Trail Of Tears Research Paper

Words: 1369
Pages: 6

Native American, American Indian, and Indigenous people, are all the names given to the people who inhabited the United States before the European settlers ceded their lands and began colonizing. Native Americans lived in harmony and peace along with their most important values including family, community, and connection, and survived by farming, hunting, and gathering. They respect and are attached to their lands and nature greatly and believe that all of the natural world is alive and in unity with humans. There are more than 5,000 indigenous tribes in the world but the groups affected in the trail of tears were Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole, with Cherokee being the most affected. Indigenous people are a crucial part of …show more content…
About 25 percent of the people who headed on this journey ended up dying due to hunger, exhaustion, and diseases.6 This news traveled to the rest of the tribes and frightened many people and when General Scott, who was leading the removal, found out, the removal was postponed to autumn. Once again, the Cherokee council sent a letter to the general for permission to lead their own removal after seeing the horrible conditions and was approved to do so. Even after that, the route was very long and difficult, “One can never forget the sadness and solemnity of that morning.The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire.I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold, and exposure.”7 The Trail of Tears route was over a thousand miles long by water and land and it took about 6 months for everyone to finally reach their destination.8 After the mistake of traveling during summer, they decided to travel during fall, however, winter came in the middle of their journey and it was even worse than