“The Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians was federally recognized in 1924 by a proclamation of a joint session of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. This recognition is separate from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. The history of this Tribe and the Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma is among the most disturbing, dramatic and shameful acts of the United States Government.

At the time of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act in 1830, the Cherokee Tribe was considered by European Americans and other whites to be the most “civilized” tribe in America. Of all the native peoples residing in America the Cherokees had progressed the most toward organizing themselves in ways the United States Government, whites and European-Americans advocated. John Ridge, a prominent Cherokee orator declared: “You asked us to throw out the hunter and warrior state: We did so. You asked us to form a republican government: We did so – adopting your own as a model. You asked us to cultivate the earth and learn the mechanic arts: We did so. You asked us to learn to read and write: We did so. You asked us cast away our idols and worship your God: We did so.” 

In an attempt to avoid removal, the Cherokee went to the Supreme Court in 1832 with their claim of sovereignty, their right to defy restrictions placed on them by the states and have a government-to-government relationship with the United States, and won. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of the Cherokee repudiating Georgia’s authority over their territory. Cherokees were now of the belief that they were free from state coercion, but neither Georgia or the federal government would honor the ruling. President Jackson said: “John Marshall has made his decision, let him enforce it now if he can.”

However, in 1835 a U.S. treaty commissioner summoned the Cherokee to Georgia, stating that all who failed to attend would be regarded as approving the actions taken there. Only a few hundred attended, and approved a treaty saying that the Cherokee move west to the Indian Territory by 1838. This treaty gave Andrew Jackson the excuse and power to move ahead with the removal in spite of a petition against signing of the treaty by more than 15,000 Cherokees.

In May 1838, nearly 17,000 Cherokee clung to their homelands. President Van Buren dispatched 7,000 troops with authority to call up the state militiamen and round up the Cherokee and impound them. Over 26 days, soldiers scoured the area. Cherokee men were seized from behind their plows, women dragged from their homes. Entire families were plucked from their homes and sometimes separated. Most of the Cherokees who were herded to the stockades only had time to take their clothes on their backs. Their homes, furnishings, farms and livestock fell prey to whites who followed the roundup squads. They were reported as looting homes and graves, stripping the corpses of silver pendants and valuables. A Georgia volunteer who later served as a Colonel in the Confederate Army said years afterwards, “I fought through the Civil War and seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.”

Over 4,000 Cherokees were killed or died during their capture or on the Trail of Tears to their new home west of the Mississippi. About 1,400 Cherokees remained behind. Many of the early white settlers were single white men who had married Cherokee women and were exempt from the forced relocation. They, along with a small group who had eluded the roundup retreated to the mountains of North Carolina. For those who stayed behind it would be 86 years before the United States government would recognize them as a sovereign nation. After 1835 the North Carolina Indians lived on small farms in poverty.  By 1855 citizenship was still an unresolved issue.  North Carolina Governor Thomas Bragg claimed that the Cherokee were not North Carolina citizens, as they did not “exercise the rights of ordinary citizens.” But they were allowed the “right” to pay taxes on the property they owned.

Cherokee Chief William Taylor bought land in Qualla Town and the surrounding area through 1860. Much of this land is now Qualla Boundary, the territory which is now the home of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee.

The U.S. government continued with their desires to either assimilate, relocate, or eliminate the Eastern Cherokees. Their final effort came in the name of the famous 1924 Baker Roll requiring land, money, and other property along with the names of all owners be transferred to the United States for final disposition. Termination of the Tribe as a government and political entity was the ultimate goal. This final roll of the Eastern Cherokee was prepared by United States Agent Fred A. Baker. The termination failed on the vote of the U.S. Congress. Instead, on June 24, 1924 by Act of Congress, the Eastern Band of Cherokee were granted full citizenship on all those included in the Baker Roll.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians was now a federally recognized Indian Tribe. Their land was and remains a unique territory in the United States. The Eastern Cherokee do not live on land that was given to them by the federal government; they live on the Qualla Boundary, their own land, land that they had bought piece by piece after the Trail of Tears and throughout the 1800s. It is not an Indian Reservation. The 82.60 square miles of land is owned by the Eastern Cherokee, held in trust by the federal government…by choice of the Eastern Cherokee people.

Today the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a sovereign nation within the boundaries of the United States. As such they maintain a nation-to-nation relationship with the United States Government. There are more than 13,000 enrolled members of the Tribe and over 60% live on Qualla Boundary lands.

The Tribe pays for its own school, water, sewer, and emergency services. Funding for the Tribes services and benefits to the tribe is provided for from a number of business entities including the ”Unto These Hills” presentation, their Eastern Cherokee Museum, the Cherokee Bingo entity and a magnificent Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Resort. A second Casino and Hotel, The Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel, is scheduled to open in September 2015 in the Murphy, North Carolina area. Finally, the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual which sells traditional arts and crafts made by its members is the country’s oldest and foremost Native American crafts cooperative. 

Sources:  The Eastern Band of Cherokees 1819 – 1900 by John R. Finger;  Access Genealogy web site; Tribes of the Southern Woodlands, Time-Life Books; The Southeastern Indians by Charles Hudson; Trail of Tears, The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee nation by John Ehle; and various web sites.