The Trail of Tears: The Story of the American Indian Removals 1813-1855

In this poignant and powerful book, Gloria Jahoda makes use of hitherto unpublished sources to relate in unprecedented depth and detail the history of Indian courage in the face of white expansion during the first half of the nineteenth century. She describes the violence, the wars, the meaningless treaties and political double-dealing that spread from Washington to the frontier. She portrays the suffering as thousands of Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas and members of other proud Native American nations perished from cold, hunger and white men’s diseases. Here too are the monumental figures of the age, men of greed, hatred, honor and inspiration, including:Andrew Jackson, who created the policy and presided over its ruthless executionSir St. George Gore, an Irish millionaire who, in slaughtering over 2,000 buffalo, helped speed the demise of the Native Americans newly arrived in the Great American DesertSam Houston and Davy Crockett, former Indian fighters turned Indian advocatesJohn Ross, the Cherokee statesman who represented his tribe before the United States government and later bitterly led his people out of GeorgiaOsceola, the brilliant military tactician and Seminole chief who gallantly waged war against Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor.History comes alive in the vivid prose and fluid anecdotal style of The Trail of Tears. It is a book that must be read by anyone interested in the evolution and development of America’s history–and its destiny.