Primary Sources: A Soldier's Account of the Cherokee Trail of Tears By Private John G. Burnett, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.23.17 Word Count 1,977 A painting of the Trail of Tears showing Cherokee Native Americans walking west after they were forced by the U.S. government to leave their homes. Al Moldvay/The Denver Post via Getty Images Editor's Note: In May 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The law gave President Andrew Jackson the power to grant land to the west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes in exchange for lands east of the Mississippi. A few of the tribes left the eastern land peacefully. The Cherokee tribe, however, argued that the Treaty of New Echota in 1833 was not legal. More than 15,000 Cherokees, led by Chief John Ross, signed a petition in protest. Ignoring their demands, the Supreme Court made the law official in 1836. The Cherokees were given a choice: They could leave in the next two years or be forcibly removed. By 1838, about 16,000 Cherokees still remained on their land. Roughly 7,000 soldiers were sent in to move the Cherokees, thus beginning the Trail of Tears. On their march west, 6,000 Cherokee people died of cold, hunger and disease. The U.S. soldiers were under the command of General Winfield Scott. One of Scott's soldiers, Private John G. Burnett, provided an account of the removal of the Cherokee in a letter written to his children on his 80th birthday. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1
"I Learned To Speak Their Language" Children: This is my birthday, December 11, 1890, I am 80 years old today. I was born at Kings Iron Works in Sullivan County, Tennessee, December 11, 1810. I grew into manhood fishing in Beaver Creek and roaming through the forest hunting the deer and the wild boar and the timber wolf. I often spent weeks at a time alone in wilderness with nothing but my rifle, hunting knife and a small hatchet. On these long hunting trips, I met many of the Cherokee Indians. We hunted together by day and slept around their camp fires by night. I learned to speak their language, and they taught me the arts of tracking and building traps. On one of my long hunts in the fall of 1829, I found a young Cherokee who had been shot by a band of hunters. He had gotten away from them and was hiding under a low flat rock. Weak from loss of blood, the poor creature was unable to walk and needed water. I carried him to a spring, bathed and bandaged the bullet wound, and built a shelter out of bark peeled from a dead chestnut tree. I nursed and protected him, feeding him chestnuts and toasted deer meat. When he was able to travel, I went with him to the home of his people. I remained so long that I was given up for lost. By this time, I had become an expert rifleman, a fairly good archer, a good trapper and spent most of my time in the forest hunting. "A Young Man In The Prime Of Life" The removal of Cherokee Indians from their lifelong homes in the year of 1838 found me a young man in the prime of life and a private as a soldier in the American Army. Knowing many of the Indians and able to speak their language, I was sent as an interpreter into the Smoky Mountain country in May 1838. There, I witnessed the execution of the most brutal order in the history of American warfare. I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested, dragged from their homes, and in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning, I saw them loaded like cattle into 645 wagons and started on a terrible journey west. One can never forget the quiet sadness of that morning. Chief John Ross prayed and when the bugle sounded, the wagons started rolling as many of the children rose to their feet and waved their little hands good-bye to their mountain homes, knowing they were leaving them forever. Many of these helpless people did not have blankets and many of them had been driven from home barefooted. On the morning of November 17, we drove through a terrific sleet and snowstorm with freezing temperatures, and from that day until we reached the end of the journey on March 26, 1839, the suffering of the Cherokees never ended. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as 22 of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold and exposure. Among this number was the beautiful This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2
Christian wife of Chief John Ross. This noble-hearted woman died giving her only blanket for the protection of a sick child. She rode thinly clad through a blinding sleet and snowstorm, developed pneumonia and died in the still hours of a bleak winter night. The sick child lived, but Mrs. Ross is sleeping in an unmarked grave far from her native Smoky Mountain home. "He Lashed Me Across The Face" Being a young man, I spent many pleasant hours with the young women and girls who sang their mountain songs for me to repay my kindness. I can say that from October 1829 to March 26, 1839, all the Indian girls I met were kind, tender-hearted and many of them were beautiful. The only trouble that I had with anybody on the entire journey to the west was a brutal wagon driver named Ben McDonal. He was whipping an old, weak Cherokee. The sight of that nearly blind creature lashed by a bull whip was too much for me, so I attempted to stop McDonal. He lashed me across the face, the wire tip on his whip cutting a bad gash in my cheek. I used the little hatchet that I had in my belt to put McDonal on the ground. He was carried away unconscious and I was placed under guard. Ensign Henry Bullock and Private Elkanah Millard had both witnessed the fight and they gave Captain McClellan the facts, so I was never brought to trial. Years later I met Ensign Bullock at the John Robinson s Circus, and he jokingly reminded me that my case was not brought before a court martial and asked how much longer I was going to have the trial put off? McDonal finally recovered, and by 1851, he was running a boat out of Memphis, Tennessee. "4,000 Silent Graves" The long, painful journey to the West ended March 26, 1839, with 4,000 silent graves reaching from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to what is known as Indian territory in the West. The white race wanted their land so the Cherokees had to suffer. Ever since Ferdinand DeSoto made his journey through the Indian country in the year 1540, there had been a tradition of a rich gold mine somewhere in the Smoky Mountain country, and I think the tradition was true. At a festival at Echota on Christmas night 1829, I danced and played with Indian girls who wore necklaces that looked like gold. In the year 1828, a little Indian boy living on Ward Creek sold a gold nugget to a white trader. In a short time, the country was overrun This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3
with armed thieves claiming to be government agents, who paid no attention to the rights of the Indians who owned the land. Crimes were committed that were a disgrace to civilization. Men were shot in cold blood, homes were burned, and lands were taken. "In One H0me Death Had Come During The Night" Chief Junaluska knew President Andrew Jackson. Junaluska and 500 of his Cherokee scouts helped Jackson win the battle of the Horse Shoe against the Creeks. In that battle, Junaluska killed a Creek warrior who was attacking General Jackson. Chief John Ross sent Junaluska to Washington to plead with President Jackson for protection for his people, but Jackson ignored the fact that he had saved his life. He met Junaluska, listened and said, "Sir, your audience is ended." In May 1838, an army of 4,000 regulars and 3,000 volunteer soldiers under command of General Winfield Scott marched into the Indian country and wrote the blackest chapter on the pages of American history. Men working in the fields were arrested and taken away. Women were dragged from their homes by soldiers whose language they could not understand. Children, taken from their parents, had only the sky for a blanket and the earth for a pillow. In one home death had come during the night. A child had died and was lying on a bear skin as women were preparing the little body for burial. All were arrested and driven out leaving the body of the child in the cabin. I don t know who buried him. In another home was a thin, weak mother and her three small children, one just a baby. When told that she must go, she gathered the children at her feet, prayed, strapped the baby on her back and took the hands of the other two. The shock was too great and suddenly she fell to the ground and died with her baby on her back and her other two children clinging to her hands. Chief Junaluska witnessed this scene and with tears gushing down his cheeks, turned his face toward the heavens and said, "Oh my God, if I had known at the battle of the Horse Shoe what I know now, American history would have been differently written." "Future Generations Will Read And Condemn This Act" Now it is 1890 and the true facts of this enormous crime are being hidden from the young people of today. Schoolchildren do not know that we are living on lands that were taken from a helpless race to satisfy the white man s greed. Future generations will read and condemn this act. It is my hope that you will understand that privates, like myself, had no choice in this matter. We had to follow the orders of the officers. Twenty-five years later, it was my privilege to meet a large company of the Cherokees in the uniform of the Confederate Army under command of Colonel Thomas. They were encamped at Little Creek in Kentucky. Most of them were just boys at the time of the removal but they instantly recognized me as "the soldier that was good to us." Being able to talk to them in their native language, I had an enjoyable day. From them, I learned that This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4
Chief John Ross was still ruler in the nation in 1863. And I wonder if he is still living? He was a noble-hearted fellow and suffered a lot for his race. At one time, he was arrested and thrown into a dirty jail in an effort to break his spirit, but he remained true to his people. "I Wish I Could Forget It All" When Scott invaded the Indian country some of the Cherokees fled to caves and dens in the mountains where they still live today. I have wanted to try and find them, but I have put off going from year to year, and now I am too weak to ride that far. I can truthfully say that I did my best for them when they certainly did need a friend. However, murder is murder whether committed by the villain hiding in the dark or by men in uniform. Somebody must explain the streams of blood that flowed in the Indian country in the summer of 1838. Somebody must explain the 4,000 silent graves that mark the western trail of the Cherokees. I wish I could forget it all, but the picture of 645 wagons slowly moving over the frozen ground with the suffering Indians still lingers in my memory. Let the historian of a future day tell the sad story with its tears and sounds of the dying. Let the great judge of all the Earth weigh our actions and reward us according to our work. Children, thus ends my promised birthday story. This December 11th, 1890. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5
Quiz 1 Which answer choice BEST explains Burnett's purpose in this letter? to relate his memories of his time in the United States Army to shed light on the cruel treatment of the Cherokee tribe to educate schoolchildren about the actions of the United States Army to provide a written record of his kind treatment of the Cherokee tribe 2 Complete the sentence. Burnett MOST appeals to his readers' emotions by. explaining his interactions with other soldiers and superiors in the Army and the government explaining how he saved the life of a Cherokee man when he was hunting in the woods as a youth describing specific incidents where women and children died because of the Army's treatment describing his own treatment of the Cherokee people when he met them during the Civil War 3 Read the sentence from the section "In One Home Death Had Come During The Night." Chief Junaluska witnessed this scene and with tears gushing down his cheeks, turned his face toward the heavens and said, "Oh my God, if I had known at the battle of the Horse Shoe what I know now, American history would have been differently written." What is the MOST likely reason for including the statement from Chief Junaluska? to suggest that the Trail of Tears and the battle of the Horse Shoe were the same to show that Junaluska had studied many different events in American history to suggest that some people believed the chief had the ability to predict the future to show that the Cherokee tribe felt betrayed by a government it had helped This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 6
4 Read the section "I Wish I Could Forget It All." Why does Burnett choose to conclude with these three paragraphs? to emphasize his regret about what happened and his role in it to suggest that many people in the government should go to jail to describe what his children can do to explain what happened to instruct his children about where they can deliver his letter This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 7