What do you think?
Rate this book
Only the Names Remain: The Cherokees and The Trail of Tears
From 1837 to 1838, thousands of Cherokee Indians were marched from their homelands in Georgia to exile in Arkansas by the same white men they has once befriended. The Cherokees journeyed through bitter cold and blazing heat, with little food or water. One out of every four died --- and with them died a culture that had existed for hundreds of years, a civilization that had existed for hundred of years, a civilization that had embraced the white man's ways only to perish through his betrayal. Today, only the names remain of this once great nation.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
5 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
May 22, 2008
This is a good book for upper elementary and middle school students learning to glean information from non-fiction sources. The style is readable, and the book provides an engaging overview of Cherokee culture and history. Bealer gives an age-appropriate description of the linguistic, economic, and cultural accomplishements of the Cherokee tribe and the politics that ultimately led to the Trail of Tears.
Incidently, I am not one who is constantly looking to beat students over the head with all the wrongs America has ever committed (things we generally have in common with all human societies). I do believe students should be aware of true history; the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is one historical episode where our country failed to live up to its ideals - a conclusion students will draw on their own as they read Bealer's treatment of Cherokee history.
Incidently, I am not one who is constantly looking to beat students over the head with all the wrongs America has ever committed (things we generally have in common with all human societies). I do believe students should be aware of true history; the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is one historical episode where our country failed to live up to its ideals - a conclusion students will draw on their own as they read Bealer's treatment of Cherokee history.
March 22, 2019
It's really cool that the author lived and hunted with Cherokee as a kid. He was a part of a Bureau of American Ethnology field trip that explored prehistoric villages in Georgia. This was a documentary on TV. He served as a missionary to the Navaho in Arizona. He lectures on American Indian ethno-history and has been adopted into the Cherokee-Lenapes of Oklahoma and they gave him a name.
He wrote a powerful intro. When they were forced to move out west, many felt it was the home of evil spirits. He said no man alive remembers Cherokee in Georgia. There are no females left to pick the berries or men left to hunt the land. All that's left are the Cherokee names of towns and rivers and things. "Only the names remain." Now I understood what that title meant. All that's left of the Cherokee in Georgia are the Cherokee names of things. As someone who lives in NC and has visited Cherokee to see the Cherokee Indian Reservation, I was confused why this only covered Georgia and not NC. Unless none of the Cherokee escaped Georgia or some escaped and came to NC? I was also surprised this said they were forced to go to Arkansas because I've heard it was Oklahoma.
It was interesting that no one knows where the Cherokee came from originally or when they got to the South. Their language is similar to the Iroquois of NY so some think they came from there. When they got here they burned out the mound builders' villages. I felt bad but I did think that was pretty bad and didn't make them look very good that they literally burned out the people who lived there before them...in a book about them being forced from their land by outsiders. Not in any way diminishing the cruelty, horrors and injustices of the Trail of Tears. It was made more ironic when he said the Cherokee drove the white people out, (Welshman in the 1100s) and the said how strange it was that the Cherokee drove them west and then would come to be driven west by white men.
They called these men with light skin and blue eyes moon men. These could have been descendants of Welshmen.
Their Creation Story was that the Great Buzzard flapped its wings and where his wings hit the mud, it formed valleys, and when he raised his wings it created mountains.
They hunted buffalo, elk, deer, bear, mountain lions, rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, and raccoon. They are huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries, persimmons, crab apples, cherries, grapes, chestnuts, hickory nuts, black walnuts, and acorns. They caught snapping turtles in caves under the riverbanks, and dug mussels out of the sandbars.
The men felled trees to make dugout canoes with fire and stone axes. They cut small trees for the women to make houses, and split them for the women to make baskets. Men skilled in stone-working made arrowheads and knives out of flint. The warriors defended the village from the Iroquois. War parties were gone for weeks when they attacked towns, like the Chickasaw on the Mississippi River. They captured slaves from the Shawnee on the Ohio River. They stole wives from the Creek or Tuscarora to the south and east. Every Cherokee boy couldn't wait to reach the age where they could join a war party. He would demonstrate his bravery to young girls, and prove his manhood "in the great adventures of life." What? Give examples!
The war chief was always a man, and the peace chief was always a woman. Everyone listened to her advice. She led the women. Women were treated with great respect. The mom was the head of the family and her children were members of her family. If her father or husband was killed (in war or a hunting accident) her brother or her mom's brother would hunt for her children, feed and protect them.
When white men came to live in Cherokee towns and marry Cherokee women, their children were considered Cherokee. Even if someone was no more than 1/8 Cherokee, they were considered Cherokee because of their mom.
The women prepared the food and made clothes for their families. They skinned, cleaned and cut the meat into small pieces for cooking. They used flint knives. The hides were tanned and made shirts, dresses, leggings, and moccasins.
They used oak splints and honeysuckle vines and cane to make baskets, dyed with juices of berries and roots and walnut hulls. They used clay to make cooking pots. They grew the food. They dug up soil in creek bottoms with bone hoes and digging sticks. Gourds were eaten and used to make dishes and dance rattles.
Women were often the doctors, and old men cured the sick with special dances, songs, and medicine from herbs.
Villages frequently got together to watch their teams play Cherokee ball, a rough game, and they had many dances during the year. Every spring they had the Green Corn Dance. Men had hunting dances in the fall for good luck to find game. War dances were held before a war. Victory dances were danced if they returned successful.
Children liked the Booger Dance, where men put on buckeye wood masks of grotesque faces and switched clothing. They danced around the fire like clowns until the kids guessed their identities behind their masks. In the winter when they were stuck inside they'd listen to the storytellers. Old men told their legends, old women told stories from when they were young, like seeing a bear when berry-picking, and young men told of their exploits on war parties.
The Spaniards came in the 1500s and the Cherokees wanted their steel and iron weapons, axes that could cut a tree down in hours instead of days. Women wanted the colored cloth, jeweled rings and pins, and steel needles. The Frenchman in the 1600s brought steel axes, needles, colored cloth, steel knives, glass beads, copper pots, mirrors and other luxuries, and traded for animal skins. The French brought guns so the Cherokee could hunt easier and bring more furs. They also wanted them to help fight their enemy, the English in America. From 1700-1760 the Cherokee fought with the French, and then with the English, before remaining loyal to English and driving the French out.
By 1740 most men had steel weapons and no one remembered how to make flint weapons. Women used steel needles. They still made clay pots and baskets, but most families had a copper kettle or iron pot which wouldn't break.
They now lived in log cabins like the settlers and not in round houses made from upright sticks and mud. They traded deerskins for cloth and blankets. But they still made moccasins from elk and groundhog. Some hunters still used bow and arrow and blowgun but many used guns and depended on gunpowder and lead bullets. Some used snares and log deadfalls to trap animals, but most used steel traps.
Many traders married Cherokee women and had children. Many were given good educations and some inherited wealth from their dads and lived like aristocrats.
In 1776 at the start of the American Revolution, the Cherokee sided with the English, who had always protected their hunting grounds, while settlers were greedy and wanted their land but not them. The warriors eagerly attacked settlers in small towns and single cabins from Virginia to Georgia. They killed the men and took women and children captive. Americans burned villages, killed men and sold women and children to slavery in the West Indies.
Even when the war ended in 1783, the Cherokee and Americans still fought. American men were rough and tough, crack shots with long rifles. They could live in the woods as well as the Cherokee, sleeping on the ground and killing their food.
For 10 years they drove the Cherokee from their homes. When they did so in the winter, the Cherokee often had no food, shelter, or enough clothes. The chiefs met and decided they needed to make peace because the whites were too strong to fight. George Washington sent representatives to meet them and forced them to give up their hunting lands in Kentucky, NC, SC, and Tennessee. They knew whites couldn't be defended because they knew things they didn't. They decided to follow the white's path, share their knowledge, and live in peace.
The Cherokee asked for missionaries, not because they wanted to be Christians but because they wanted the schools. They wanted to learn farming and raising cattle. The women wanted to learn to weave. They wanted blacksmiths to show them how to make tools. President Washington and the government gave them all the help they wanted. I didn't know how to take that. It made it sound like they were generous but we know they only approved because they were taking the white way.
By 1800 they were living in peace. They were prosperous from the white's ways, and many educated traders were living with them from marrying their women. They hoped to avoid leaving their homeland like eastern tribes already had.
Some of the missionaries came from Salem in NC.
Surprisingly, cotton was the first threat to their land. Many white people wanted their lands to clear and plant cotton.
I was astounded that when Thomas Jefferson was president he advised the Cherokee to adopt a central government like the U.S. Because I watched an episode on PBS that said the U.S. government was modeled after a Native American tribe! What?!
The Cherokee's old tribal system had many village chiefs with each responsible for the government of their village. But in 1808 they chose one chief to preside over the whole tribe. They called themselves the Cherokee Nation.
It's amazing that Tecumseh visited the Cherokee in their capital of Ustanali. He was traveling to persuade other tribes to join him against the whites. They didn't join him because they knew how strong the whites were, and they couldn't make weapons on their own.
When Andrew Jackson was a general, and the Creek joined Tecumseh, he was sent to fight them. The Cherokee joined him and helped defeat them, and thought their aid would show their loyalty. But Jackson turned on them when he became president.
I knew about Sequoyah and his invention of the Cherokee alphabet. But I didn't know he was crippled and of mixed descent and he was from Tennessee. His dad was white and his mom was a chief's daughter. Because of his crippled leg he couldn't go hunting, so he learned silversmithing and blacksmithing. He didn't speak or read English but was interested in white's tools and ability to speak through writing. They talked paper "talking leaves" and many thought they were magic. He didn't believe it was magic and started a writing system in 1809. His alphabet was fully developed in 1821. It had 82 characters to represent their syllables but at the end he couldn't think of any new designs, so he copied a few English letters and numbers.
At a council he had to prove it could be learned and people would use it. He invited 8 young chiefs, who thought it was magic and that he was a witch, but after 3 days they learned to read and write. He went around the nation teaching.
In 1828 a Cherokee boy found gold in Dahlonega in Georgia. They didn't care about gold and were happy and prospering without it. They didn't understand why whites wanted gold. The first gold rush in the U.S. took place here. The Cherokee lands were invaded with miners, who were rough and cruel. They drove Cherokee from their homes and land and moved into their cabins, stole food from their gardens, and killed their cattle and hogs. The men who tried to protect themselves were beaten or killed. Their marshals were too few to drive the men out. Chief John Ross appealed to President Andrew Jackson to send troops but he sent so little it had no impact. Jackson didn't like Native Americans.
The governor sent troops into Cherokee lands to drive the Cherokees out. The state passed laws to force them to leave. It was illegal to mine gold even on their own land. They couldn't testify against whites in court. Cherokees accused of murder were hanged while white men would burn, steal, and murder and not be punished.
One of the illustrations showed a Cherokee man with his hands tied behind his back, a rope around his neck, standing on a barrel, about to be hanged. I don't think we needed a picture of a hanging. We know what hanging looks like and it's too graphic to put in a kid's book.
The state passed a law that Cherokees were under Georgia rule and subject to their laws and not a separate nation. John Rose hired a lawyer to take their case to the Supreme Court. The court ruled in their favor, and Chief Justice John Marshall ordered Jackson to send troops to remove whites. Jackson refused and said Marshall could enforce the law since he made the ruling. Poor Chief Junaluska said if he'd known Jackson would do this he would have killed him at Horseshoe Bend, the battle he had helped Jackson in. Many people in the country didn't agree with Jackson and didn't like his attitude.
In 1835 when Ross was in Washington, 300 Cherokee signed a treaty to give up all of their land in Georgia and Alabama and moved west of the Mississippi. This was illegal according to Cherokee law because a majority was required of their 17,000 had to make this decision.
Some white people wanted Cherokees to own 160 acres each but Jackson personally took their farms away from them in the treaty so none stayed. The last year of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia was 1837. The author really spelled it out and hit home that they would never fish there again, drums and rattles and songs wouldn't sound there, and they'd never see the mountains in the fall again. That was a really sad thought.
Next president Van Buren ordered their removal in the fall and send troops in to do so. They built stockades and rough huts along the walls for the Cherokee to live in while they waited to march. They cut firewood and stored army rations there. They went out to find the Cherokee in the woods, some by trails but often with no trail and had to wade up creeks to find their homes. The image showed soldiers with their uniforms and bedrolls on, climbing up a little waterfall. They didn't give the Cherokee a chance to pack more than a few clothes, cooking pots, and baskets of corn before they were forced to march. If they were eating they weren't allowed to finish their meal. Those who were sick had to march too. The elderly were prodded with bayonets if they didn't move quickly enough. If a man tried to protect his family he was knocked down and beaten. Some soldiers stole what they wanted from the Cherokee cabins. Others killed the chickens, hogs, and cattle for their own food. Families who had won land in the Cherokee lottery often came with the soldiers and moved in to their homes with the Cherokee watching. That was tough to read.
Some soldiers tried to help the Cherokee "as much as they could." I waited for an example of what this "help" entailed. There wasn't one. He went on to quote a solider who said he had fought in the Civil War and seen men show to pieces but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work he ever knew.
A few Cherokees escaped and traveled hidden trails to the Great Smoky Mountains. I was astounded that the Cherokee weren't originally from NC and the ancestors of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were from Georgia. That's not what I learned and they're not saying that in Cherokee, through the play or anywhere else I think.
The play did cover Tsali and his journey of hiding out in the NC mountains. His full name is Tsali Wasituna. While marching to a stockade one of the soldiers mistreated his wife and he killed the soldier and he and his family ran into the woods and escaped to the Smokies.
Most of the Cherokees were imprisoned in stockades. The winter was very cold and they had little food. Many of the women didn't know how to prepare the flour that was given to them. They couldn't leave the stockades and hunt. The firewood often "gave out" and I wasn't sure what that meant, so they were cold inside the stockades. Many died from disease and exposure and malnutrition.
In the spring he soldiers tried to catch the families that had escaped one last time. But they couldn't, so they said if Tsali would give themselves up, the other families could stay. Tsali and his sons were brave so they turned themselves in and were shot by Cherokee men who were forced to be the firing squad. The youngest son survived. The soldiers left 1,000 Cherokees to live in the Great Smokies. I was blown away by that because I do not remember Tsali being killed at all, much less his sons. I didn't remember him turning himself in. I thought he stayed in NC and his descendants lived on. When I read this I was thinking You know those soldiers aren't telling the truth and they're going to let anyone stay behind. I couldn't believe they actually did.
He said those were the only Cherokees who stayed in their mountains. They built cabins and made gardens again, in the mountains around the Oconee Luftee River. I was surprised that he didn't mention NC, because the Great Smoky mountains are here, not in Georgia. So when he said they were allowed to stay in "their beloved mountains," that's not true, because those weren't their mountains. What was he talking about? I was also surprised because I've never heard of that river, and I thought it was all one word, because I recognized the name from the replica Cherokee village is called the Oconaluftee Village.
The journey to Arkansas was cruel, with supervision from soldiers who didn't care about their health and welfare. The summer was hot and the boats were crowded and uncomfortable, with 5,000 Cherokee traveling. Some of the government contractors were dishonest and instead of supplying them food, they gave them rotten meat, corn with weevils in it, a lot of which couldn't be eaten. So they went hungry and sick.
Chief Ross heard about the suffering and got permission from the army to delay the march for the rest of the Cherokee. Most left in October 1838 over land. Wagons carried belongings, the old, sick, and young. Most walked the thousand or more miles, but some of the prosperous rode horses. The winter was worse than the heat had been for the first party. Food was scarce because most of the game had already been killed. There was no shelter and they walked through snow for days. When they stopped at night they would sleep on the icy ground with only thin blankets. Many old and young fell sick and died and were buried in shallow graves. Ross's wife died and was buried along the way. 1 in 4 died.
In Arkansas they built cabins and cleared fields and made fences. The Osage Indians resented their presence and fought them.
He wrapped up their new life by saying their government was never as strong, they didn't establish a capital or a newspaper. They didn't have hope.
He ended it by saying there are no traces in Georgia or Alabama of the Cherokee. Only the names Dahlonega, Chattahoochee, Oostenaula, Etowah, Nantahala, Tennessee, Ellijay, Tallulah, Chatooga, Nacoochee, Hiawassee, Chickamauga, Tugaloo, and Chattanooga remain. It's crazy, but I'd never thought of the name Tennessee or Chattanooga being Native American, but it's good to know where they came from.
He had a lot of good information to share, but some details seemed wrong and were in direct contrast to what I've learned elsewhere. I didn't know where he got his information and why it's different from what I've heard before, but I questioned the authenticity of this and don't know how good of a source it is. I find it bizarre that NC never came up. Though he mentioned the Great Smoky Mountains he seems to think they're in Georgia or something. I can't fathom how NC didn't come up. Also, Tsali's history was way different than what I've heard. The very detail that they traveled to Arkansas seemed way off to me. He never once mentioned Oklahoma and that's where they reside today! I'm dumbfounded.
I enjoyed the pics, even though they're back and white.
He wrote a powerful intro. When they were forced to move out west, many felt it was the home of evil spirits. He said no man alive remembers Cherokee in Georgia. There are no females left to pick the berries or men left to hunt the land. All that's left are the Cherokee names of towns and rivers and things. "Only the names remain." Now I understood what that title meant. All that's left of the Cherokee in Georgia are the Cherokee names of things. As someone who lives in NC and has visited Cherokee to see the Cherokee Indian Reservation, I was confused why this only covered Georgia and not NC. Unless none of the Cherokee escaped Georgia or some escaped and came to NC? I was also surprised this said they were forced to go to Arkansas because I've heard it was Oklahoma.
It was interesting that no one knows where the Cherokee came from originally or when they got to the South. Their language is similar to the Iroquois of NY so some think they came from there. When they got here they burned out the mound builders' villages. I felt bad but I did think that was pretty bad and didn't make them look very good that they literally burned out the people who lived there before them...in a book about them being forced from their land by outsiders. Not in any way diminishing the cruelty, horrors and injustices of the Trail of Tears. It was made more ironic when he said the Cherokee drove the white people out, (Welshman in the 1100s) and the said how strange it was that the Cherokee drove them west and then would come to be driven west by white men.
They called these men with light skin and blue eyes moon men. These could have been descendants of Welshmen.
Their Creation Story was that the Great Buzzard flapped its wings and where his wings hit the mud, it formed valleys, and when he raised his wings it created mountains.
They hunted buffalo, elk, deer, bear, mountain lions, rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, and raccoon. They are huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries, persimmons, crab apples, cherries, grapes, chestnuts, hickory nuts, black walnuts, and acorns. They caught snapping turtles in caves under the riverbanks, and dug mussels out of the sandbars.
The men felled trees to make dugout canoes with fire and stone axes. They cut small trees for the women to make houses, and split them for the women to make baskets. Men skilled in stone-working made arrowheads and knives out of flint. The warriors defended the village from the Iroquois. War parties were gone for weeks when they attacked towns, like the Chickasaw on the Mississippi River. They captured slaves from the Shawnee on the Ohio River. They stole wives from the Creek or Tuscarora to the south and east. Every Cherokee boy couldn't wait to reach the age where they could join a war party. He would demonstrate his bravery to young girls, and prove his manhood "in the great adventures of life." What? Give examples!
The war chief was always a man, and the peace chief was always a woman. Everyone listened to her advice. She led the women. Women were treated with great respect. The mom was the head of the family and her children were members of her family. If her father or husband was killed (in war or a hunting accident) her brother or her mom's brother would hunt for her children, feed and protect them.
When white men came to live in Cherokee towns and marry Cherokee women, their children were considered Cherokee. Even if someone was no more than 1/8 Cherokee, they were considered Cherokee because of their mom.
The women prepared the food and made clothes for their families. They skinned, cleaned and cut the meat into small pieces for cooking. They used flint knives. The hides were tanned and made shirts, dresses, leggings, and moccasins.
They used oak splints and honeysuckle vines and cane to make baskets, dyed with juices of berries and roots and walnut hulls. They used clay to make cooking pots. They grew the food. They dug up soil in creek bottoms with bone hoes and digging sticks. Gourds were eaten and used to make dishes and dance rattles.
Women were often the doctors, and old men cured the sick with special dances, songs, and medicine from herbs.
Villages frequently got together to watch their teams play Cherokee ball, a rough game, and they had many dances during the year. Every spring they had the Green Corn Dance. Men had hunting dances in the fall for good luck to find game. War dances were held before a war. Victory dances were danced if they returned successful.
Children liked the Booger Dance, where men put on buckeye wood masks of grotesque faces and switched clothing. They danced around the fire like clowns until the kids guessed their identities behind their masks. In the winter when they were stuck inside they'd listen to the storytellers. Old men told their legends, old women told stories from when they were young, like seeing a bear when berry-picking, and young men told of their exploits on war parties.
The Spaniards came in the 1500s and the Cherokees wanted their steel and iron weapons, axes that could cut a tree down in hours instead of days. Women wanted the colored cloth, jeweled rings and pins, and steel needles. The Frenchman in the 1600s brought steel axes, needles, colored cloth, steel knives, glass beads, copper pots, mirrors and other luxuries, and traded for animal skins. The French brought guns so the Cherokee could hunt easier and bring more furs. They also wanted them to help fight their enemy, the English in America. From 1700-1760 the Cherokee fought with the French, and then with the English, before remaining loyal to English and driving the French out.
By 1740 most men had steel weapons and no one remembered how to make flint weapons. Women used steel needles. They still made clay pots and baskets, but most families had a copper kettle or iron pot which wouldn't break.
They now lived in log cabins like the settlers and not in round houses made from upright sticks and mud. They traded deerskins for cloth and blankets. But they still made moccasins from elk and groundhog. Some hunters still used bow and arrow and blowgun but many used guns and depended on gunpowder and lead bullets. Some used snares and log deadfalls to trap animals, but most used steel traps.
Many traders married Cherokee women and had children. Many were given good educations and some inherited wealth from their dads and lived like aristocrats.
In 1776 at the start of the American Revolution, the Cherokee sided with the English, who had always protected their hunting grounds, while settlers were greedy and wanted their land but not them. The warriors eagerly attacked settlers in small towns and single cabins from Virginia to Georgia. They killed the men and took women and children captive. Americans burned villages, killed men and sold women and children to slavery in the West Indies.
Even when the war ended in 1783, the Cherokee and Americans still fought. American men were rough and tough, crack shots with long rifles. They could live in the woods as well as the Cherokee, sleeping on the ground and killing their food.
For 10 years they drove the Cherokee from their homes. When they did so in the winter, the Cherokee often had no food, shelter, or enough clothes. The chiefs met and decided they needed to make peace because the whites were too strong to fight. George Washington sent representatives to meet them and forced them to give up their hunting lands in Kentucky, NC, SC, and Tennessee. They knew whites couldn't be defended because they knew things they didn't. They decided to follow the white's path, share their knowledge, and live in peace.
The Cherokee asked for missionaries, not because they wanted to be Christians but because they wanted the schools. They wanted to learn farming and raising cattle. The women wanted to learn to weave. They wanted blacksmiths to show them how to make tools. President Washington and the government gave them all the help they wanted. I didn't know how to take that. It made it sound like they were generous but we know they only approved because they were taking the white way.
By 1800 they were living in peace. They were prosperous from the white's ways, and many educated traders were living with them from marrying their women. They hoped to avoid leaving their homeland like eastern tribes already had.
Some of the missionaries came from Salem in NC.
Surprisingly, cotton was the first threat to their land. Many white people wanted their lands to clear and plant cotton.
I was astounded that when Thomas Jefferson was president he advised the Cherokee to adopt a central government like the U.S. Because I watched an episode on PBS that said the U.S. government was modeled after a Native American tribe! What?!
The Cherokee's old tribal system had many village chiefs with each responsible for the government of their village. But in 1808 they chose one chief to preside over the whole tribe. They called themselves the Cherokee Nation.
It's amazing that Tecumseh visited the Cherokee in their capital of Ustanali. He was traveling to persuade other tribes to join him against the whites. They didn't join him because they knew how strong the whites were, and they couldn't make weapons on their own.
When Andrew Jackson was a general, and the Creek joined Tecumseh, he was sent to fight them. The Cherokee joined him and helped defeat them, and thought their aid would show their loyalty. But Jackson turned on them when he became president.
I knew about Sequoyah and his invention of the Cherokee alphabet. But I didn't know he was crippled and of mixed descent and he was from Tennessee. His dad was white and his mom was a chief's daughter. Because of his crippled leg he couldn't go hunting, so he learned silversmithing and blacksmithing. He didn't speak or read English but was interested in white's tools and ability to speak through writing. They talked paper "talking leaves" and many thought they were magic. He didn't believe it was magic and started a writing system in 1809. His alphabet was fully developed in 1821. It had 82 characters to represent their syllables but at the end he couldn't think of any new designs, so he copied a few English letters and numbers.
At a council he had to prove it could be learned and people would use it. He invited 8 young chiefs, who thought it was magic and that he was a witch, but after 3 days they learned to read and write. He went around the nation teaching.
In 1828 a Cherokee boy found gold in Dahlonega in Georgia. They didn't care about gold and were happy and prospering without it. They didn't understand why whites wanted gold. The first gold rush in the U.S. took place here. The Cherokee lands were invaded with miners, who were rough and cruel. They drove Cherokee from their homes and land and moved into their cabins, stole food from their gardens, and killed their cattle and hogs. The men who tried to protect themselves were beaten or killed. Their marshals were too few to drive the men out. Chief John Ross appealed to President Andrew Jackson to send troops but he sent so little it had no impact. Jackson didn't like Native Americans.
The governor sent troops into Cherokee lands to drive the Cherokees out. The state passed laws to force them to leave. It was illegal to mine gold even on their own land. They couldn't testify against whites in court. Cherokees accused of murder were hanged while white men would burn, steal, and murder and not be punished.
One of the illustrations showed a Cherokee man with his hands tied behind his back, a rope around his neck, standing on a barrel, about to be hanged. I don't think we needed a picture of a hanging. We know what hanging looks like and it's too graphic to put in a kid's book.
The state passed a law that Cherokees were under Georgia rule and subject to their laws and not a separate nation. John Rose hired a lawyer to take their case to the Supreme Court. The court ruled in their favor, and Chief Justice John Marshall ordered Jackson to send troops to remove whites. Jackson refused and said Marshall could enforce the law since he made the ruling. Poor Chief Junaluska said if he'd known Jackson would do this he would have killed him at Horseshoe Bend, the battle he had helped Jackson in. Many people in the country didn't agree with Jackson and didn't like his attitude.
In 1835 when Ross was in Washington, 300 Cherokee signed a treaty to give up all of their land in Georgia and Alabama and moved west of the Mississippi. This was illegal according to Cherokee law because a majority was required of their 17,000 had to make this decision.
Some white people wanted Cherokees to own 160 acres each but Jackson personally took their farms away from them in the treaty so none stayed. The last year of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia was 1837. The author really spelled it out and hit home that they would never fish there again, drums and rattles and songs wouldn't sound there, and they'd never see the mountains in the fall again. That was a really sad thought.
Next president Van Buren ordered their removal in the fall and send troops in to do so. They built stockades and rough huts along the walls for the Cherokee to live in while they waited to march. They cut firewood and stored army rations there. They went out to find the Cherokee in the woods, some by trails but often with no trail and had to wade up creeks to find their homes. The image showed soldiers with their uniforms and bedrolls on, climbing up a little waterfall. They didn't give the Cherokee a chance to pack more than a few clothes, cooking pots, and baskets of corn before they were forced to march. If they were eating they weren't allowed to finish their meal. Those who were sick had to march too. The elderly were prodded with bayonets if they didn't move quickly enough. If a man tried to protect his family he was knocked down and beaten. Some soldiers stole what they wanted from the Cherokee cabins. Others killed the chickens, hogs, and cattle for their own food. Families who had won land in the Cherokee lottery often came with the soldiers and moved in to their homes with the Cherokee watching. That was tough to read.
Some soldiers tried to help the Cherokee "as much as they could." I waited for an example of what this "help" entailed. There wasn't one. He went on to quote a solider who said he had fought in the Civil War and seen men show to pieces but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work he ever knew.
A few Cherokees escaped and traveled hidden trails to the Great Smoky Mountains. I was astounded that the Cherokee weren't originally from NC and the ancestors of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were from Georgia. That's not what I learned and they're not saying that in Cherokee, through the play or anywhere else I think.
The play did cover Tsali and his journey of hiding out in the NC mountains. His full name is Tsali Wasituna. While marching to a stockade one of the soldiers mistreated his wife and he killed the soldier and he and his family ran into the woods and escaped to the Smokies.
Most of the Cherokees were imprisoned in stockades. The winter was very cold and they had little food. Many of the women didn't know how to prepare the flour that was given to them. They couldn't leave the stockades and hunt. The firewood often "gave out" and I wasn't sure what that meant, so they were cold inside the stockades. Many died from disease and exposure and malnutrition.
In the spring he soldiers tried to catch the families that had escaped one last time. But they couldn't, so they said if Tsali would give themselves up, the other families could stay. Tsali and his sons were brave so they turned themselves in and were shot by Cherokee men who were forced to be the firing squad. The youngest son survived. The soldiers left 1,000 Cherokees to live in the Great Smokies. I was blown away by that because I do not remember Tsali being killed at all, much less his sons. I didn't remember him turning himself in. I thought he stayed in NC and his descendants lived on. When I read this I was thinking You know those soldiers aren't telling the truth and they're going to let anyone stay behind. I couldn't believe they actually did.
He said those were the only Cherokees who stayed in their mountains. They built cabins and made gardens again, in the mountains around the Oconee Luftee River. I was surprised that he didn't mention NC, because the Great Smoky mountains are here, not in Georgia. So when he said they were allowed to stay in "their beloved mountains," that's not true, because those weren't their mountains. What was he talking about? I was also surprised because I've never heard of that river, and I thought it was all one word, because I recognized the name from the replica Cherokee village is called the Oconaluftee Village.
The journey to Arkansas was cruel, with supervision from soldiers who didn't care about their health and welfare. The summer was hot and the boats were crowded and uncomfortable, with 5,000 Cherokee traveling. Some of the government contractors were dishonest and instead of supplying them food, they gave them rotten meat, corn with weevils in it, a lot of which couldn't be eaten. So they went hungry and sick.
Chief Ross heard about the suffering and got permission from the army to delay the march for the rest of the Cherokee. Most left in October 1838 over land. Wagons carried belongings, the old, sick, and young. Most walked the thousand or more miles, but some of the prosperous rode horses. The winter was worse than the heat had been for the first party. Food was scarce because most of the game had already been killed. There was no shelter and they walked through snow for days. When they stopped at night they would sleep on the icy ground with only thin blankets. Many old and young fell sick and died and were buried in shallow graves. Ross's wife died and was buried along the way. 1 in 4 died.
In Arkansas they built cabins and cleared fields and made fences. The Osage Indians resented their presence and fought them.
He wrapped up their new life by saying their government was never as strong, they didn't establish a capital or a newspaper. They didn't have hope.
He ended it by saying there are no traces in Georgia or Alabama of the Cherokee. Only the names Dahlonega, Chattahoochee, Oostenaula, Etowah, Nantahala, Tennessee, Ellijay, Tallulah, Chatooga, Nacoochee, Hiawassee, Chickamauga, Tugaloo, and Chattanooga remain. It's crazy, but I'd never thought of the name Tennessee or Chattanooga being Native American, but it's good to know where they came from.
He had a lot of good information to share, but some details seemed wrong and were in direct contrast to what I've learned elsewhere. I didn't know where he got his information and why it's different from what I've heard before, but I questioned the authenticity of this and don't know how good of a source it is. I find it bizarre that NC never came up. Though he mentioned the Great Smoky Mountains he seems to think they're in Georgia or something. I can't fathom how NC didn't come up. Also, Tsali's history was way different than what I've heard. The very detail that they traveled to Arkansas seemed way off to me. He never once mentioned Oklahoma and that's where they reside today! I'm dumbfounded.
I enjoyed the pics, even though they're back and white.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2020
This book is a moving book and eye opening at the deplorable conditions that the people who are Cherokee Indians experienced.
February 18, 2013
I often mention that I have the strangest coincidences in my reading selections. The books I read often have some link that I did not foresee when I started reading them. At the same time that I read this book, I was also reading Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, which centered on a Cherokee child and the legality of her adoption. I can't remember what prompted us to borrow this book from our local library, but it was coming due, so we decided to read it now.
Overall, this book offers a straightforward look at the original home of the Cherokee Indians and the historical influences that pushed them to band together to form the Cherokee Nation and then forced them to move west to Arkansas. The narrative isn't too long, but it is a bit dry, with lots of facts and details. The story is sad, and our oldest was very affected by the injustice of the situation. I appreciated learning a little bit more about American history and although I'm not proud of what the settlers did to the Cherokees, I know that it's an important lesson for us all to learn.
There are few illustrations, but the pictures that face the beginning of each chapter show the intricate details and workmanship of the items crafted by the Cherokee Indians. We really enjoyed reading this book together, and I love how it complemented my other reading selection.
Overall, this book offers a straightforward look at the original home of the Cherokee Indians and the historical influences that pushed them to band together to form the Cherokee Nation and then forced them to move west to Arkansas. The narrative isn't too long, but it is a bit dry, with lots of facts and details. The story is sad, and our oldest was very affected by the injustice of the situation. I appreciated learning a little bit more about American history and although I'm not proud of what the settlers did to the Cherokees, I know that it's an important lesson for us all to learn.
There are few illustrations, but the pictures that face the beginning of each chapter show the intricate details and workmanship of the items crafted by the Cherokee Indians. We really enjoyed reading this book together, and I love how it complemented my other reading selection.
February 20, 2015
I read this aloud to the kids for school. I learned a lot about the Cherokees that I didn't know before. I felt like the author handled a difficult subject in a matter of fact and fair way. The last chapter was pretty sad as it told about the Trail of Tears. My favorite chapter was Sequoya and the Talking Leaves, which was all about how Sequoya created the Cherokee alphabet and then went around the nation to teach the Cherokee to read and write. This book cleared up some confusion for me as to when events actually happened. Some random things that I learned:
When the Cherokee originally arrived in Georgia they drove off the Mound Builders by fighting them and burning their villages. They also drove the "moon-eyed men" (possibly descendents of the Welshman, Madoc) west and they were heard of no more. This happened many years before Columbus came to America.
By 1740, because of the European traders and soldiers, most Cherokee men had steel knives and axes and no longer knew how to make the old tools and weapons of flint. The women also no longer used bone awls, but had steel needles. I can imagine they were very careful not to lose them since they didn't know when they'd meet another European. They also built and lived in log cabins like the settlers. They still made pots of clay, wove baskets, and made moccasins though.
The Cherokee had a newspaper called The Cherokee Phoenix that was printed from 1828 to 1834. A quick Google search turned up English versions online. Fascinating!
This was a short but informative book. I'm glad I read it.
When the Cherokee originally arrived in Georgia they drove off the Mound Builders by fighting them and burning their villages. They also drove the "moon-eyed men" (possibly descendents of the Welshman, Madoc) west and they were heard of no more. This happened many years before Columbus came to America.
By 1740, because of the European traders and soldiers, most Cherokee men had steel knives and axes and no longer knew how to make the old tools and weapons of flint. The women also no longer used bone awls, but had steel needles. I can imagine they were very careful not to lose them since they didn't know when they'd meet another European. They also built and lived in log cabins like the settlers. They still made pots of clay, wove baskets, and made moccasins though.
The Cherokee had a newspaper called The Cherokee Phoenix that was printed from 1828 to 1834. A quick Google search turned up English versions online. Fascinating!
This was a short but informative book. I'm glad I read it.
Read
April 1, 2016Whiteman-proattrocity-lies.
Bad.
Bad.
November 7, 2020
Good quick read about the history of the Cherokees.
January 6, 2018
In the horrible history of the Europeans cheating and destroying the culture of the Native Americans, there is no episode more atrocious than the forced migration of the Cherokees from their native lands in the Appalachian area to lands in the west. No tribe had a higher level of learning and other characteristics of what Europeans consider civilized traits. The Cherokee were organized to the point where they had a functioning government, had their own alphabet and published their own newspaper.
Yet, when the greed of the white man for land and gold became strong enough, the American laws and treaties on the books that were designed to protect Cherokee rights were ignored. When the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee, that ruling was ignored by the executive branch. The result was the forced migration under adverse conditions where many of the Cherokee died along the way.
This is a very important fact of American history and is one that should be part of the education of all American children. This book is written at the level of the middle school student and explains this sordid episode in very clear terms. There are still battles between Native American rights and corporate interests being fought on the ground and in the courts. As has always been the case, it is a matter of economic power creating political power. The historical account in this book explains how ruthless the whites have been to the Native Americans and why there needs to be checks against the might of economic power.
Yet, when the greed of the white man for land and gold became strong enough, the American laws and treaties on the books that were designed to protect Cherokee rights were ignored. When the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee, that ruling was ignored by the executive branch. The result was the forced migration under adverse conditions where many of the Cherokee died along the way.
This is a very important fact of American history and is one that should be part of the education of all American children. This book is written at the level of the middle school student and explains this sordid episode in very clear terms. There are still battles between Native American rights and corporate interests being fought on the ground and in the courts. As has always been the case, it is a matter of economic power creating political power. The historical account in this book explains how ruthless the whites have been to the Native Americans and why there needs to be checks against the might of economic power.
October 31, 2014
This book was excellent. The author did a great job of presenting the truth of what happened without obviously favoring any particular side. Clearly, this is an emotional topic with hard feelings and bad behavior shared among many, but this book compassionately presents the facts of what was happening so that children can better understand the time period. I am freshly amazed at all the Cherokees were able to accomplish in their determination to fit in with the white man's world and hopefully be left in peace, and freshly appalled at each one who tried to manipulate (the English, the French, the various Indian tribes and the Americans) in order to bring about personal agendas rather than what was best for all. The author goes into enough age-appropriate details to share the pain and frustration on different sides, yet none of it came across as particularly condemning to me. This is a great book to share with middle-elementary students to help them know more about how the Cherokee Nation came to be, their great accomplishments, and their heartbreaking removal from Georgia.
June 24, 2016
This brief introduction, 76 pages, delves into the tragedies surrounding the Cherokee Nation and other Native tribes of North America. It inspires the reader to seek deeper knowledge of the captivating story, highlighting accomplishments, innovations and inventions of the tribes.
The author's style was understandable and interesting, providing insight to many misconceptions about the early settlements and villages the Nations inhabited. This is an important story that details circumstances leading to the Cherokee people being forced off their land without going into the heartbreaking detail of the actual journey down the Trail of Tears. Appropriate for younger children who wish to learn about this dark time in our history.
The author's style was understandable and interesting, providing insight to many misconceptions about the early settlements and villages the Nations inhabited. This is an important story that details circumstances leading to the Cherokee people being forced off their land without going into the heartbreaking detail of the actual journey down the Trail of Tears. Appropriate for younger children who wish to learn about this dark time in our history.
February 3, 2017
A well written and researched very short non fiction book about the history of the Cherokees leading up to the Trail of Tears. (Not the entire history of the Cherokees, more specifically about how they tried to assimilate, but were, despite their great success assimilating, driven out by greedy whites who wanted their rich farmland and possible gold.)
I appreciated that it was straightforward, that the author did not try to embellish the facts with plot. Instead, the facts spoke for themselves. My children could grasp the injustice by simply hearing the facts. They enjoyed listening. I learned much that I hadn't known about the history of the Cherokee as well.
I do recommend the book. It teaches much in a concise format, which is neither dry nor dramatic.
I appreciated that it was straightforward, that the author did not try to embellish the facts with plot. Instead, the facts spoke for themselves. My children could grasp the injustice by simply hearing the facts. They enjoyed listening. I learned much that I hadn't known about the history of the Cherokee as well.
I do recommend the book. It teaches much in a concise format, which is neither dry nor dramatic.
May 1, 2008
This one's a short little non-fiction book, subtitled "The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears." That's about the size of it. The book gives a short description of the Cherokee nation and how they adapted to the arrival of the Europeans. It also briefly tells the tale of how the descendants of those Europeans totally screwed the Cherokees and forced them to move away from their homeland under truly awful conditions. As I was reading the book, it made me wish that the British had won the Revolutionary War. Anyway, I would only rate this as waiting room material, even though this is a part of American history that should be told. I suppose it's better than nothing.
May 23, 2014
hated this book.
in america if you play by the rules, assimilate, take american names, be born in america, be an american citizen, support the government, deny your heritage, worship america's god, pay taxes
and aren't white, you lose.
hell of a moral. be you african, japanese, arab, chinese, mexican or in the case of this book native american it doesn't matter.
give a jr. high student this book and farewell to manzanar and have him say the pledge as written and read the constitution, tell him not to ask his brown, yellow, black and red skinned friends how their life is and how it was for their parents.
(and like most books about race in america, this is the story of men)
in america if you play by the rules, assimilate, take american names, be born in america, be an american citizen, support the government, deny your heritage, worship america's god, pay taxes
and aren't white, you lose.
hell of a moral. be you african, japanese, arab, chinese, mexican or in the case of this book native american it doesn't matter.
give a jr. high student this book and farewell to manzanar and have him say the pledge as written and read the constitution, tell him not to ask his brown, yellow, black and red skinned friends how their life is and how it was for their parents.
(and like most books about race in america, this is the story of men)
August 5, 2018
This is not your typical living book. It's not like a Jean Lee Latham living book, but more in the style of Gerald Johnson (History for Peter series). Great book for an overview of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, but our family will be digging a little deeper. We visit the Smoky Mountains annually, so knowing more about their history will make those trips more meaningful.
*Look for more living books on Tecumseh, John Ross, Sequoyah, Andrew Jackson, New Echota, Gold Rush in Georgia, Tsali Wasituna (aka Charlie Washington).
*Preview Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis
*Look for more living books on Tecumseh, John Ross, Sequoyah, Andrew Jackson, New Echota, Gold Rush in Georgia, Tsali Wasituna (aka Charlie Washington).
*Preview Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis
August 23, 2018
This is a really great history of the Cherokee for elementary age kids. The story is mostly told in a way that true to historical events and also manages to maintain some balance to the causes and blame of the tragedies that were inflicted on the Cherokee people. There are a few sections where drama surpasses history and some fallacies appear but they are consistent with the themes and general line of history and don't detract significantly from the book's value in educating young readers about the magnificence of the Cherokee people and their incredible story.
April 13, 2011
Wow!This book is about the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears. It's about the history of the Cherokees in Georgia. it is a well written book that speaks about the injustice that the Cherokees suffered at the hand of the "white man" and how Andrew Jackson's policy affected the destruction of a people. This book was used in a second grade class but I would probably start this book in 3rd grade.
February 6, 2015
Although the book is somewhat dry, it has direct relevance to me and my children as we live near the end of the Trail of Tears. It focuses on the culture of the Cherokee before their forced removal. The last chapter deals with the journey to Arkansas. It is not a feel-good book, but based on other history I've read, I believe it to be accurate.
September 3, 2015
Only The Names Remain recounts a sad part of our history. It serves as an introduction to the Cherokee nation and The Trail of Tears. This book is beautifully illustrated with many detailed pencil drawings.
November 18, 2016
A basic account of the devastating ordeal suffered by the Cherokee Nation when, as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, they were forced by the United States government to leave their homeland in Georgia to live on the western frontier of Arkansas ("Indian Territory").
January 12, 2017
This book is a quick read, but it's heart-breaking. The first few chapters were not very child-friendly, as they were factual and not story-like. However, we kept going, and both of my kids (ages 8 & 12) were intrigued. This is history that not everyone knows but needs to know.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2017
This was a great short non-fiction on the Cherokee nation that I read with my son. We decided in the end we are both embarrassed by the choices our nation made with dealing with the Cherokee and our hearts are broken for all that they suffered.
May 9, 2017
This is a good easy-to-read little book for kids about the history of the Cherokee tribe. I was hoping for a bit more about the actual Trail of Tears since I have an ancestors from the Choctaw tribe who went on it. But this book talked more about the events leading up to it.
March 9, 2018
I have not found many books about the trail of tears and I was curious to know more about this engaging topic. But this book just didn't have enough information. If anyone has read an interesting book concerning this topic please let me know by commenting!!
October 3, 2018
3 stars if you are a kid, or an adult reading this to a kid. Just 2 stars if you are an adult reading it yourself.
Another sad chapter in the history of white America and the battered relationships with every one else.
Another sad chapter in the history of white America and the battered relationships with every one else.
March 5, 2008
Another proud moment in history. A little brief on such an extensive subject, but is a good overview.
January 27, 2011
It explained what it was trying to get across, but it was a really small book and not incredibly descriptive.
January 31, 2012
Nice, straightforward history of the events leading up to the Trail of Tears. Good for 4th-5th-6th grades.
March 31, 2016
Actually so depressing
Want to read
April 4, 2016i was good
November 15, 2016
I didn't enjoy this book at all. It was was pretty boring...... It was good information, but it was written totally wrong.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews