THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL

ECHOTA CHEROKEE TRIBE OF ALABAMA WOLF CLAN

TOCCOA FALLS
TRAHYTA'S GRAVE
TRIBAL CABIN
ALABASTER CHRISTMAS PARADE DECEMBER 2009
WOLF CLAN EVENTS
TRIBAL INFORMATION
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ST CLAIR PROPERTY
CEREMONIES
SEVEN CLANS
NATIVE AMERICAN CODE
WOLF CLAN VETERANS
WORDS OF WISDOM
AMAZING GRACE
PRAYER LIST
THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL
GREAT MOMENTS FOR OUR CLAN MEMBERS
CHEROKEE AND ENGLISH
DEER CLAN NEWS
SCOTTISH TARTANS MUSEUM IN FRANKLIN, NORTH CAROLINA
SPRING GATHERING 2011
TUGALOO TOWN
Warwoman Dell
SUMMER GATHERING 2011
FALL GATHERING 2011
HUNTSVILLE POWWOW
CULLMAN PICTURES
GUNTERSVILLE POWWOW 2005
POW WOW LIST FOR 2010
LINKS

THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL

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We whites honor the "Hermitage"
And the man who once lived there -
But, that leader of our Nation
Was cruel, unjust, unfair -
 
He ordered the removal
Of the Cherokee from their land
And forced them on a trek
That the Devil must have planned -
 
One thousand miles of misery -
Of pain and suffering -
Because greed of the white man
Could not even wait till spring -
 
We should bow our heads in shame
Even unto this day
About "The Trail Of Tears"
And those who died along the way.
 
It was October, eighteen thirty-eight
When seven thousand troops in blue
Began the story of the "Trail"
Which, so sadly, is so true -
 
Jackson ordered General Scott
To rout the Indian from their home -
The "Center Of The World" they loved -
The only one they'd known -
 
The Braves working in the fields
Arrested, placed in a stockade -
Women and children dragged from home
In the bluecoats shameful raid -
 
Some were prodded with bayonets
When, they were deemed to move too slow
To where the Sky was their blanket
And the cold Earth, their pillow -
 
In one home a Babe had died
Sometime in the night before -
And women mourning, planning burial
Were cruelly herded out the door -
 
In another, a frail Mother -
Papoose on back and two in tow
Was told she must leave her home
Was told that she must go -
 
She uttered a quiet prayer -
Told the old family dog good-bye -
Then, her broken heart gave out
And she sank slowly down to die ---
 
Chief Junaluska witnessed this -
Tears streaming down his face -
Said if he could have known this
It would have never taken place -
 
For, at the battle of Horse Shoe
With five hundred Warriors, his best -
Helped Andrew Jackson win that battle
And lay thirty-three Braves to rest -
 
But, Jackson was cold, indifferent
To the one he owed his life to
Said, "The Cherokee's fate is sealed -
There's nothing, I can do."
 
Washington, D.C. had decreed
They must be moved Westward -
And all their pleas and protest
To this day still go unheard.
 
On November, the seventeenth
Old Man Winter reared his head -
And freezing cold, sleet and snow
Littered that trail with the dead
 
On one night, at least twenty-two
Were released from their torment
To join that Great Spirit in the Sky
Where all good souls are sent -
 
Many humane, heroic stories
Were written 'long the way -
A monument, for one of them -
Still stands until this day -
 
It seems one noble woman
It was Chief Ross' wife -
Gave her blanket to a sick child
And in so doing, gave her life -
 
She is buried in an unmarked grave -
Dug shallow near the "Trail" -
Just one more tragic ending
In this tragic, shameful tale -
 
Mother Nature showed no mercy
Till they reached the end of the line
When that fateful journey ended
On March twenty-sixth, eighteen thirty-nine.
 
Each mile of this infamous "Trail"
Marks the graves of four who died -
Four thousand poor souls in all
Marks the shame we try to hide -
 
You still can hear them crying
Along "The Trail Of Tears"
If you listen with your heart
And not with just your ears.
 
 

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