The Trail Of Tears

Why did missionaries voluntarily walk The Trail of Tears?

The first thing to understanding the involvement of Christian missionaries in The Trail of Tears is understanding The Trail of Tears itself.  The term is misleading, because there was no single Trail of Tears walked by a single tribe to a single destination.

A Trail of Tears is a route that Native Americans were forced to travel when they were removed involuntarily from their homes.  There were more than thirty actual Trails of Tears used by at least nine different tribes.  Some of them were actually water routes.

The Ho-Chunk/Winnebago tribe was the first around 1830 AD, and the Ponca Tribe was the last in 1881 AD.  The Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Muskogee (Creek)) were migrated in the interim period, between 1831 AD and 1858 AD.  The most terrible of these Trail of Tears was the one walked by the Cherokee in their final removal in 1838 AD.

The amazing thing is that many Christian missionaries voluntarily walked each Trail of Tears that the Five Civilized Tribes walked.  This includes the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838 AD.

In fact, many of the European-American Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) had been advocates for the fair treatment of Native Americans like the Pilgrims.  They advocated living with the Native Americans in peace as brothers with like Wampanoags and Pilgrims had done.

So President George Washington treated the Cherokee and the other members of the Five Civilized Tribes as autonomous nations inside of the borders of the United States in 1795 AD.  Treaties were negotiated with each tribe as nations.  The Cherokee Nation, and the other four nations, were to be subject to only federal law and their own laws inside their own land.

The problem was the state governments, who did not have jurisdiction over the tribes that lived within the borders of their state.  The state governments constantly ignored the terms of these treaties. The worst of these by far was the government of Georgia, especially the treaties made with the Cherokee Nation.

The root of this problem was Thomas Jefferson.

In 1802 AD, he made a deal with the state of Georgia, for the federal government to aid Georgia in convincing the Cherokee to leave Georgia, in exchange for Georgia releasing its claims on the unorganized land to the west.

It was up to Georgia to negotiate with the Cherokee to buy their land.  However, the majority of the Cherokee Nation was not interested in selling their land.

So, in 1815 AD, the United States government set aside about a quarter of the modern state of Arkansas aside for the Cherokee settlement.  It was all of the land in Arkansaw Territory between the Arkansas River and the White River.

It stretched from the Mississippi River to the border of the modern state of Oklahoma.  The federal government offered incentives to the Cherokee to relocate there voluntarily in a treaty.

(Cherokee had been moving into this area on their own since 1780 AD.  They were the first of the Old Settler Cherokees.)

However, John Ross, the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, rejected the ridiculous offer of two-hundred thousand dollars for the Cherokee Nation to relocate to Arkansaw Territory.

Many of the Cherokee in Georgia wanted to be free from fighting with European Americans and the state militia, so the first group moved there with federal aid in 1818 AD.  This was the beginning of the Cherokee Nation (West) in Arkansaw Territory.

Among them was Sequoyah, where he invented the Cherokee syllabary.  Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Arkansas is named after him.  (The early European American settlers said that he once had a cabin there.)

The Cherokee Nation (East) formally organized itself as a democracy with three branches of government in 1827 AD.  The capital was at New Echota, Georgia (near present-day Calhoun, Georgia).

Then President John Quincy Adams signed a treaty with the Cherokee Nation (West) to move from Arkansaw Territory to Indian Territory in 1828 AD.

(The federal government sent in agents asking the Cherokee, many who had intermarried European Americans, to self-identify, so they could be relocated from the farms they had created.  Many declined to do so, hid themselves, and remained in Arkansas, particularly in Northwest Arkansas.)

Soon after that, the rest of the Cherokee were forced to relocate as well.

When the Indian Removal act was signed into law in 1830 AD by President Andrew Jackson, one third of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia moved to Indian Territory reluctantly, since the Georgia state militia was constantly harassing them.  They also believed that Georgia was going to take their land without payment, if they waited.  They had no significant losses in their move.

So around 1832 AD, Principal Chief John Ross offered for the Cherokee land to broken into allotments, with members of the Cherokee Nations receiving the first allotments, the federal government receiving the rest of the land for five million dollars, and the members of Cherokee Nation becoming full citizens of the United States and the state of Georgia - with the same rights as all other citizens.  Both the United States and Georgia rejected the offer.

A year or so later, Chief Ross made another offer for the Cherokee Nation to move voluntarily to Indian Territory for a sum of twenty million dollars.  (This was half the price of the Seminole War that ended in 1842 AD.)  Again, the United States and Georgia rejected the offer.

Also, in 1833 AD, the Cherokee Nation (West) established a constitutional government modeled after the constitutional government of the Cherokee Nation (East).  The capital was at Tahlontiskee, Indian Territory (near present-day Gore, Oklahoma).

Some of the most educated among the Cherokee Nation (East) argued that the removal was inevitable, and the Cherokee Nation (East) should negotiate the best deal that it could get.  So, Chief Ross led the passage of a law in 1834 AD, which stated that anyone who negotiated a deal for removal - without consent of the national council - was guilty of treason and could be put to death.  He also cancelled elections for the national council to ensure that the party against removal remained in power.

Nevertheless, this group of highly educated members of the Cherokee Nation (East) formed the Treaty Party, and negotiated a treaty for removal in 1835 AD.  The New Echota Treaty gave the Cherokee Nation (East) three years to move to Indian Territory and five million dollars for their land in Georgia.

The Cherokee Nation (East) was outraged that the United States Senate ratified this treaty in 1836 AD - which was lacking the signature of their Principle Chief and the national council.  It was also contrary to the wishes of most of the Cherokee Nation (East).

Chief Ross and the national council urged the Cherokee Nation (East) to refuse to leave Georgia.  So, the Cherokee Nation (East) became determined to not be removed from the state of Georgia voluntarily on their own by the 1838 AD deadline.

However, many of the Cherokee Nation (East) began rethinking their position, realizing that removal was inevitable when Martin Van Buren, the Vice President of Andrew Jackson, was elected as President in 1836 AD.  So, about two-thousand two hundred members of the Cherokee Nation (East) took the assistance offered by the United States government and voluntarily relocated to Indian Territory before the 1838 AD deadline.  Less than thirty of them died on the journey.

The remainder of the Cherokee Nation, about sixteen thousand members, refused to leave Georgia.  However, their efforts were in vain.

Soon the removal of the Cherokee began.

In the spring of 1838 AD, the Cherokee Nation, mostly in neighboring states, were rounded up for removal.  However, about one thousand two hundred escaped to the mountains, or were exempted from removal, because they owned private land outside of the Cherokee Nation.

Still, the United States army managed to capture about two thousand eight hundred members of the Cherokee Nation, and conducted forced removals in 1838 AD.  About six hundred of those died on the journey.  It was such a disaster that the general put in charge of the operation, Winfield Scott, ordered for the operation to be stopped.

So, General Scott had the remaining twelve thousand members of the Cherokee Nation (East) put into eleven internment camps.  This allowed the Cherokee Nation (East) to both be controlled by his troops, and protected from some European Americans, who wanted to kill them.

The council of the Cherokee Nation (East) realized that removal was inevitable.  So, they asked General Scott for the removal to wait until cooler weather was set in.

Finally in September, Chief Ross finally conceded that removal was inevitable.  So, he requested that the Cherokee Council be able to handle the removal, instead of the United States army, and the army pay the expenses.

General Scott granted both requests - which outraged former President Andrew Jackson.  He then rewarded the contract to conduct the removal to Chief Ross with the approval of the Cherokee Council.

Chief Ross divided the Cherokee Nation (East) into twelve wagon trains.  He put his brother Lewis in charge of obtaining the provisions needed for the journey.

Then the remaining Cherokee began walking on the Trail of Tears.

Each wagon train was conducted by two members of the Cherokee Nation (East).  Each wagon train included physicians, interpreters, commissaries, managers, wagon masters, teamsters, and grave diggers. 

Each wagon train had between seven hundred and one thousand five hundred Cherokee Nation (East) members, averaging about one thousand per wagon train.  The wagon trains left different internment camps on different dates and took different routes to different destinations in Indian Territory.

The first wagon train left on October 6, 1838 AD and the last one left on November 6, 1838 AD.  By the time the last wagon train left, three hundred and fifty-three members of the Cherokee Nation (East) had died in the internment camps.

The first wagon train arrived in Indian Territory on January 4, 1839 AD and the last one arrived on 25 March, 1839 AD.

When they arrived in Indian Territory, there was about nine thousand six hundred Cherokee left out of about eleven thousand eight hundred, who came in the wagon trains.  This was a loss of about two thousand four hundred Cherokees.

However, it is not certain how many actually died.  In the records kept by some of the conductors, more people were added to the wagon trains, as the United States armies caught Cherokees and other members of the Five Civilized Tribes that had previously escaped capture.

However, about an equal number of Cherokees deserted the wagon trains.  Also, there were some births on the journey as well.  So, probably about two thousand two hundred Cherokees died on the journey, when all things are considered.

So altogether, the Cherokee Nation (East) lost about three thousand, one hundred, and fifty members out of the sixteen thousand - who had refused to go to Indian Nation on their own.  They also lost about another one thousand, two hundred members - who escaped to the mountains instead of going to Indian Nation.

This makes about four thousand, three hundred and fifty members out of sixteen thousand counted in 1835 AD, that did not make it to Indian territory in 1839 AD. This is over a quarter of the Cherokee Nation (East).

This mismanaged reluctant removal is usually what the Cherokee mean when they say, "The Trail Of Tears".

However, not all of the Cherokee suffered on the Trail of Tears.

Chief Ross, and the rest of the Cherokee Nation (East) government officials, along with their families did not travel in these wagon trains.  Instead, Chief Ross bought a river boat, the Victoria.  These two hundred and nineteen members of the Cherokee Nation (East) Council used this river boat to travel to Indian Territory in comfort.

Those in the wagon trains walked as much as two thousand two hundred miles in the winter, due to the late departure caused by Chief Ross. He had resisted relocation until the rest of the Cherokee Nation gave him no choice but to leave - and he was sure that his position as undisputed leader was assured. 

Some of the wagon trains went as far north as southern Illinois in blizzards.  They could have followed a shorter route in the south with much better weather - if Chief Ross and the Cherokee National Council had walked with them instead of riding in a river boat.

(Half as many would have died on the Trail of Tears, if they had left in September instead of November.  Perhaps only a quarter as many would have died, if they had all taken the more direct land route to Arkansas that was half as long.)

The wife of Chief Ross was the only recorded death on the Victoria.  In fact, there were fifteen more people on the river boat at the end of the journey than at the beginning, mostly due to births.

Also, Chief Ross, who was billing the United States army on a per person basis, showed about one thousand six hundred more people than the officers in charge counted at both the departure point and arrival point.  The records kept by the wagon train conductors agreed with the counts of the United States army.

So President Van Buren refused to pay Chief Ross the extra half a million dollars for these fraudulent claims.  However, the next president of the United States, Tyler, gave the money to him.

Yet, a group of European Americans suffered on the Trail of Tears.

Even though, Chief Ross and the Cherokee Council did not walk the Trail of Tears, there were European American missionaries who did so.  They chose suffering with the Cherokee Nation (East) over the comfortable life that they could have enjoyed.

They refused any special treatment but suffered with those they walked with.  Some of them died, some of their wives died, and some of their children died on the Trail of Tears.

This was not a hasty symbolic act of defiance again social injustice.  This was a continuation of a pattern of suffering on behalf the Cherokee tribe that began more than a hundred years before the final removal of the Cherokee Nation (East) to Indian Territory.

Even before the Trail of Tears, European American Missionaries had walked the Trail of Brotherly Love.  They had suffered persecution for years due to their efforts to prevent the removal of the Cherokee and other Native Americans from their land.

They made sure that Native Americans were not the forgotten people.  They knew that the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) was the hope of the Almodadi.

One of these was Daniel Sabin Butrick.  His decision to champion bringing the Good News to the Cherokee over the political advocacy of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) cost him dearly.

The newer commissioners that ran the ABCFM were more interested in continuing to receive government funding than the work that its founders had created it for.  They did not want any of their missionaries do anything that might upset the ruling Democratic Party that was Pro-Removal.

America was deeply divided over the issue of removing Native Americans to the point of almost going into a civil war over the matter – twice!  Daniel Butrick worked effortlessly with John Howard Paine to make the injustices done to the Cherokee and other Native Americans known across the United States.

So, the ABCFM cut off his funding for doing the work that he had been sent there to do in 1818.  Still, Daniel Butrick persisted right up until the time of the Trail of Tears.

So, in 1838 Daniel Butrick and his wife Elizabeth Proctor Butrick walked the Trail of Tears to continue that work with no support from the ABCFM in Indian Territory.  They saw the Children of Truth among the Cherokee as their brothers and sisters that they would not abandon in their darkest hour.

Samuel Worcestor and Elizur Butler were also tireless advocates for the Cherokee.  They were arrested and sentenced to four years of hard labor by the state of Georgia for their actions.

They were offered a pardon if they agreed to stop their advocacy but they refused the pardon so the case of the Cherokee could be heard by the US Supreme Court.  They won their case in 1832, but it soon became clear that the Georgia and the surrounding states along with many European Americans were not going to abide by the rule of law.

The state of Georgia also continued to keep them imprisoned illegally for another year until the next governor had them released to quell civil unrest from their wrongful imprisonment.  After this, they both stood with the Cherokee until their arrival in Indian Territory in 1839.

Samuel Worcestor and his wife Ann realized that removal was inevitable, so they left for Indian Territory with their seven children in 1835.  They lost almost all of their possessions on the journey, and Ann almost died from a fever on the journey.  They might have lost at least one of their children on their voluntary trail of tears before they arrived in 1836.

They immediately began working with the Cherokee Nation (West) to prepare for the arrival of the Cherokee Nation (East).  Their tireless efforts took their toll on Ann Worcestor, and she died from exhaustion around the time that the Cherokee Nation (East) reached the end of the Trail of Tears in 1839.

However, Samuel Worcester was joined by his old cellmate that year in helping the Cherokee in Indian Territory.  Elizur Butler had gone back to living among the Cherokee and then walked the Trail of Tears with them.

There were other missionaries from the Baptists, Methodist, Presbyterians, and Moravians who also walked the Trail of Tears with the Cherokee.  Some of them died, some of their wives died, and some of their children died on the Trail of Tears.

Among those was Evan Jones, who had been missionary to the Cherokee since 1822.  His love for the Cherokee was so obvious and sincere that he was chosen to lead one of the wagon trains on the Trail of Tears by Chief Ross.

So, Evan Jones and his family walked the Trail of Tears instead of riding in the riverboat with Chief Ross.  His group experienced only 71 deaths on the trail – the lowest of any wagon train - due to his refusal to be treated differently by the US Army than the Cherokee.

This forced the US Army to treat the entire wagon train with extra care.  Evan Jones was well known as an advocate for the Cherokee and his death on the Trail of Tears could have been the spark that set off a civil war in an America that was already deeply divided over the Great Removal.

This willingness of these European American missionaries to lay down their lives for the good of the Cherokee inspired the Cherokee Children of Truth to do the same.  Those Cherokee that had signed the New Echota Treaty did so knowing that it would cost them their lives but would also keep the Cherokee from being almost completely wiped out by the Georgia militia and other European Americans.

John Ridge said, "I have signed my death warrant" when he signed the New Echota Treaty.  He signed it because he was willing to lay down his life for the preservation of his people.

He and the other signers were persecuted until they were murdered for their signatures.  They walked their own trail of tears to save their people.

So, what inspired these people to walk a trail of tears to save others?

They were following the example of the Man of Truth.  He had walked his own trail of tears to save other people.

Like the missionaries, the Man of Truth gave up a life of comfort to live among people who needed salvation (Philippians 2:5-7).  Like them, he experienced every hardship of life (Hebrews 4:14-15).

Like the missionaries, the efforts of the Man of Truth to save others often left him homeless (Luke 9:56-58).  Like them, he served the needs of others in the midst of his persecution (Luke 22:27-28).

Like the signers of the New Echota Treaty, his enemies plotted to put the Man of Truth to death without causing a civil war (Mark 14:1-2).  Like them, he was sentenced to death by the national council before having a trial (John 11:53-54).

Like the signers of the New Echota Treaty, he earnestly sought for a way that did not require walking on the trail of tears (Mark 14:34-35).  Like the missionaries, he voluntarily walked on the trail of tears when it was the only way to save people (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Like the signers of the New Echota Treaty, the Man of Truth also had false witness brought against him when he was tried because the national council was determined to put him to death (Matthew 26:59).  Like them, the council appealed to the nation that ruled over their nation to authorize his execution (John 18:31).

Like the signers of the New Echota Treaty, the Man of Truth was betrayed by a friend who collected a bounty from the national council (Matthew 26:14-16).  Like them, the ruling nation allowed him to be unjustly put to death to avoid a civil war (Matthew 27:24).

Like the missionaries, the Man of Truth was beaten by those who were in charge of carrying out the sentence (Matthew 27:26).  Like them, he was mocked and spit upon as he was led to the place of his unjust punishment (Matthew 27:27-31).

Like the missionaries, the Man of Truth was surrounded by the sound of weeping women as he walked the trail of tears (Luke 23:26-27).  Like the children of the missionaries, his mother watched him suffer on the trail of tears (John 19:25).

Like the missionaries, the Man of Truth refused any special favor to lessen his suffering on the trail of tears (Mark 15:23).  Like them, he died among those he was sent to save on the trail of tears (John 19:32-34).

Like the missionaries, even those who forced him to walk the trail of tears could see that he was a righteous man (Luke 23:46-47).  Like them, there were many people weeping over his death on the trail of tears (Luke 23:48).

Like the missionaries, his body was given to those he walked among after he died on the trail of tears (Mark 15:43-45).  Like them, he was hastily buried near the trail of tears (Mark 15:46).

However, his death on the trail of tears was not the end of the Man of Truth for the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) raised him back to life (Acts 13:29-30).  He was then given great reward because he walked the trail of tears until the end (Philippians 2:9-11).

So, will you walk the trail of tears with the Man of Truth?

Like John Ridge, the Man of Truth signed his own death warrant to save others (Matthew 26:28).  Like the signers of the New Echota Treaty, his signature made it possible for others to have peace (Romans 5:1).

Through this treaty, all people can be saved from destruction (Romans 5:6-9).  Through it, they can cease to be enemies of the Father of Truth (Romans 5:10-11).

Through this treaty, all people can be reconciled to the Father of Truth (2 Corinthians 5:19-21).  Through it, all people can be reconciled with each other (Ephesians 2:11-17).

However if we accept this treaty, then we will made to walk the trail of tears by those who reject it (John 15:20-21).  We cannot follow the Man of Truth without walking the trail of tears (2 Timothy 3:12).

We must stay on the trail of tears until we reach the end– even it means being removed involuntarily from our homes (Matthew 10:22-23).  However, our suffering on the trail of tears cannot compare to what awaits us at the end (Romans 8:17-18).

We will not get that reward if we stop walking on the trail of tears (2 Timothy 2:12).  We cannot be saved if we stop walking on the trail of tears with the Man of Truth (Hebrews 10:38-39).

So, you can start walking on the trail of tears with the Man of Truth if you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  You will be able to walk it to the end because he will never leave your side as you walk the trail of tears (Hebrews 13:5-6).

Come into the House of Truth!