Be Inspired
48 / Native America
Trail of
tears The Indian Removal Act saw many Native People ‘moved on’ from their homelands. The ‘Trail of Tears’ now offers visitors an understanding of this period, explains Lynn Houghton
I
n a leafy wooded part of Tuscumbia in northeast Alabama, a mile-long unmortared stone wall stands in honour of a Yuchi local woman named Te-Lah-Nay. It lies just off the Natchez Trace Parkway and is known as the Florence Wichahpi Memorial Wall. Assembly began in about 1983 with her great, great, grandson Tom Hendrix building it by hand. Created in memory of his ancestor’s heroic journey, Te-Lah-Nay’s story begins when her and her people are forcibly removed to the western frontier by the U.S. Federal Government. This came to be known by native people as The Trail of Tears. After arriving, Te-Lah-Nay realised the rivers in Oklahoma didn’t sing and she yearned to return to her home – to the Tennessee River which in myth, folklore and legend is known as the ‘Singing River’. Her arduous journey back took five years.
An Unjust Act This is just one tale among many thousands as 60,000 people from the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole,
Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall
Cherokee and Creek tribes of the Southeast were forced to leave. It was part of legislation known as the Indian Removal Act enacted by President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. Native people were moved on with little notice, taking few possessions with them. The military operation was reported to be ill-advised, ill-planned and badly managed. Many thousands perished on route particularly those on the overland trails who walked hundreds of miles. The Trail of Tears is actually many different routes all through the Southeast, with the network being recognised by the Federal Government as a National Historic Trail in 1987. The U.S. National Park Service is working on putting up more signposts to show designated Trail of Tears landmarks. There is also an important new National Park starting to be developed at Tuscumbia Landing on the Tennessee River, which operated as a staging post for the removal. It was connected to Sheffield via a railway line that is now defunct. About every two miles along the Natchez Trace Parkway there are references to historical and natural landmarks, including the place where the Choctaw seceded their land. This was known as the Treaty of Doak’s Landing (milepost 128.4). Jane Marie Allen Farmer, Park Ranger, Natchez Trace Parkway NPS Headquarters, Tupelo, Mississippi says: “The Chickasaw camped at Pontotoc, near the Old Trace (west of milepost 255). The tribe was moved to Memphis, and on July 4, 1838, they headed across the Mississippi River, westward to Oklahoma. Many travelled south along the water route, to the Arkansas River. Although many
Ross’s Landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Signpost detailing Chattanooga tribe’s ordeal
“The Trail of Tears is of particular interest as it takes in so many different southern states, crosses the Old Trace in several places and includes markers along the Natchez Trace Parkway, highlighting historical and natural landmarks associated with the route” Maggi Smit, Managing Director, America As You Like It
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