The Trail of Tears was a difficult, and often deadly, experience for Cherokee Indians.
Read the following first-hand description to understand what life was like on the
Private John G. Burnett. Story told in 1890.
Tsew helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet
pot into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning, I saw them
bed like cottle into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west.
One can never forget the sadness and solemnity of that morning, Chief John Ross led in proyer
and when the bugle sounded and the wagons started rolling many of the children rose to their feet
Aveven Many of these helpless people did not have blankets and many of them had been driven
and waved their little hands good-by to their mountain homes, knowing they were leaving them
om their home barefooted.
On the morning of November the 17h, we encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing
emperatures and from that day until we reached the end of the fateful journey on March the 26",
1839, the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They
hod to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-
te of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold, and exposure. Among
this number was the beautiful Christian wife of Chief John Ross. This noble hearted woman died a
martyr to childhood, giving her only blanket for the protection of a sick child."
1. What were the living conditions like on the Trail of Tears? Cite evidence from the text to
support your response.
2. How does the author characterize Chief John Ross? Cite evidence.
1 The Trail of Tears is often called a national tragedy. Explain why.