Native American History - Essay Example

? Trail of Tears Historical information can be acquired from a variety of sources; however, the content in these sources vary based on the context in which the information was written or the extent of penetration or exposure historians had in respect to the events. The information given by insiders and participants to a certain historical even is likely to be more detailed and specific as opposed to an outsider’s account which may contain generalities and lack some specifics or personal information. Nevertheless, both sides of the story are crucial since one is better able to understand an event if they are compare and contrast the existing versions of similar events. For this essay, the period examined will be the 19th century and the event is the “Trail of Tears” which is an account of the forced eviction of members of the Cherokee native America communities from their ancestral lands in eastern America to create room for white settlers.1 Owing to the marginalization of the Native American community at the time there were few historians from the community and most of the written works emerge from white authors. However one of the most popular accounts of the trial is a narrative rendered by Michael Rutledge about his Cherokee grandfather Samuel Cloud who was nine at the time of the march, he vividly recounts how he (Samuel ) struggle to understand the atrocities that were occasioned upon his community and recounts very real and personal experience through the naive and innocent eyes of a child who suffers for a cause he does not understand. 2 He describes the way his family and neighbors were force to leave their village at gun point how some of them were not even given time to pack their belongings leaving with only the clothes on their backs. The people were led to stockades like cattle and they were forced by soldiers to remain there for several days and nights despite the freezing cold, Samuel’s father died and later on so does his mother both having succumbed to the brutal conditions. Many more people died and they were buried in shallow unmarked grave by the wayside as the march continued and Samuel recounts his bitterness and frustration which he felt as result of losing both his parents and yet he could not understand why. 3 On the road he describes the death by the hundreds and thousands of the Indians and their unceremonious burial by the roadside far from home. He could only feel a bitter hatred for the soldiers who he blamed for having put them in that situation. Notably, his is just one account and hundreds of children were orphaned and parents widowed and families broken either by death or separation by the cruel soldiers. The second account by Joan Gilbert who is not an insider nor actively involved in the lives of the Native American community also renders an account of the events of the march based on extensive research and interviews. She begins by giving a background of the events leading up to the removal such as the sale of Indian land by lottery to settlers even before they had been evicted, consequently some settlers moved in and took over Indian property. The book article discusses President Jackson and how he pursued a policy to eliminate Indians to provide more land for the speculating settlers.4 Although many American were against the decision, Jackson received little trouble as a result since he had the backing of the southern and western state that made up his biggest support base. Some of the communities tried to resist by going to back court or by violence while others cooperated and accepted the new lands. This ultimately divided the communities in the long run since the collaborators were seen as traitors and many of them were later murdered by their own people as a result of working with the state. The Cherokees from Georgia had taken the matter to the Supreme Court and judge Marshall had found in their favor declaring that the settlers had no claim to their land. However the president had ignored the injunction and proceeded to order federal troops to commence with the forceful eviction of the communities. Throughout most of the narration, she projects the story and funnels emotions through the words of those involved especially the Indians and American political and military leaders. She mentis Chief Ross struggle to prevent his community from forceful eviction the attempts of General Scott to make the trial easier for the Indians by ordering his soldiers to treat them kindly. She also observes that the solders should not all be condemned and suggests it is possible that most of them were actually kind to the Indians and the only a minority was cruel.5 The bitter disappointment that was felt by chief Janaluska is expressed through quoting him saying that with the benefit of hindsight had he known what Jackson would do to his people at the battle of the horse-shoe where he had saved Jackson’s life; his contribution would have been quite different. Through the words of the child, Gilbert expresses the betrayal that the chief and the community at large must have felt having been disposed of their land by the very man they risked their lives for. She also mentions the witness accounts of John Burnett a soldier who was on the trial and wrote about the inhuman treatment that was meted out to the Indians the journey and resulting to the deaths of a quarter of the those who had set out. The two accounts radically different both in the sources of information; the personal account derives most information from a primary source which is the writers experience while the second source evidently derives most of its content from secondary research data. One of the most notable differences in the two accounts is the fact that one is an emotive personal experience while the other is an attempt at objectivity and disinterested expression of facts as they are known to be. Samuel recounts real people and their personal experiences and this is significantly more emotive than the outsider’s article. By vividly describing the personal experience and interactions both his own and others’ he manages to humanize the native Americans which is rarely achieved in historical discourse with people tending to look more at events than people. This is in contrast, with the other account since his reader can empathize with the ill and dying since he mentions and describes their death and suffering vividly.6 This is characteristic of a historical account from a first person point of view and contrasts with the outsider article since the latter does not mention or recognize specific victims but only appears to focus on the “big picture”. Another point of contrast between the insider and outsider account is the extent of personal sentiment that is showed in the text. In the second article by Gilbert, she personally does not give any indication of her reaction to the events possibly because she was not present at the place or time and she has no personal historical or cultural connection to the story since she is not an Indian. She mostly focuses on objectively rendering the emotions of the characters she describes but personally remaining for most of the book an outsider and observer. The first essay is however more emotionally charged and the writer describes the vivid details of the atrocities, he talks about the way his people were brutally forced out of the village and described the trees instead of the forest. He describes the confusion of the elders who kept mumbling angrily but in low tones to avoid the wrath of the brutal soldiers and he expresses his sadness at the suffering and indignity around him. His undulated hatred for the white man is evinced when he finally makes a connection between his parent’s deaths and the soldiers who he claims to hate with a passion. In addition, one cannot help to notice the reference to the native America communities as “tribes” a term that can in some contexts connote negative ethnicity, the boy the first account never uses the word tribe by instead frequently talks about “our people”. Notwithstanding these differences, there are several points of comparison in the two sources, for one although they were written from different sources, inspirations and during different eras, they seem to agree on all historical points that they explicitly mention. The events surrounding the evictions are described by the two sources in their different ways as unjust and cruel. Gilbert puts a lot of emphasis on the many who died as a result of being forced to live in frozen stockades and walk long distances without sufficient food or even clothing and shelter.7 They complement each other, since Samuels account matches this by providing real people experience and embodying the general assumptions provided by Gilbert thereby putting faces on the victims ergo and authenticating the second account. While critics may argue that the first account is not valid historical information owing to its personal nature, the comparison between it and the impersonal one live little doubt that the two accounts are referring to the self-same situation and the first is likely no less credible than the first. Ultimately, by examining both insider and outsider account of any historical text one is able to improve their threshold for making objective judgment by comparing and contrasting the objectivity of a disinterested observer or with the detailed albeit somewhat subjective account of a live participant or eye witness. Bibliography Rutledge, Michael. Samuel Cloud-Forgiveness in the age of Forgetfulness. n.d. http://www.ahsd.org/social_studies/williamsm/Samuel%20Cloud.pdf (accessed November 28, 2013) Gilbert, Joan . The Trail of Tears Across Missouri. Columbia: Missouri heritage readers. 1996. Read More