Cherokee Encampment
Sep 10, 2023, 10:26 PM
Share
Subscribe
Look out over the river at this point.
What do you see?
To the left are the old railroad bridge pilings. To the right the Hiwassee River continues its westward journey.
Not much else.
Now close your eyes. Imagine 1,500 Cherokee People encamped on the hills across the river from where you stand.
Women and children. Old men. Uprooted from their ancestral homes by the newly arrived White Man. Waiting to be deported to a land unknown by the People. To walk and likely die on the Trail of Tears.
This place is Sacred. This is a place of ending and a place of beginning. Thousands of years of Cherokee culture is forever changed at this spot. Pause and shed a tear for what was lost. Shed a tear for what ended and began here.
Across this river and just beyond your view is the site of Ft Butler. Here the Cherokee People were gathered in advance of the deportation of the Nation to Oklahoma via what would be known as The Trail of Tears.
The young men and leaders of the Nation were imprisoned at the Fort. Women, children and the elderly camped on the river bank across from where you stand now.
The relocations of the Cherokee Nation was supposed to be voluntary. But most of the leadership of the Cherokee Nation and a majority of the People opposed it. When a small group did agree to relocation, the US government took that agreement as authorization to force the removal of the entire Cherokee Nation.
It took nearly a year to forcibly gather the People here for deportation. From May 1838 through December of that year, nearly 3,000 Cherokee were routed through Ft Butler in route to internment camps surrounding Fort Cass which was located near present day Charleston, TN. Most of the Cherokee only spent a few days at Ft Butler before being moved on to Ft Cass.
In December of 1938, the Cherokees continued their forced journey from Ft Cass to Oklahoma during the harsh winter. Thousands died. Hunger, freezing temperatures and attacks from local settlers all took their toll. This harsh journey has come to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Learn more about the sad history of the Cherokee Removal and the Trail of Tears at the Cherokee County Historical Museum, located in downtown Murphy.
What do you see?
To the left are the old railroad bridge pilings. To the right the Hiwassee River continues its westward journey.
Not much else.
Now close your eyes. Imagine 1,500 Cherokee People encamped on the hills across the river from where you stand.
Women and children. Old men. Uprooted from their ancestral homes by the newly arrived White Man. Waiting to be deported to a land unknown by the People. To walk and likely die on the Trail of Tears.
This place is Sacred. This is a place of ending and a place of beginning. Thousands of years of Cherokee culture is forever changed at this spot. Pause and shed a tear for what was lost. Shed a tear for what ended and began here.
Across this river and just beyond your view is the site of Ft Butler. Here the Cherokee People were gathered in advance of the deportation of the Nation to Oklahoma via what would be known as The Trail of Tears.
The young men and leaders of the Nation were imprisoned at the Fort. Women, children and the elderly camped on the river bank across from where you stand now.
The relocations of the Cherokee Nation was supposed to be voluntary. But most of the leadership of the Cherokee Nation and a majority of the People opposed it. When a small group did agree to relocation, the US government took that agreement as authorization to force the removal of the entire Cherokee Nation.
It took nearly a year to forcibly gather the People here for deportation. From May 1838 through December of that year, nearly 3,000 Cherokee were routed through Ft Butler in route to internment camps surrounding Fort Cass which was located near present day Charleston, TN. Most of the Cherokee only spent a few days at Ft Butler before being moved on to Ft Cass.
In December of 1938, the Cherokees continued their forced journey from Ft Cass to Oklahoma during the harsh winter. Thousands died. Hunger, freezing temperatures and attacks from local settlers all took their toll. This harsh journey has come to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Learn more about the sad history of the Cherokee Removal and the Trail of Tears at the Cherokee County Historical Museum, located in downtown Murphy.