as corn,
oats, and fodder for their teams. There were so few people in the
Arcadia Valley then there was only one man who had much to spare.
But Abram Buford had a large crib of old corn, oats and fodder which
were to be delivered at the place now owned by Judge Emerson. Mr.
Buford hired father to send me with a team to haul oats and fodder,
while his team hauled corn.

As the Indians came in they were furnished rations by lodges, each
lodge to receive so much corn, oats and fodder, after which they
camped at the place assigned them. They received no other rations;
the hunters supplied meat out of the woods. Each morning when the
Indians broke camp they were told how far they had to go and in what
direction. The hunters spread out like a fan and started through
the woods toward the next camping place, about ten miles ahead, and
swept everything before them in the way of game. During the day
deer could be seen running as if Old Scratch was after them across
fields and roads.

About four o'clock I had finished hauling, so the Commissary Agent
asked me if I did not want to go see the Indians in camp; he told me
to let one of the boys take my team home, and he would show me how
Indians lived. When we reached camp we found the first lodge close
by what was to be Half-Way House. As each lodge came in to camp it
went on beyond earlier arrivals until the last arrival was furthest
in advance and so the first to move on in the morning.

As we came to each lodge, the commissary officer would explain
everything. I saw families cooking supper, and noticed at each
lodge a large tree had been felled by the body of which they had
built their fire. On the butts of the logs I saw square holes that
would hold about four quarts.

"Do you know what that is for?" the officer asked. "That is their
grist mill; they shell corn into the hole, take that big pounder you
see there, and pound the corn until it is fine enough, then they
sift it and make bread."

We went along until we came to a squaw pounding corn. She soon
dipped out the grain into a sieve, sifted out the finest of the
meal, then put the rest back to be pounded again. It did not take
long to make enough meal for bread for all the lodge.

The officer called my attention to girls dressed in silks and
satins, their ears loaded with jewelry, their hair done up. I
said "Surely these are not Indians; these are white ladies."

"These are Indians," said the officer. "Those negroes doing the
cooking are their slaves."

The Cherokee girls were just as handsome as any girls and had fine
forms, straight as an arrow.

As we walked on, we saw hunters coming from every direction, loaded
down with game; some used guns but the most that I saw had bows and
arrows. We met one Indian with a string of fox squirrels, every one
of them with a hole through its neck made by an arrow. Some hunters
had deer, some turkeys or small game. The officer asked an Indian
to let me see his bow and arrows. I would have liked to buy them of
him, but I did not feel that I cared to talk to him much.

I saw groups of boys at play, but do not know what some of their
games were. Some were pitching arrows, while some of the larger
were shooting at a target on a tree with there
bows; it was surprising how close they shot. I was shown how they
make their bows, how they fashioned arrows to the shafts, and how
the points were fastened on.

I saw a group of girls playing at a sort of battledore. When I
heard the laughter of the boys and girls, I could hardly realize I
was in an Indian camp, among people who had been called savages.
But I also noticed that many of the old men and women did wear a
savage look and seemed as though their hearts were full of hate
toward the white race, and they would be glad to take your scalp if
it were in their power to do so.

After strolling the length of the camp, with all the lodges up and
it being after dark, we loitered back on a return trip. It was the
duty of the officer to see to all the camp affairs just like a
policeman in the city; for the Cherokee were under regulation as
strict as if they were white. Some of the families were at super,
and their tables were set with just as nice dishes; the food looked
as good and smelt as good as any white folks. I felt I would like
to sit down
to one of their tables and be an Indian.

Back at our starting point the officer took my hand and said, "Now
you have seen the Indians in camp, if you would like to be one, or
join them, we will take you along and you can marry one of these
girls; they will make a chief of you for Indian girls think it an
honor to have a white husband. What do you say? Will you go?"

I finally told him I would go home and ask my ma, and see what she
said. And it was against the rules for anyone who did not belong to
the company to be found inside the camp after 9 o'clock, I bade my
conductor goodby and started for home through the mud and darkness,
tired, hungry and sleepy.

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Article by Elizabeth Holloman from writings by Theodore Pease
Russell
Date unknown
Theodore Russell's writings were excavated from Time's debris by
Elizabeth Holloman, who lives in the Arcadia Valley (in East Central
Missouri) and meditates upon the same hills across which the author
roamed: Old Buford, Pilot Knob, Shepherd's Mountain, Taum Sauk
Mountain (highest elevation point in Missouri), and Buck Mountain.
The north-eastern Ozarks were the first to know white man; Ste.
Genevieve, Missouri, of this region, celebrated it's village
bicentennial nearly 50 years before the United States did. The
Arcadia Valley, one of the loveliest valleys on this continent, has
been settled for two centuries, and is still pleasantly old rural
country. It was the first center of the Ozarks when St. Louisians,
70 miles to the north, began to travel there in 1869 on the new Iron
Mountain and Southern Railroad.

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Back to: Stories Along The "Trail of Tears" Index

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
The Trail of Tears State Park

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
For more information on these and other events contact the Cape
Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau.

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Cherokee Pride Face Mask ™ Copyright 2004 - 2005 by Dan Farrow &
Rose Net
Face Mask Designed by Pitter of Pitter's Cherokee Trails Gallery &
Gift Shop
Cherokee Links: Cherokee Pride -"The Cherokee Trail of Tears" 1838-
1839
Cherokee Pride Store & Gift Shop - Order Indian related Store &
Gifts Shop Online
Rose Net Shopping Mall - Rose Net is an Amazon.com Associate
Amazon.com - Shop for Brand Name Merchandise and Gifts at
Amazon.com

Pitter's Cherokee Trails Gallery & Gift Shop - Cape Girardeau,
Missouri
Tell us your Cherokee Trail of Tears Story - Send us an letter or e-
mail with your "Cherokee Story"
The official site of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
USA - "The Cherokee Nation"
The Official Home Page of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians -
"Eastern Band of Cherokees"
Trail of Tears Association - Little Rock, Arkansas

Cherokee Links of Cherokee Links - All Cherokee

CHEROKEE
PRIDE
GIFT
SHOP



----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

™

Web rosecity.net


----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Back to:
Cherokee Pride
Cherokee Pride Store & Gift Shop
Cherokee Trail of Tears
Rose Net Home Page
Shop Amazon.com
Trail of Tears State Park, MO Last Updated
April 28, 2005




----------------------------------------------------------
-----------

----------------------------------------------------------
-----------


--- In [e-mail], "lonniesdrm" <lonniesdrm@...>
wrote:
>
> Osiyo Sister,
>
> I was wondering when someone was going to bring up this subject.
I
> am not a Cherokee Freedman, however as a Cherokee descendant I am
> ashamed of the vote. The Freedman helped build the Cherokee
Nation
> in the west and it was part of the treaty that they would be
> absorbed into the Western Nation as citizens. Now they want to go
> back on their word? It is all about money and greed!
>
> I now understand why my ancestors escaped the Trail of Tears and
> lived out their lives as renegades in the east.
>
>
> Traditional Lady
>
>
> --- In [e-mail], "inalispirit"
> <inalispirit@> wrote:
> >
> > siyo Ladies,
> >
> > I was just wondering what you thought of the Cherokee Nation of
> > Oklahoma's recent vote to band members on the Freedmans rolls
from
> > tribal rights and participation?
> >
> > here are the links if you missed the article
> >
> > www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/04/cherokee.freedmen.ap/index.html?
> > section=cnn_latest
> >
> > www.cjournal.com/opinion/local_story_066171744.html?
> > keyword=topstory
> >
> > Do you think the Federal govt. will respond as they did with the
> > Seminoles when they pulled this, which caused the Seminoles to
> > reinstate
> > their black indian members?
> >
> > just wondering your thoughts
> >
> > blessings always
> >
> > L.Koga
> > Cherokee/creek/Black/German
> >
>