"We Are Now About To Take Our Leave And Kind Farewell To Our Native Land
The Country That The Great Spirit Gave Our Fathers
We Are On The Eve Of Leaving That Country That Gave Us Birth
It Is With Sorrow
That We Are Forced By The White Man To Quit The Scenes Of Our Childhood
We Bid Farewell To It And All We Hold Dear"
Charles Hicks, Tsalagi (Cherokee) Vice Chief
On the Trail of Tears, August 4, 1838
"Whole Indian Nations Have Melted Away Like Snowballs In The Sun Before The White Man's Advance
They Leave Scarcely A Name Of Our People
Except Those Wrongly Recorded By Their Destroyers
Where Are The Delewares?
They Have Been Reduced To A Mere Shadow Of Their Former Greatness
We Had Hoped That The White Men Would Not Be Willing To Travel Beyond The Mountains
Now That Hope Is Gone
They Have Passed The Mountains, And Have Settled Upon Tsalagi (Cherokee) Land
They Wish To Have That Usurpation Sanctioned By Treaty
When That Is Gained, The Same Encroaching Spirit Will Lead Them Upon Other Land Of The Tsalagi (Cherokees)
New Cessions Will Be Asked
Finally The Whole Country
Which The Tsalagi (Cherokees) And Their Fathers Have So Long Occupied
Will Be Demanded, And The Remnant Of The Ani Yvwiya
The Real People, Once So Great And Formidable
Will Be Compelled To Seek Refuge In Some Distant Wilderness
There They Will Be Permitted To Stay Only A Short While
Until They Again Behold The Advancing Banners Of The Same Greedy Host
Not Being Able To Point Out Any Further Retreat For The Miserable Tsalagi (Cherokees)
The Extinction Of The Whole Race Will Be Proclaimed
Should We Not Therefore Run All Risks, And Incur All Consequences
Rather Than To Submit To Further Loss Of Our Country?
Such Treaties May Be Alright For Men Who Are Too Old To Hunt Or Fight
As For Me, I Have My Young Warriors About Me
We Will Hold Our Land"
Chief Dragging Canoe
Chickamauga Tsalagi (Cherokee)
"I Saw The Helpless Cherokees Arrested
And Dragged From Their Homes, And Driven By Bayonet Into Stockades
And In The Chill Of A Drizzling Rain On An October Morning
I Saw Them Loaded Like Cattle Or Sheep
Into Six Hundred And Forty-Five Wagons And Started Toward The West"
John Burnett, U.S. Soldier
A Cherokee Fable
The Tortoise And The Hare Had A Race
The Tortoise Got All Her Relatives To Help On The Day Of The Big Race
She Stationed Them Along The Way
Each Time The Hare Turned A Bend In The Path, There Was A Tortoise
The Hare Thought It Was The Same Tortoise
Finally He Just Gave Up
He Wasn't Outraced, He Was Outsmarted
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RASKY'S VIETNAM MEMORIAL
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On the Trail of Tears, August 4, 1838
We Will Hold Our Land"
Chief Dragging Canoe
Chickamauga Tsalagi (Cherokee)
And Dragged From Their Homes, And Driven By Bayonet Into Stockades
And In The Chill Of A Drizzling Rain On An October Morning
I Saw Them Loaded Like Cattle Or Sheep
Into Six Hundred And Forty-Five Wagons And Started Toward The West"
The Tortoise And The Hare Had A Race
The Tortoise Got All Her Relatives To Help On The Day Of The Big Race
She Stationed Them Along The Way
Each Time The Hare Turned A Bend In The Path, There Was A Tortoise
The Hare Thought It Was The Same Tortoise
Finally He Just Gave Up
He Wasn't Outraced, He Was Outsmarted
Recommend Rasky's Site To A Friend!
RASKY'S VIETNAM MEMORIAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED