Removal of the Cherokees

From the Globe

Major General Scott, of the United States Army send to the Cherokee people, remaining in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, this address:

Cherokees!  The president of the United States has sent me, with a powerful Army, to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already, established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi.

Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose, you have suffered to pass away without following, and without making any preparation to follow, and now, or by the time that this solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the emigration must be commenced in haste, but, I hope, without disorder.

I have no power, by granting a further delay, to correct the error that you have committed.  The full moon of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed away, every Cherokee, man, wo9man, and child, in those states, must be in motion to join their brethren in the far west.

My Friends:  This is no sudden determination on the part of the president, whom you and I must now obey.  By the treaty the emigration was to have been completed on or before the 23^rd of this month; and the president has constantly kept you warned, during the two years allowed, through all his offices and agents in this country, that the treaty would be enforced.

I am come to carry out that determination.  My troops already occupy many positions in the country that your are to abandon, and thousands and thousands are approaching, from every quarter, to render resistance and escape alike hopeless. 

All these troops, regular and militia, are your friends.  Receive them and confide in them as such.  Obey them when they tell you that you can remain no longer in this country.  Soldiers are as kind hearted as brave, and the desire of every one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy.  We are commanded by the president to act towards you in that spirit, and such is also the wish of the whole people of America.

Chiefs, headmen and warriors! Will you, then, by resistance, compel us to resort to arms?  God forbid!  Or will you, by flight, seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests, and us oblige us to hunt you down? 

Remember that, in pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts.  The blood of the white man, or the blood of the red man, may be spilt, and if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you, or among us to prevent a general war and carnage. 

Think of this, my Cherokee brethren!  I am an old warrior, and have been present at many a scene of slaughter; but spare me, I beseech you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees.

Do not, I invite you, even wait for the close approach of the troops; but make such preparations for emigration as you can, and hasten to this place, to Ross’s Landing, or to Gunter’s Landing, where you all will be received in kindness by officers selected for the purpose. 

You will find food for all, and clothing for the destitute, at either of those places, and thence, at your ease an din comfort be transported to your new homes according to the terms of the treaty.

This is the address of a warrior to warriors.  May his entreaties be kindly received, and may the God of both prosper the Americans and Cherokees, and preserve them long in peace and friendship with each other!

Winfield Scott

Cherokee Agency, May 10, 1838.

Niles National Register – June 2, 1838