A vision on the Trail of Tears

[Guest]

(THis came to me suddenly at night. In case you don't know the Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of the Five Civilized Indian tribes by the U.S Government.THis happened in the early 1800s during Andrew Jackson's administration. As you may know I a half Armenian, half American with a Chocktaw ancestor(great great grandfather). Many thousands died of starvation, disease and exhaustion. The experience was very similar to the marches of Armenians to the Syrian Desert by the Turks)

 

The chief now marched silently as was the rest of his people. He was praying to the WHite man's God his parents had adopted. He saw another group of his people further ahead marching silently as well, with soldiers on horseback following them as vultures wait for carcasses. There was much lamenting with this group ahead. Bitter tears fell watering the parched desert floor. The chief got a better view of this group. He realized they were not Chocktaw, who were they then? Cherokee? Seminole? No he knew people from these tribes. He heard strange tongues from the people marching and from the soldiers. The soldiers were not speaking English, as the chief was fluent in the language. WHat was it? The soldiers wore different hats than the White man's army. The chief then realized that the barriers of time had disintegrated and he was witnessing the Trail of Tears that another group of people would travail. He then came face to face with a chief of this other group who was marching. They said not a word, but shared each others pain. At that moment, the two became brothers.

[Guest]

I thought I would give a little more historical background to my story I wrote. THe "Five Civilized" tribes were the tribes who adopted European ways, including an alphabet. Many of them became very prosperous plantation owners, with their own slaves! They were resented by the Whites because of their prosperity, much like Armenians were envied by the Turks. The Cherokees actually had a higher literacy rate than the Whites, again like the Armenians versus the Turks. I was inspired to write this short prose when watching a documentary on the Trail of Tears. I was struck by the similarity with the Armenian death marches to the Syrian Desert.