Trail+of+Tears+JonA09

Trail of Tears Mother in slide 7

Andrew Jackson has just signed the Indian Removal Policy. He is taking all Indian land east of the Missisippi. I remember the day that my tribe was removed from our land. I have been told that the year was 1838. Some army soldiers came to our homes and made us leave. They brought us to a concentration camp in Cleveland, Tennessee. Many of us had died there, including my husband. There wasn't much to eat there, so he died of starvation. The Americans are being very harsh on us. We had to watch as four members of our tribe were forced to shoot the cheif and his young children.

I am traveling on the Trail of Tears with my daughter and our horse. It is very cold and we aren't looking so good, especially my daughter. She looks so miserable, wrapped tight in her blanket, but is still freezing. It is like this everyday. Sometimes, I just wish we would die already, but then I think about my daughter, and I don't want her to die. We are running very low on food. We will have to kill the horse soon. I love that horse, and I don't want to kill it, but it is the only way that my daughter and I will live.

I knew that this trail wasn't going to be fun as soon as our tribe left Georgia. After we left our concentration camp in Tennessee, we crossed through Kentucky and most of Illinois. We are almost in Missouri. I honestly don't think that either of us are going to make it. Every day we get worse and worse. So I think that this is the end. Goodbye.