In honor of the 2016-2017 Georgia History Festival, “A State of Innovation,” the November #MarkerMonday posts will focus on Sequoyah, the creation of the Cherokee alphabet, and the Cherokee Nation. Over the course of the month, these posts will discuss Sequoyah, his efforts to create a written alphabet for the Cherokee Nation, and the forced removal of the Cherokee from Georgia along the Trail of Tears.
Image Courtesy of David Seibert
This week’s #MarkerMonday focuses on the Cherokee removal along the Trail of Tears and one of the men who oversaw the removal, General Winfield Scott. Scott, or “Old Fuss and Feathers” as he came to be called, served in three wars as a general and gained fame in the War of 1812 against the British. In 1838, General Scott was charged with enforcing the Treaty of New Echota after President Martin Van Buren ordered the US Army into Cherokee lands. The Station in Cherokee County, Georgia, was one of many forts and stations used by the United States government to board Cherokee Indians in the state before they could be sent westward. General Winfield Scott also used the Station as his headquarters for a period of time. US soldiers held many Cherokees in temporary stockades until they
Portrait of General Winfield Scott Courtesy of Library of Congress, Photographs and Prints Division, LC-USZ61-7
were marched to the Indian Territory, in present day Oklahoma. Many scholars estimate that between 4,000-5,000 Cherokees died on their way to the Indian Territory. This “trail where they cried” is now commonly known as the Trail of Tears. Once in Indian Territory, the Cherokees revived many of their traditions and continued to function as an independent nation. Following the Indian removal along the Trail of Tears, General Scott went on to become a commanding general in 1841 and held the post through the beginning of the Civil War. General Winfield Scott passed away in 1866 and was buried in West Point Cemetery.
Top Image Details from map of Georgia for Sherwood's Gazetteer of Georgia, ca.1830. Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society Map Collection, MS 1361-MP 079.
Explore the links below to learn more about the Indian removal in Georgia and General Winfield Scott.
GHS is proud to house a significant collection of materials related to the Cherokee people’s removal from Georgia and the Trail of Tears including the papers of Wilson Lumpkin and the correspondence between General Scott and the Secretary of War.
GHS is also proud to house a collection of memoirs from General Scott and other distinguished officers from Scott’s army during the Mexican-American War.
New Georgia Encyclopedia-Cherokee Removal
New Georgia Encyclopedia-Cherokee Indians
New Georgia Encyclopedia-Sequoyah