Historical
Background
The Westward Movement
About 500,000 emigrants followed the trails to the West. The first major migration
to Oregon was in 1843. At the time of the Donner-Reed Journey, about 10,00 people
traveled to Oregon, 5,000 to Utah and 2,000 to California. The journey was approximately
2, 000 miles long and took about 5 months. The covered wagon, or prairie schooner,
was 10 feet by 3 1/2 feet. While it could carry provisions and people, the people
generally walked, ate and slept alongside the wagon. From one- half to three-quarters
of all wagons were pulled by oxen. Each wagon carried a load of about 1600 to
2500 pounds. Bread, bacon and coffee were the diet staples. It was recommended
that each immigrant be supplied with 200 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon,
10 pounds of coffee, 20 pounds of sugar and 10 pounds of salt. They also brought
rice, beans, vinegar, dried fruit, vegetables and tea. About 5% or 25,000 of
those traveling west died. Cholera was the greatest killer. Typhoid was also
common. Gastointestintestinal problems were the most common ailment.
For a humorous account of tips for stagecoach travelers, see http://www.over-land.com/hints.html
The Donner Reed Party
The Donner Reed Party were not skilled mountain men. Rather, the party was composed
of farmers and a high proportion of women, elderly and children. The party was
organized by the Jacob and George Donner along with James Reed of Illinois. They
left in April of 1846. They made the fatal error of following a supposed shortcut
found in a leaflet written by a promoter named Lansford Hastings. This shortcut
recommended a cutoff through Utah into Nevada. (See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/
for a map of the route.)They lost precious time and had to experience severe desert
conditions. The emotional and physical condition of the party was deteriorating
before they ever reached the Sierra Nevadas. James Reed had been banished for
stabbing someone. By the time they reached the Sierra Nevadas, they were out of
provisions, had lost their stock and had to spend the winter snowed in. The stories
of eating boiled hides and even cannibalism to survive have become legendary.
A list of survivors and those who perished may be found at http://raiboy.tripod.com/Donner/id9.html
The information we have is based on several diaries left by the participants
and by the relief parties. One such diary may be found at http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/BreenDiary.htm
The Native Americans
According to John Unruh Jr. in The Plains Across, The Overland Emigrants
and the Trans-Mississippi West, between 1840-1860, 362 emigrants were killed
by Indians and 426 Indians were killed by emigrants. The overwhelming majority
of diarists encountered no threat of attack. Theft was more common. Over the
years, there were however, four reported massacres.
These figures do not include the number of Native Americans who died indirectly
from having their food sources depleted, especially the buffalo, and being forcibly
moved to uninhabitable land.
The following is from http://www.intertribalbison.org/ -
In the 1800’s, the white-man recognized the reliance Indian tribes had
on the buffalo. Thus began the systematic destruction of the buffalo to try to
subjugate the western tribal nations. The slaughter of over 60 million buffalo
left only a few hundred buffalo remaining. Without the buffalo, the independent
life of the Indian people could no longer be maintained. The Indian spirit, along
with that of the buffalo, suffered an enormous loss. At that time, tribes began
to sign treaties with the U.S. Government in an attempt to protect the land and
the buffalo for their future generations. The destruction of buffalo herds and
the associated devastation to the tribes disrupted the self-sufficient lifestyle
of Indian people more than all other federal policies to date.
For information on U.S. federal Policy see
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/Toc.htm.
Native
American World View
Hehaka Sapa, or Black Elk, belonged to the Ogala division of the Teton
Dakota, one of the most powerful branches of the Siouan family. He was born
in "the Moon of the Popping Trees (December) on the little Powder River
in the winter when the Four Crows were killed in 1863." Related to the
great Chief, Crazy Horse, he had known Sitting Bull and Red Cloud and was well
acquainted with the early days of his people when they had roamed the Plains;
he was also present at the battle of Little Big Horn. Later on in life he traveled
with Buffalo Bill to Italy, France and England, where he danced for Queen Victoria.
Black Elk possessed unique spiritual power recognized by everyone and had been
instructed in his youth in the sacred traditions of his people by the great
priests. His father had been a medicine man; several of his brothers also. He
spent his last days on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The following
passage is taken from his autobiography which he dictated in 1930-31 to Flaming
Rainbow. The configuration of the circle, referred to here by Black Elk and
in the next several texts, had a fundamental place in Indian life.
YOU HAVE NOTICED THAT EVERYTHING AN INDIAN DOES IS IN A CIRCLE, and that is because
the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round.
In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to
us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the
people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the
circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south
gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave
strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our
religion. Every thing the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The Sky
is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the
stars. The Wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles
for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again
in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back
again to where they were. the life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood
and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tipis were round like the
nests of birds and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop,
a nest of many nests where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.
Primary Sources
The following information on the Indian
Removal Act of 1830 was found at
http://www.studyworld.com/indian_removal_act_of_1830.htm
On May 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the Twenty-First
Congress of the United States of America. Land greed was a big reason for the
federal government’s position on Indian removal. This desire for Indian
lands was also abetted by the Indian hating mentality that was peculiar to some
American frontiersman.
This period of forcible removal first started with the Cherokee Indians in the
state of Georgia. In 1802, the Georgia legislature signed a compact giving the
federal government all of her claims to western lands in exchange for the government’s
pledge to extinguish all Indian titles to land within the state. But by the
mid-1820’s Georgians began to doubt that the government would withhold
its part of the bargain. The Cherokee Indian tribes had a substantial part of
land in Georgia that they had had for many generations . They were worried about
losing their land so they forced the issue by adopting a written constitution.
This document proclaimed that the Cherokee nation had complete jurisdiction
over its own territory.
But by now Indian removal had become entwined with the state of Georgia’s
rights and the Cherokee tribes had to make their claims in court. When the Cherokee
nation sought aid from newly elected president Andrew Jackson, he informed them
that he would not interfere with the lawful prerogatives of the state of Georgia.
Jackson saw the solution of the problem with the removal of the Cherokee tribes
to lands west. This would keep contact between Indians and colonists rare. He
suggested that laws be passed so that the Indians would have to move west of
the Mississippi river.
Similar incidents happened between the other "civilized" tribes and
white men. The Seminole tribe had land disputes with the state of Florida. The
Creek Indians fought many battles against the federal army so they could keep
their land in the states of Alabama and Georgia. The Chickasaw and Choctaw had
disputes with the state of Mississippi. To ensure peace, the government forced
these five tribes called the Five Civilized Tribes to move out of their lands
that they had lived on for generations and to move to land given to them in
parts of Oklahoma. Andrew Jackson was quoted as saying that this was a way of
protecting them and allowing them time to adjust to the white culture. This
land in Oklahoma was thinly settled and was thought to have little value. Within
10 years of the Indian Removal Act, more than 70,000 Indians had moved across
the Mississippi. Many Indians died on this journey.
"The
Trails of Tears"
The term "Trails of Tears" was given to the period of ten years in
which over 70,000 Indians had to give up their homes and move to certain areas
assigned to tribes in Oklahoma. The tribes were given a right to all of Oklahoma
except the Panhandle. The government promised this land to them "as long
as grass shall grow and rivers run." Unfortunately, the land that they
were given only lasted till about 1906 and then they were forced to move to
other reservations.
The Trails of Tears were several trails that the Five Civilized Tribes traveled
on their way to their new lands. Many Indians died because of famine or disease.
Sometimes a person would die because of the harsh living conditions. The tribes
had to walk all day long and get very little rest. All this was in order to
free more land for white settlers. The period of forcible removal started when
Andrew Jackson became President in 1829. At that time there was reported to
be sightings of gold in the Cherokee territory in Georgia which caused prospectors
to rush in, tearing down fences and destroying crops. In Mississippi, the state
laws were extended over Choctaw and Chickasaw lands, and in 1930 the Indians
were made citizens which made it illegal to hold any tribal office. Also in
Georgia, the Cherokee tribes were forbade to hold any type of tribal legislature
except to ratify land cessions, and the citizens of Georgia were invited to
rob and plunder the tribes in their area by making it illegal for an Indian
to bring suit against a white man.
When President Jackson began to negotiate with the Indians, he gave them a guarantee
of perpetual autonomy in the West as the strongest incentive to emigration.
The Five tribes gave all of their Eastern lands to the United States and agreed
to migrate beyond the Mississippi by the end of the 1830’s. The Federal
agents accomplished this by bribery, trickery, and intimidation. All of the
treaties signed by the Indians as the agreed to the terms of the removal contained
guarantees that the Indians, territory should be perpetual and that no government
other than their own should be erected over them without their consent. This
was not honored.
The land retained by the five civilized tribes was known as the Indian Territory.
The 19,525,966 acres were divided among the five tribes. The Choctaws received
6,953,048 acres in the southeast part of Oklahoma; the Chickasaw received over
4,707,903 acres west of the Choctaws reservation; the Cherokees received 4,420,068
acres in the northeast; the received 3,079,095 acres southwest of the Cherokees;
and the Seminoles purchased 365,852 acres which they purchased from their kin,
the Creeks. The Chickasaw and the Choctaw owned their lands jointly because
they were so closely related but the tribes still exercised jurisdiction over
its own territory though.
Besides the land that the tribes obtained, they also received a large sum of
money from the sale of its Eastern territories. This money was a considerable
part of the revenue for the tribes and was used by their legislatures for the
support of schools and their governments. The Cherokee nation held $2,716,979.98
in the United States trust; the Choctaw nation had $975,258.91; the Chickasaw
held $1,206,695.66;the Creek had $2,275,168.00; and the Seminole had $2,070,000.00
by the end of 1894.
After the end of the Trails of Tears, the conversion of all tribes to Christianity
had been effected rapidly. The Seminoles and Creeks were conservative to their
customs but other tribes were receptive to any custom considered superior to
their own. The tribes found Christian teachings fitted to their own. Mainly
the modernization change began at the end of the removal.
Andrew Jackson Gave a speech on the Indian removal in the year of 1830. He said,
"It gives me great pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent
policy of the government, steady pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation
with the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching
to a happy consummation."
"The consequences of a speedy will be important to the United States, to
individual states, and to the Indians themselves. It puts an end to all possible
danger of a collision between the authorities of the general and state governments,
and of the account the Indians. It will place a dense population in large tracts
of country now occupied by a few savaged hunters. By opening the whole territory
between Tennessee on the north and Louisiana on the south to the settlement
of the whites it will incalculably strengthen the Southwestern frontier and
render the adjacent states strong enough to repel future invasion without remote
aid."
"It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of
whites; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own
rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their
numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the government
and through the influences of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits
and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community."
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