Cherokee

At first, or so assumed, there were 14 tribes. Though through the years it narrowed down to 7, because of extiction and/or absoration. The tribe names were as followed

Ani-wa'-ya (wolf)

Ani-Kawi(deer)

Ani-Tsi'skwa(bird)

Ani-wi'di(paint)

Ani'Sah'a'ni

Ani'Ga'tagewi

Ani'-Gi-la'hi

The last three tribe names couldn't be translated with assured acccuracy.

The main reason of extinction was because of what is called 'The Trail of Tears'.

To settlers it meant new horizons. Dreams of riches and new lives. To the Cherokee Nation the journey west was a bitter pill forced upon them by a state and federal government that cared hardly a bit for their culture or society, and, thought that it was a rediculous thought, their justice. It was and is a travesty and tragedy of both our Georgia history and our American heritage that forced the Cherokee west along a route they called "The Trail of Tears."

1835 was a vital year in Georgia history. Three years earlier, to densify their claim to Cherokee land the state of Georgia held two land lotteries that divided the Cherokee Nation in 160 acre lots and gave them to anyone who had four dollars and won a chance to buy the land. Unfortunately, the Cherokee never gave the land to either the state or federal government and the Supreme Court (in Worchester v. Georgia) ruled that state did not have the power to make a treaty with a dominant nation.

John Ross represented the vast majority of the Cherokee and had all of their support. With settlers moving into the Cherokee Nation, Ross understood that making a deal for the land with the United States was his best option, since he was at risk of losing the all of nation to Georgia. In early 1835 he and his group wanted to deed a portion of the land to the US for an amount of money to be determined by Congress, with the rest of the property deeded to the Cherokee owners. The sticking point on the Ross deal was the requirement that the US and Georgia recognize Cherokee citizenship, including the right to vote and hold political office ect.. Neither Georgia nor the US would ever agree to this.

To recompense with the Cherokee for their loss without retaining some land and living a normal life among the settlers, Ross came up with the figure of 20 million dollars, or about 25% of the value of the land if sold separately to each settler. For this amount 17,000 men, women and children would leave voluntarily and move to the Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma. This comes to a payment of just under $1200 per person. This is about $4.34 per acre (the going rate for similar, nearby land sold in the state of Georgia in 1835 was between $18.00 and $25.00 an acre.)

Ross enjoyed the backing of the Cherokee Nation, and both the first proposal (4.5 million dollars, land and citizenship) and the second proposal (20 million dollars) had been approved by the Cherokee council. A small group of radicals led by John Ridge and his cousin Elias Boudinot negotiated the corrupt Treaty of New Echota, giving up Cherokee lands for pennies on the dollar ($1.085 dollars per acre, or about 5% of the actual value of the land). This proposal had not been approved by the Cherokee council, in fact it was specifically declined.

On December 29, 1835 the Ridge (or Treaty) Party members filed one by one to sign the document that Major Ridge called his death warrant. The only hope now for the Cherokee was with the government of the United States. Unfortunately, Andrew Jackson's forces in the U. S. Senate (which is required to ratify all treaties) were too strong. The Treaty of New Echota was ratified the next year.

Wealthy Cherokee Leave

Major Ridge led a group of Cherokee west in 1836, blazing the land route for future parties. He stopped at Nashville to visit his old friend, Andrew Jackson, now merely a citizen. Jackson warmly welcomed Ridge, with whom he met for nearly a day. This party contained mostly mixed-blood Cherokee who had been successful in business and could afford to move to present-day Oklahoma on their own. John Ridge stayed in Georgia, actually leading one of the final parties west. Other wealthy Cherokee managed to get out to Oklahoma in smaller groups or on their own, such as Joseph "Rich Joe" Vann, who went west on his own steamship.

The Cherokee Nation's last stand

Cherokee hope did not fade. After the ratification, Ross attempted to petition the United States government to no avail. In May, 1838, the forcible eviction of the Cherokee Nation began. Government troops under the command of Winfield Scott, at times supported by the brutal Georgia Guard, moved across the state taking the helpless Cherokee from their homes. Within two weeks every Cherokee in North Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama had been captured, killed, overlooked or fled. Holding areas contained the Cherokee until they could be moved to one of the specially constructed forts further north.

With minimum facilities the forts were little more than rat-infested prisons for these Cherokee. The Cherokee began the move to one of two embarkation points: Rattlesnake Springs, near the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, or Ross's Landing (now Chattanooga, Tennessee). Death rates on the first of