CHEROKEES CROSS RIVER HERE ON TRAGIC TRAIL OF TEARS

The Cherokee's roots are deep in the soil of Southeast Missouri, extending far beyond the Trail of Tears.

"The Cherokee began migrating about 100 years before the Trail of Tears," said Michael Seabaugh, of the Northern Cherokee Nation. "They came to Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas in 1721."

In 1721 a treaty was signed between the Carolina Colony and the Cherokees. Chief Beverly Baker Northup, author of "Part One of the History: Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory," the treaty persuaded members of the tribe "to surrender their freedom to hunt where they pleased and to give up about 2,500 square miles of their territory."

Northup wrote, "Cherokee tradition reports that some within the tribe bitterly opposed the treaty. Finding that nothing they could say would stop the treaty, they resolved to depart from their southeastern homes forever and relocate far west, beyond the Great River (Mississippi)."

The 600 families who separated themselves from the tribe migrated because the majority of the tribe wanted to sign the treaty with the Europeans, said Seabaugh. They were led by their chief, Dangerous Man, who warned, "If we give them land now, they will want more and more, and eventually there will be nothing left for the tribe."

And that is exactly what happened, said Seabaugh.

The eventual forced removal of the Eastern Indians is summarized this way at www.rosecity.net which is a Cape Girardeau Web site:

"President Andrew Jackson set a policy to relocate the eastern Indians. In 1830, the policy was endorsed when Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to force the remaining Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi. Between 1830 and 1850, about 100,000 American Indians living between Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida moved west. Late in 1837, a party numbering 365, with B.B. Cannon as conductor, left Tennessee and set out for what is now called the Northern Route, which passed through Missouri. During the forced removal in 1838, 12 of the 13 detachments of Cherokee passed through Missouri, all but one entering the state in Cape Girardeau County."

According to Joan Gilbert, author of "The Trail of Tears Across Missouri," historians believe the last Cherokees to leave are the ones who called their journey the Trail of Tears.' Literally translated from Cherokee, it was the trail where we cried.'

"Because so many of the Cherokee had moved to this area years before the trail, many dropped off the trail and stayed with known Cherokee," said April Rhodes, delegate for the Western Cherokee Nation. "Some of the Cherokee in our tribe have ancestors that did this. Cape Girardeau was a well-traveled route back then."

For the Cherokee that settled in this region, life was hard. Rhodes said that although they still upheld some of the old ways, some had to be abandoned. They migrated and spread throughout Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, said Rhodes. They built farms and lived in houses and because they were "civilized" many were able to pass themselves off as white when the European settlers moved to this area, said Rhodes.

It has been roughly 160 years since the Trail of Tears, but the memory continues on. It is carried on through the stories of the Cherokee and through the establishment of the Trail of Tears State Park.

"In 1956 residents of Cape Girardeau County voted a bond issue of $150,000 to buy 3,306 acres of land in the area where many of the Cherokee crossed the Mississippi River and camped," said Gilbert in "The Trail of Tears Across Missouri." "Located 10 miles north of Cape Girardeau, the Trail of Tears State Park is the only state park in Missouri directly on the Mississippi River. The park now has a Visitor and Interpretive Center with museum displays relating to Cherokee history and the Trail of Tears."

Diana Lawson, Tribal Councilwoman for the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri, said there are thousands of Cherokee in this region. "If you consider those 600 families that migrated in 1721, married and multiplied, the numbers are staggering," Lawson said. "I know of 20,000 registered with different tribes in this region right now.

"When the census 2000 comes out, I feel it will be even more. There is no way of giving an accurate account, since the U.S. government distorted and destroyed so many records."

With so many Cherokee living in the Southeast Missouri region alone, it is evident that the memory of the Trail of Tears will continue on through the generations.